Channel Master 4221 4-Bay Antenna

[GraysonPeddie]

Hi. I once did a search for "antenna" and came across this thread, so I thought I'd start my thread here.

But before you read any further, take a monent to answer the questions in the poll:

What area do you live in?
Do you have an antenna for your TV?
What kind of TV do you have?
If you have an antenna (or not, depending whether you've subscribed to the basic cable from your cable company), what type of tuner do you have?

After you're done with the poll, read on...

Here's my information about TV stations I'm getting (note that post-digital transition doesn't apply since I'll be moving to Orlando next year; plus, I'm only interested in digital, but just want to show all the chanels available):



The ones I'm interested in DTV stations are:
WTWC-DT - NBC HD (40-1; real channel 2)
WTXL-DT - ABC HD (27-1; real channel 22)
WCTV-DT - CBS HD (6-1; real channel 46)
WTLH-DT - FOX HD (49-1; real channel 50)

Currently, I have a Winegard SharpShooter SS-3000 antenna, and I'm planning to get rid of it, because I've stack so much stuff, which includes suitcase, 2 books, and a computer software package, where the antenna sits on top of it. But unfortunately, since my antenna can pick up a range of up to 30 miles from a television station, I think all that stuff seems to degrade the signal about 5 miles.

So, I went in to do a research on antennae that will help me boost the signal strength. However, with Channel Master 4221 antenna, I cannot garuntee that this will pick up underpowered digital signal from WTXL-DT (ABC HD). This antenna picks signals up to 45 miles away. I could go with Channel Master 4220, but I wanted something that gives me more coverage, so I wanted to stick with a 4-bay antenna.

A couple of days ago, I once stumbled across ClearStream2, I've researched this antenna and find out that ClearStream2 ties with DB2 (similar to 4220 from Channel Master), I was dissappointed with its performance. If you read the thread that I've linked, ClearStream2 has a gain of 10.2 dBi. Subtract 10.2 dBi by 2.15, and you get 8.15 dBd, which is similar to AntennasDirect DB2's 11.4 dBi gain. When it comes to a 4-bay antenna, Channel Master 4221 is similar to AntennasDirect DB4, which has a 13.7 dB gain (remember, AntennasDirect lists that as dBi, which converts to 11.55 dBd). However, I can't get a similar figure from Channel Master and that I may have found that AntennasDirect may be overrated when it comes to specifications.

Just to give you a general idea of how antenna fares with the others, have a look at the image from http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html:

A Channel Master 4228 8-Bay
B Channel Master 4221 4-Bay (3021)
C Channel Master 4248 Yagi/Corner-Reflector (3023)
D Televes DAT-75 Yagi/Corner-Reflector
E Winegard PR-8800 8-Bay
F Winegard PR-4400 4-Bay
G Channel Master 4242 VHF/UHF Combo
H Channel Master 3018 VHF/UHF Combo
I Zenith Silver Sensor indoor LPDA
J Small indoor loops
K Double-Bow
L AntennasDirect DB-2
M Winegard Square Shooter
N Winegard PR-9032 Yagi/Corner-Reflector
O Channel Master 3671B VHF/UHF Combo
P MegaWave Wideband Indoor Antenna
Q Winegard SharpShooter Indoor Directional Antenna
R AntennasDirect DB-4 4-Bay
S AntennasDirect DB-8 8-Bay
T AntennasDirect XG91 Yagi/Corner-Reflector

As you can see, my Winegard SS-3000 falls short below good quality Channel Master antennae out there in the market (don't get yourself caught up on Channel Master 4228 or AntennasDirect DB8, because those two are way less directional than 4-bay antennae).

I wasn't asking for help, but I wanted to post my findings/researches on getting an antenna for me. My current antenna is having trouble locking in ABC HD station, but even if I get Channel Master 4221, again, there's no garuntee that this antenna will be able to lock into WTXL-DT; but, I still will not get WTWC-DT (NBC HD), which I can forget about it, but I love to see some shows in HD, but I don't want to plug my TV into the cable TV service. I just don't watch basic cable; only locals. I know I can just delete most of the channels from my TV, but I like being able to be free from Comcast, but I'm stuck with High Speed Internet with Comcast for now.

Anyway, if moderators feel that this thread doesn't belong there, then you can just move my thread to whether it belongs. I just saw the "analog TV shutoff" thread during the search with the keyword "antenna," so that's why I posted there.

(Edit: Hmm... I thought I'm going to add in four questions in the poll, but only have one... This forum software is a little ackward to me.)

 

[CCfan]

Coat-hanger DIY antenna for cheap under $5.

Hi, all.

If you want to watching on youtube video:
YouTube - Coat Hanger HDTV Antenna!

Yes, I am big fan of Digital OTA. Because OTA has better pictures, sound
than cable or satellite. Hey, others can't beat OTA digital because
they are FREE! I hate analog OTA because sometimes closed captioning
is missing. However in digital are drastically improved with closed-captioned will be perfect -- unless transmitter, broadcasters, stations did have
closed-captioned errors -- at least watchable signal at least 40-45% reception signal.

 

[GraysonPeddie]

My delivery of CM4221 should be here today.

 

[GraysonPeddie]

(Phew... I was not able to finish up... My tab in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 crashed, but that's to be expected because it's a beta...)

I got my Channel Master 4221 (I'll call it CM4221) and I compared against my SharpShooter SS-3000. But before I begin, let me say that since I don't have the mounting hardware for my antenna, my antenna sits on top of the suitcase with the handle bar raised up to its fullest.

Analog
Channel 6 - probably WCTV / NBC: Barely can pick up VHF analog channel 6, although that's to be expected of my UHF-only CM4221. Ties in with SS-3000.
Channel 7 (unknown): Barely; same as channel 6.
Channel 11 (WFSU / PBS): It's okay.
Channel 14 (PBS but not in Tallahassee): Worse than channel 11
Channel 27 (WTXL / ABC) Good
Channel 35 (probably a music channel but I get a message saying that they have technical difficulties): Better than channel 11
Channel 40 (WTWC / NBC): Almost crystal clear and I think it fares better than SS-3000.
Channel 45 (not sure): Better than SS-3000
Channel 49 (WTLH / FOX): Have problems aiming, but once I aim to WTLH, I'll lose WCTV and WTXL)

Digital
Channel 6-1 (WCTV-DT), 6-2 (MyNetworkTV / WCTV-DT2): Great
Channel 11-1 (WFSU-DT), 11-2 (FKN), 11-3 (Create), 11-4 (Florida Network Channel): Great
Channel 24-1 (WTLF-DT / CW) almost have trouble lock-in but great
Channel 27-1 (WTXL-DT / ABC HD): Great, but almost a lock in. Of course, CM4221 is better than SS-3000. With SS-3000, it's hard for me to lock in to ABC's transmitter.
Channel 40-1 (WTWC-DT / NBC): Big mistake, WTWC, for broadcasting in VHF channel 2, but thanks for not making me addicted to Deal Or No Deal (even though NBC isn't forcing me to watch, but utter mindless).
Channel 49-1 (WTLH-DT / FOX), 49-2 (CW): Can't lock in unless I rotate. SS-3000 seems to score better, but I can't jump into conclusion here.

The final result is that it's pretty much a tie, but I must consider CM-4221 to be better because it is able to lock in to ABC-HD, but quite intermittent, due to WTXL's low power from the transmitter.

Perhaps a mounting hardware with a couple feet of pole (mast) can help with CM4221? I'm just thinking that the suitcase may almost himper the signal to the antenna, but my antenna is way high up to the ceiling. There is a possibility that the wall on top of the window sill can act as a reflector, but I don't consider that much of a problem. Still, it's better to have it outdoors, but because I live in my apartment and have no balcony, I'm stuck with indoor antennas, but CM4221 is a much better deal than SS-3000 if you don't mind not having asthetics.

But please be careful when installing like outdoor-liked antenna indoor. Some ends of the metal can be sharp, but my antenna's bowtie didn't cut my skin.

Update: No problems locking in the signal from WTXL-DT (ABC HD). During the time of writing, I'm watching High School Musical and no intermittent skipping! Although antenna-unrelated, I saw closed caption come in at almost the correct time, but disappeared quicklier than normal, as I didn't have a chance to read it.

My antenna tilts at a 10-degree angle from straight up (straight up is 0 degrees). I think this is why at a 0 degree angle, I don't think I'll be able to lock in.

 

[peterfrancis]

I like your post

I live in apartment as well. Same issues you mentioned about mounting the antenna. Then I read some more about how the walls and roof are preventing signal from reaching antenna. Then I got a longer coax cable rg6 type and moved around the room to find better spot. When I got to window the signal really improved. So now it is right up against window.

My apartment has windows on the north and south. The south side picked up half of what I got when moving antenna to north window. It required me running 50ft coax to achieve this since the living room tv is facing south.


I got a homemade 8 bay antenna using copper wire and no wiremesh backing. Tuner box is RCA. I live south of Los Angeles transmitter.

Peace! Good luck tuning in to more stations!

 

[GraysonPeddie]

I moved to Orlando as of August 2008 and I picked up 42 channels in 32825. I get the channels from East-Northeast where TV transmitters are located 15 miles away, which is much better than getting channels 30 to 40 miles away while in Tallahassee.

Note that I do get 4 blank channels from WHLV, so I deleted the channels from the channel editor through MythTV (recently, I bought a new Haupphauge WinTV HVR-1250 to replace my Windows-only AverMedia AverTV Volar Max H788 TV tuner, since I'm unable to switch to Linux during the recording of TV shows). Looking at WHLV in Wikipedia got me curious on what The Church Channel, JCTV, and "Smile of a Child" is showing, but those channels (I'm not interested in Spanish channels) are blank, which is no big deal as I don't watch too much TV, but just record TV shows and skip commercials if I'm in the mood to watch it.

Despite the fact that I get 38 channels, my antenna faces in the opposite direction of the transmitters. My CM 4221 is very strong on receiving that many channels.

 

[peterfrancis]

good to hear you getting all the channels

The signals might be reflecting off objects to your antenna. As long as you get the signals If your interested in a particular station I recommend building a Yagi antenna which is good for a specific channel. Martin E. Meserve - K7MEM - VHF/UHF Yagi Antenna Quick Designer I made one for ch8 which was coming in blank. Now I get 80% signal. I attached pics of the build - ch8 is 183.25Mhz

My main antenna is like yours. I got to get a switcher or combiner for the two antennas.

I wanted to buy a Hauppauge but not sure if it will slow down my computer while using it. My PC is Pent 4, 2.9mhz with 1 gig ram. You think it will run slowly with your tuner?

 

[GraysonPeddie]

Isn't a yagi antenna only for outdoors? I've never seen a yagi antenna that can fit inside my apartment. My apartment does not have an attic.

 

[Christer]

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