The HBU55 that I was going to buy off C-list got sold out from under me so i am back to square one and looking at the Winegard 7697 vs 7698. The second is 3' longer with a few more elements but seemingly not much more gain. Both have more gain than the Clearstream 5 by quite a lot. My questions are: 1. Are Winegards well made? And 2. is the 7698 significantly better than the 7697? Price difference is only about $15 but I wonder if the larger antenna would be more susceptible to wind and snow damage. I am 30 +or- miles from towers which are all high VHF except for one low VHF which I can live without. Tall trees nearby to my house in the direction of the signals. See more info in my previous post at
http://forum.tvfool.com/showthread.php?t=15896
Thanks, Larry