[John Candle]

Yes strong stations will come in even if the antenna is not directed at the station and yes strong stations can be received even at the back side of the antenna. With Tv antennas , minimum reception is at the sides of the antenna. Maximum reception is at the front of the antenna and the reception becomes less and less as the antenna is turned so that side is directed at the Tv station. And yes Tv stations can be received at the back of the antenna , the signal needs to be stronger because most antennas have some type of reflector at the back of the antenna. The reflector increases forward gain because a signal coming at the antenna at the front reflects off the reflector to the receiving elements at the front of the antenna. . . Upright antennas such as 4 bay and 8 bay UHF bow tie antennas have a reflector , if the reflector is removed then the antenna will receive equal in to directions.<-- Thats the up side. The down side is that another reason the reflector is there is to reduce undesirable signals. Undesirable signals are multipath signals that are coming at the back side of the antenna. You can look up multipath signals on the internet.