Antennas Direct DB4 Multi-Directional HDTV Antenna
by Antennas Direct
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List Price: Our Price: $194.95 You Save: $155.04 (44%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Speakers See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Antennas Direct DB4 Multi-Directional HDTV Antenna
Customer Review: Another happy customer
Summary: 5 Stars
As you can see by the pictures I posted, my install was non-standard. I don't recommend it.
Why did I install it on the side of my house? Well, out of about 45 stations, 40 are within 5 degrees of each other on the compass. And, lucky me, the back of my house happens to face in that direction. So, I don't have to worry about the rest of my house blocking the other stations which are mostly repeats (a second CBS affiliate, and Spanish speaking channels).
I'm very happy with the size of the unit. I live in an area with an HOA, which doesn't allow external antennas. however, placed where it is it doesn't bother anybody.
The reception is perfect, every channel is excellent. It works well even though I live in a wooded area.
My advice to you:
1) Check [...] to see where your channels are. if you don't own a compass, buy one, and use it to get the antenna aimed precisely where you want. Even though this is a multi-directional antenna, it will help.
2) Test the antenna inside your house. Inside my house, without any great care, I received almost 40 signals with excellent quality. Putting the antenna outside at the same altitude improved the reception, however, if you don't get a good signal inside, even holding it up to an open window, then you probably don't need to go through the trouble of a proper install.
I am VERY happy with the Over The Air HD I am receiving. The antenna is a bargain and much better than the old "fishbone" style designs.
A definite buy!
Customer Review: Should have been my first choice!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the Terk first... Terk HDTVO Amplified HDTV Antenna and gave it 2 stars. I recommend reading my other review as to not repeat what I wrote.
As mentioned before, items in the box rattle, but that's not the fault of Amazon. There's no foam/cardboard to separate the antenna & wire "dish" of the antenna. Don't be concerned, your items will be just fine.
As for performance, I'm very happy with my first initial tests. Quickly mounting outside on a garbage can, and a more proper mounting in my attic proved nearly identical performance. I ordered the "J" mast to not fiddle with custom mounting, and also ordered the Motorola Signal Booster 484095-001-00 Bi-Directional RF Amplifier although I have yet to use it. I will likely install it since I have an outlet in the attic and redo my channel search to see the improvement. Today when I set it up, we had sunny skies. My worry would be that in our typical cloudy/rainy weather in WA, the antenna alone may not be enough.
As for now, I couldn't be happier with the purchase. If a lot of these antenna's were available locally, I would have no problem with purchasing/returning to compare but chances are most of you are in the same situation as me and rely on company's like Amazon for the lowest price and the time involved in shipping/returning is just not worth it.
Customer Review: Excellent Outdoor Antenna
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had this antenna for around a month and a half now, and it has exceeded my wildest expectations. I purchased an HDTV and tried using the old outdoor antenna (circa 1970) we already had but I was only able to pick up four channels, which had poor reception and I would lose the signal quite often. After Amazon delivered it to me, it was very easy to assemble, just a couple of screws and thats it. After I removed the old antenna, I attached the DB4 to the antenna pole using the provided wing nuts and connected the coax cable and pointed it South.
I wasn't expecting much, I live in a wooded area and did not think it would be able to pick up more than a few more channels. I used the TV's channel searcher and picked up 14 channels right off the bat! After more fine tuning I have been able to pick up 18 channels, including all of the major networks. Two of the channels are based out of St. Louis, which is 100 miles away from my house in Carbondale, IL. The channels have come in clear and crisp on most days, and they are all free! I was really impressed after Tuesday 10/26/10. A storm front came through that brought 60 mph wind gusts and heavy rain, and I didn't once lose signal to any of the channels. If you have satellite, you'll just have to wait until that storm is over to watch tv again. I would recommend the Antennas Direct DB4 to anyone who is looking for an alternative to cable or satellite companies and don't mind not having tons of channels (most of which you don't watch anyways).
Customer Review: Great Performance
Summary: 5 Stars
I previously had an "omni-directional" antenna mounted up on my roof. It was close to worthless. We received about 2 channels clearly and a small handful with very poor pictures. When we recently connected a digital converter box to get ready for the February switch-over, things got worse. We would receive 1 digital channel most of the time and maybe 2 when mysterious favorable conditions prevailed.
A friend recommended that I try a DB4 style antenna. I did a little research and selected this one. Wow! What a difference. I mounted it on the roof (not in the attic) and I get about 22 digital channels. Only once have I had any pixellation, and that was on only one channel during a moderate rain shower.
I am somewhat fortunate in that all the transmission towers that I wanted to receive were within a 30 degree spread, so I aimed the antenna in the middle of the spread and I get them all. The towers are about 25 miles away, I suppose.
I used an amplifier and a three-way splitter to distribute the signal to three TV's. All now get great reception. The signal strength meter gizmo on the screen always shows good signal strength - about 80-90% scale - across all channels.
If you use an amplifier, mount it as close to the antenna as you can (in terms of cable length). If you use a splitter, spend a few extra bucks and get a good one. You can get a good one for less than $15 or so.
Customer Review: Great Antenna!
Summary: 5 Stars
This small antenna is surprisingly powerful. It is sensitive to direction, which seems odd. I don't understand why, but I have found that orientation matters a lot (even in this Multi-directional unit). Facing one direction, I pick up 33 HDTV channels (in Lake Villa, IL, halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee major markets). Flipping it 180 degrees, I get 51 channels. My tuners all agree that this orientation is best. Yes, I'm mounted outside.
Also, mount this outside if you can. This thing is small and does not look like a traditional antenna. This isn't the antenna style that your homeowner's association has tried to ban-- it's as innocuous as a DirectTV satellite dish. I had the antenna in my attic for my first month and found that changes in the weather affected how many stations I could get. I think this has something to do with how the weather changes the dynamics of the roof and how much signal gets shielded, maximum height I could get in the attic, and so on. Today, I moved my antenna outdoors. The antenna is 5 feet above the roof line (my chimney has a 1m x 1.5m wood box around it). Signals that were weak yesterday are strong and signals that I couldn't see when the antenna was indoors are now visible to my equipment.
I'm using a $2 Phillips outdoor wall mount and a $7 no-name 1.5" diameter pole as a mast. I run the coax cable through a grounding connection in the attic that is then grounded as normal.