TV antenna shopping

[Fritz]

has anyone tried one of these?
I bought this an it doesn't get 2 or 4 in the exact same direction as the upper chans.
I'm 35 miles from the (NYC) jersey antennas and this is rated at 40.
2 TVs and FM radio. 30' off the ground.

[ADTech]

The cheap, Chinese imported antennas like that are generally flimsy, the amp overloads easily,the rotor breaks quickly, and they are generally a case of you getting what you pay for.

If you want reliable reception of channels that actually operate on low VHF channels 2-6 also, you need an antenna with wide elements on the back end, generally up to about 9-10' in width. That means an all-channel combo for most folks. The RCA, as well as most smaller, compact antennas, were not designed for low VHF as there are very few full-power stations that utilized those channels, roughly 40 in the whole country.

Look for an antenna specified for operation of channels 2-51 or 2-69. Channel Master, Winegard, RCA, and Antennacraft are your best choices. Most will also perform well on FM. Such antennas are BIG, but this is a case where size does matter.

[Fritz]

Darn the Luck ! ! ! trying to avoid another behemoth. An antenna side pre-amp won't make up the difference for a smaller antenna?
Hard to believe that the NYC outlets of NBC and CBS aren't using enough gas. Ah well.

[ADTech]

How can you amplify that which isn't received in the first place?

[Fritz]

The signal is there (so the TV says) but it can't lock it in.

[BigDaveyL]

Originally Posted by Fritz

The signal is there (so the TV says) but it can't lock it in.

You probably need a higher gain antenna.

An amplifier does not replace antenna gain.

[Fritz]

the matching xformer that came with the little RCA (which I'll return) is cheap junk. The leads are #22 or smaller multi-strand with cheap crimp ons. It pretty much fell apart in my hands.
Is there a better matching xformer available,? Perhaps with solid gauge 18 or so and better lugs?
I guess I'd go with ChannelMaster or AntennaCraft, as the Wineguard site is poorly organized, seems to show all their discontinued products, which doesn't do me any good. Acraft has no contact link to ask questions.

[GroundUrMast]

Unless there's been a recent change, the Winegard TV-2900 is a decent quality matching transformer / balun. http://www.amazon.com/WINEGARD-TV-29...eywords=TV2900

[Jason l]

I purchased Chanel master transformers. They have separate solid lead wires. And are toughest I have seen unfortunately they just don't perform as well as the cheap rca balun