Channel Master ULTRAtenna - Multi-Directional Outdoor HDTV Digital Antenna – 60 Mile Range, 4-Bay Bowtie, 180° Wide-Angle Reception, Compact Preassembled Design, UHF/VHF Support for Free OTA TV

I had been having a lot of problems with my fringe area standard antenna since the inception of digital TV. Through research I found out that TV stations are no longe broadcasting on the same channel as the channel number. In Chicago, all but two stations are now broadcasting on the UHF band. Channel 2 is now broadcasting on channel 12 and channel 7 is still broadcasting on channel 7, thus still on the VHF band. If all the stations here had moved to the UHF band, one would only need a roof UHF antenna which are not as bulky as VHF/UHF antennas. The long elements of VHF or combination VHF/UHF antenna are only used by VHF actual brodcast channels. So if you live in an area where all the TV stations have moved to the UHF band, you no longer need that bulky VHF/UHF antenna on your roof. Just get the best UHF antenna that you can find. I live 42 miles from the transmitters in Chicago, so I live in a fringe area.Now since I needed an antenna that covered the UHF spectrum as well as VHF channels 7 and 12, which utilizd a design without the long VHF elements and had strong UHF elements, I had a problem until I discovered this ChannelMaster antenna. It covers VHF channels 7-13 and UHF 14-69. The description of the antenna fit my needs perfectly. It looks like a pretty descent UHF antenna but has VHF capabilities. I ordered the antenna and switched out my old antenna with the new one on the roof. Voila! Pefect reception on all channels and no channel drop out, even on the VHF channels. I've read that even though this antenna isn't rated for channels 2 through 6, it did work pretty well on those channels. The description says that the antenna will work pretty good in an attic, although I have my doubts in a fringe broadcast area. Now if you think that you need a new antenna, just don't go out and buy any antenna. Find out what the actually broadcast channel is for all your stations. There's a setting on pratically every TV that will tell you the actual broadcast channel. There are also web sites that will tell you the actual broadcast channel numbers in your area.If none of your actual broadcast channels are lower than actual broadcast channel 7, then this is the perfect antenna for you. Even if none of yor channels are still broadcasting on VHF, this is still a great antenna for UHF. It does look a little weird compared to TV antennas that you are used to seeing, but it is remarkably smaller. I am ecstatically happy with this antenna. I personally think that it has a greater range than what is listed in the specs.

I installed this about 20 to 25 feet above ground, indoors, above my garage. The area above my garage has a wooden louvered gable vent facing 15 degrees west of due North. There is no insulation, so besides the louvered gable it is receiving signal through plywood and cedar clapboard. The roof above is asphalt roofing installed over tar paper and plywood.The Boston stations are about 15 degrees East of Due North and the Providence Stations are about 23 degrees east of due North. So I angled the antenna about 30 degrees to face the Boston stations. Providence Stations are about 30 miles away and Boston stations are about 61 miles. There is about 100 feet of Quad insulated RG-6 connected from the antenna to a distribution AMP which feeds two TVs, one only 25 feet from the Amp, the other another 100 feet. The 100 ft. run is old RG59.I easily received 39 channels on both TVs. Every Channel with a Noise Margin over 10db comes in consistently without out any break-up nor artifacts. This included numerous Boston Stations. Several stations with a Noise Margin between 0 and 10 come in if I move the antenna to point directly at the heading of the tower. This is also improved if I install a Channel Master Titan Amplifier for which I was able to tune in about 60 stations, but then I had some break-up on the very close stations. With additional work I could probably fine tune the amplification as I have yet to measure the signal nor try different levels of amplification. I used a titan high gain amp but did not install the medium gain amp I have. They now have one with a switch I might try at some point.The bottom line is that without any substantial effort, mounting indoors and not on the roof, I was able to receive all Providence stations, many Boston Stations and a few Connecticut stations that are 90 degrees from the direction of the antenna but close range (30-35 miles). There are houses in the path of reception and trees about 250 feet from the antenna. When considering this for an attic application, you will need to consider that for my application the signal is not blocked by insulation as it is fairly lucky that the garage peak faces the towers with only a 30 degree offset. Installation and mounting are very simple. You do want to be careful connecting the RG-6 to the antenna, do not over tighten - do not apply significant torque and when you unfold the antenna, unfold both sides at once to ensure you do not stress the phasing harness. This is shown in the instructions, it is not difficult and is really obvious and common sense. The antenna does not receive LOW VHF but there are no stations in my area that transmit LOW VHF. Remember that most stations with virtual channels from 2.1 to 6.1 are actually transmitting UHF or HI VHF at this point. There are several DTV sites that map this for you. Good Luck - I highly recommend this antenna.