HDTV Outdoor Antenna

I have had a few different HDTV antennas in the past and they all kinda worked and kinda sucked. Maybe I could get a few channels if I had it pointed just right but never great and inconsistent. That was until I got this magical antenna. I actually bought this for a rental house that's much closer to the signals than where I live so I thought I would hook it up where I live (I am surrounded by hills - pretty much in a valley - no line of sight to any signal) to really see what's it up for.I took it out of the box, it came with the antenna an amplified control box and a remote. So I thought I am going to just hook up the antenna straight to the TV without the control box then I just layed the antenna on the floor by the TV. Scanned for channels and poof I got them all. Well I had been tricked before--just having the channel get detected is one thing, watching it clearly is another. Well they all came in clearly. So I thought maybe I miraculously pointed this thing perfectly lying on it's side on the floor. So I picked it up and waved it around on a channel I have always had difficulty receiving and no matter what I did I couldn't get the picture to mess up.

I already get 70 channels in my area with a stationary antenna. I gave this one a try thinking if I could move it 360 degrees, I could find other stations. It's a novel idea, but in my area at least, I couldn't pull in those other channels and just getting it situated to cover the channels I was already getting was impossible. I was constantly fiddling with it to get solid signal lock.I'm not saying it doesn't work at all, it just didn't work well for my area, which is hilly terrain. I even gave it to a friend to see if it worked for him, but he had the same issues. In fact, in my bedroom, I have a 'bow tie' flat plastic antenna that cost $10 and it gets a lot more channels than this one does.In general, I recommend a good stationary metal antenna with a solid range versus these gadget antennas. I got mine at Wal-Mart for $40 and add in a $20 booster and it's solid as a rock.

Initially, I was going to bypass reviewing this HD antenna. Nonetheless, since these antennas have proven somewhat confusing to so many I decided to do a review and to hopefully help some of my fellow customers. My neighborhood has chosen to go with a combination of Internet and HD antenna. Our TV/Internet carrier is ridiculously expensive and we all feel our cable company should pay us for watching their TV ads (which they are markedly reimbursed for) not us paying them. I have purchased three HD antenna systems – Antenna Direct (50 mile range from Best Buy – connected to an ONN indoor antenna amplifier sold via Amazon), Antenna with booster (sold by Hot Cat 60 to 80 mile range) and ROCAM (150 mile range with built in amplifier and rotary antenna for pole placement). I have tested each of these systems in different settings so as to measure input strength and quality – starting on the first floor of a three story house. Inside they all came out about the same with low static and quality picture going to Hot Cat and Antenna Direct. In these latter two cases I recorded 6 air channels and 22 virtual channels. Overall 16 channels were quite good. With the ROCAM I got 4 air and 13 virtual then later 5 air and 16 virtual channels. The reception was fair to good. Next I put the ROCAM on a 22’ pole (company promotes a height of 38 feet – who has a 38 foot pole?) and got 6 air and 22 virtual channels through scanning. Moving the antenna helped to some extent and the picture that did come in was at times quite vivid. Again 16 stations were all that could be brought in clearly with 6 stations of the 28 being horrible – coming from about 75 miles away in Raleigh NC. At this point, I have trouble buying this 150 mile claim. The Hot Cat (27.99) seems the best for reasonable distances from the source and my one neighbor, a computer scientist, has bought one and is very pleased with his purchase. The use of an ONN amplifier seems to be facilitative (but only for an unpowered antenna). In a couple of weeks, I am taking the ROCAM to the hills of northwestern Pennsylvania for a test of its ability to bring in stations from Erie, Pennsylvania, Buffalo – Rochester – Niagara Falls, New York. The antenna will be at a height of about 50’. I hope it will be able to bring in these HD signals but I am speculative. I will report back after I have had time to test it. Finally, I like the Omni versus the motorized directional systems best.

Works great, easy to install. We are getting 27 channels (I really got it just to get ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox). Great picture quality. We are about 40 miles away from the tower and we are getting a great picture. I was worried because I have tall trees around my neighborhood and in my back yard. I mounted it at the tallest point on my house (30 feet) and it is getting great reception. Also, it not a big, ugly, thing. The spot where I mounted it is closer to the front of the house (it's the side of the house), and my home owners association hasn't said anything about it. It is virtually unnoticeable since it is pretty small and black. It just kind of blends in.What is great is I am sticking it to the rip-off cable companies. Between this, Sling-TV, and Youtube, we do not need cable!

I purchased this out door antenna to place on my chimney figuring that I would have to in order to get local channels. I tried several indoor amplified antennas to no avail. I hooked this baby up to my TV and without even placing it outdoors all the local channels and more came through as clear as if I were still hooked into cable. This antenna is absolutely more than I had hoped for. This will save us 110.00 a month now that we can cut the cable tv company cord.

I live in a rural area and pick up the station I need most, and it's 91 miles away! It makes no difference how high it is, whether on the roof or down in the yard, I still have to fiddle for 10 minutes to get it placed right to keep the signal. I have bluetooth earphones locked in to the signal, so can do it myself by sound. But 91 miles!!! I wouldn't have been able to do it without all the extra cable to adjust around so much. But once it locks in, generally it keeps the signal. I have it on an old tripod, just put the handle up and screw it on. It's well worth the price.