Channel Master Advantage 100 – Directional Outdoor HDTV Digital Antenna – 100 Mile Range, Yagi Design, Pre-Assembled, Extra Long-Range Reception Power, UHF/VHF Support for Free OTA TV

This antenna is a beast, and provided excellent HD reception and picture quality for all my local Austin, Tx channels. I am 38 miles away from the the broadcast antennas, however, one would never know. I coupled this purchase with the Channel Master High Performance Balun, LIghtning Suppressor, LTE Filter and 4 channel Amplifier and my picture quality rivals, if not better than, cable reception. Super pleased with ALL of my Channel Master products purchased for this project, and even more pleased with this companies professionalism and customer service. They are spot on and second to none.For those wishing to cut that super expensive cable bill from your life, go to the Channel Master store and give these folks a shot. You will not be disappointed.

There are a few things that this big antenna does not do well (it is not compact and easy to take down when a hurricane threatens), but for what I wanted it works very well. No need for an electronic amplifier/booster. Note that the specs in their literature states that the average gain for the multiple US TV bands are:VHF Lo: 3.6db (54-88 Mhz)VHF Hi: 8.6 db (174-216Mhz)UHF: 9.5db (470-806MHz)FM: ? (87.5 - 108 Mhz)HDTV: in my area there are both UHF and VHF-Hi HDTV stations - the main antenna farm is located only about 23 miles away, and most broadcasters are in the same general direction, but there are multiple large buildings in the way, and plenty of big trees even though I have the antenna mounted on a mast 24ft over the ground. I had the previous model of this beast before and knew that it would perform well enough for this job. I have no problem receiving the main HDTV stations in our area. Seems like a better image than the compressed signal from ATT Uverse.FM - I like to listen to a few college radio stations in our area and they are not strong broadcasters - this antenna has no trouble picking those stations up as well.Size - this antenna is big - a beast - fortunately made of mostly hollow aluminum and some plastic so it is not heavy. If you know about broadcasting and antennas, basically the higher the frequency the smaller the wavelength, and thus the smaller the antenna needs to be. UHF frequencies, where most HDTV is now days, do not require this giant antenna. However the lower frequencies VHF and FM require a larger antenna to achieve the same level of gain. Since I knew there were several HDTV channels broadcasting on VHF and I wanted FM reception of some weak stations I went with this solution. Do your homework and check through various online sites where your stations broadcast antennas are, and what frequencies they're on. For me, the downside to this size is that the antenna needs to be taken down in preparation for a hurricane, and that is not trivial.Directional - This antenna is also fairly directional and works best only when aimed correctly. Fortunately the main broadcast antennas for the stations I'm interested in are all within a few degrees of each other from my location. Do your homework and find out where those HDTV broadcast antennas are.Cons: The plastic parts are light and make good insulators for the best antenna design, but mechanically these parts will be fried in the South Florida sun and will not last. On my old antenna (very similar to this one), after 10 years, the plastic parts had become so brittle that one of the "arms" had broken off and was waving in the breeze (maybe a bird landed on it?). When I brought the old one down to repair it, many more plastic pieces broke. However, the old antenna may have been over 10 years old - so yes, the plastic parts are annoying in that they will break, but 10+ years is not that bad a lifetime. This new plastic and design looks a little sturdier than the old design so I'm hoping that it last longer in the SFL sun.The assembly is not completely trivial and there are some orientation issues with parts that might be helped with better instructions. I was able to get it done without help, but I think most people would consider me handy.Again this thing is big and required some thinking on where I would assemble it and how I would get it up onto the mast. I assembled it outside on the roof, as close to where I was going to need to mount it on the mast.----Next time I may experiment with some of the more modern "bow-tie" type antennas in the attic for the HDTV, along with a separate FM antenna for the FM receiver. I just did not want to hassle with the unknowns and additional wiring that setup would require. I knew this setup would work since it was replacing a very similar older antenna and every antenna recommendation site clearly states that outside and high up are the best mounting locations for the best signal.

I purchased this antenna after struggling with a cheaper one. It is very large and you need two people to install it. I mated it with the channel master CM-3424 inline amplifier so that I could feed multiple sets. The reception is great I get all the VHF and UHF channels in my area. Most of the channels are 60 miles away with Dallas Texas between me and the broadcast towers. I also receive a station that is 202 miles from me. Over all I am very pleased !

The antenna is rated for 60 miles, so you have to wonder what RCA was doing when they rated the other antenna that is a fraction of the size for 70 miles. I think they stretched the truth a bit. This antenna is huge, you won't want to assemble it in the house, do it in your driveway.Advice: use a aluminum anti oxidation compound that you can get in a Home Depot, or on Amazon, it is a paste that you put on the parts that connect together, then slide them together and wipe off any that squeezes out. I cover both parts, the pipe it goes into, and the part that goes into the pipe. There are two places like this, an if you do this correctly, the antenna can always be taken down and disassembled. if you don't do it, the parts will oxidize and become one, and very difficult to get apart, and probably ruined when you do get them apart.This antenna for 60 miles is 9 feet 4 inches long, and 7 feet 6 inches wide when assembled.If you live within 40 miles of most TV stations, you don't need an antenna this big. Also, the height above all around you will determine how well any antenna will work. If you put it in your attic, and have a metal roof, it won't work at all in your attic. If you don't have a metal roof, the attic is the last place to put it, but in a suburb of a big city, you may get good results in your attic. It all depends on where the Tv stations are. The bigger the antenna, the more gain it has. Gain is the amount of amplification the antenna will offer with nothing else but coax attached to it.There are distribution amplifiers, and some are better than others, and they will help when you have weak stations that sort of come in, they do not work magic, no signal means no picture regardless of the amplifier.. But also know that the distribution part of the amplifier may be what you need. That is so you can run coax to 4 or 5 rooms, and get a good picture in each room. If you use a simple splitter, you will get a degradation of signal on each port of a simple splitter. So consider an amplified splitter, otherwise called a distribution amplifier.You can find all of that on Amazon, just read the reviews with a open mind, look for patterns in what people say, anything that is repeated over and over in each review, is likely true.The Channel Master antennas are the best you can get, even if support is lacking in some way. You should not really need support on an antenna. I will have to go find a nut to replace the stripped wing nut they gave me.My rating for 4 stars is because it is not going to be easy to install due to the large size, so no, it is not so easy to install. I am going to climb a tower and take down what I have now, then put this one up at 45 feet. 4 stars on easy to assemble, it might seam easy if you skip the steps I told you about, but if you didn't, it is not so easy. The oxidation paste is messy, so keep your hands clean, and wash them if you are done, before your touch anything you will put in your mouth, like food. Picture quality is always excellent.Know that the antenna will work well when you first put it up, no matter if you skip any of the steps I mention above, but over time, the antenna will degrade by getting the parts oxidized, which will hurt their ability to work at 100% of their ability.Update: I installed the antenna tonight, and while the smaller RCA antenna rated for 70 miles didn't get anything from Miami, which is way far from me, this antenna got a pretty good lock on Miami, but it could be better. There is no doubt about how much gain this antenna has, Miamia is over 2 hours south going 75 MPH down 95 South. I do get a lot more stations than I did, so I am happy with this antenna. I have it at about 45 feet up, pointing South.. If you put it in an attic, it can work well, but not if you have a metal roof.