is this antenna any good

[corvairbob]

i was up early today and happened upon this tv commercial for a hd tv antenna. it sounded good but like all commercials when you try to to a review the reviews seem to be form the people selling the item.

so lets see how this site feels about this antenna. the site is called hdfreeunlimited.com they sell for 100$ a hd tv antenna and what looks like an amp that they say has a 300 mile radius, now i'm sure to get that range the unit can't be setting on the table in the house. it has to be up maybe 50' or more. that is a but hard when you see it as i don't see any mounting for a mast.

so let's see if anyone here has used this or has knowledge of how it may work for real. i'm betting there will be more honest feedback here than the reviews on there website. thanks

[OTAFAN]

Hi corvairbob:

I'm not a Tech, but it looks to me like an Antop Antenna knock off. You can do a web search and see for yourself.

Sometime ago, I saw a YouTube review by a Canadian TV installer in NE Canada who preferred Antop antennas for excellent UHF and good VHF (strong signal strength VHF) that could pull in the Buffalo, NY market for his customers in Canada.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chfDB0JWz8M

But I'm not sure how hdfreeunlimited compares to Antop.

Also, hdfreeunlimited's 300 mile claim is just plain marketing hype. TV antennas are LOS and much beyond 75-100 miles they cannot "see" the signals due to the curvature of the earth, though not impossible. A very tall tower can probably help in some cases and there are TV DXers who enjoy picking up long range stations during E-Skip. I'm fairly close to the edge of my tech experience and would refer you to others on this forum who have spent their careers in the TV industry and are adept at explaining these matters in a much more thorough way.

I hope this helps somewhat. All the best.....

[corvairbob]

thanks, maybe someone else can add more to this as well.