Antennas Direct DB8 UHF Multi-Directional HDTV Antenna Antennas Direct DB8 UHF Multi-Directional HDTV Antenna

Pros: Receives signals from a good distance and easy to set-up. Cheep price for an antenna that receives this level of signals. Holds up well to the outdoor elements.

Cons: Parts can feel light and flimsy but it has last me this long. Does require a good location to receive signals. I can stress this enough, with a high enough antenna mast you should be able to receive any signal on the horizon.

Other Thoughts: I am in the east end of Toronto and I have been working on cutting the cable signal for a while (Wife is almost there). I have an old TV antenna tower from the previous owner and managed to setup the antenna on it. I receive excellent signal quality from Buffalo and Rochester, crystal clear HD in all it's glory. Toronto stations come in quite well but some times there is interference due to objects between my house and the CN tower. I bought a signal booster to keep the Canadian signals from cutting out occasionally. I've watched TV through few snow and rain storms now and not many issues at all. Buffalo and Rochester have yet to cut out on me (when I am watching or recording). Pair this with an HDHomeRun box and your laughing.

Pros: I put it on top of my TV stand inside my house to test it and did a scan for stations and it picked up 25 stations with excellent reception. I can't wait to to get it mounted outside to see how many more stations it gets.

Cons: None. The pictures in the install instructions do not match the antenna exactly but it goes together pretty easy.

Pros: This antenna works significantly better than the old spokes it replaced, picked up three new channels I didn't have before.

Cons: It came slightly different than the instructions, specifically the connector from the two masts to the coax cable. This was a little confusing at first, as I thought I was missing parts, but it worked out in the end. Not worth docking an egg for.

Pros: I wrote the previous review about pulling in signals from Toronto and Buffalo, and I just wanted to clarify why I described this as a multi directional antenna.

I do not have a rotor set up. My DB8 pulls in signals from 2 very different headings, even though it isn't directly aimed at either one of them (rather somewhere in between). These broadcast sites are more than 80 arc degrees apart, but I aimed the DB8 so that the the furthest site is only about 60 degrees off heading. One of those sites is relatively close (Toronto), while the other is quite far and crosses Lake Ontario. And yet, even without a rotor, I am getting very good and stable signal strength for almost all the channels that are broadcasted from those sites. To me, that makes the DB8 a multidirectional antenna. Your mileage may vary.

I also want to reiterate that I have no preamps on my line, and I live in a mature neighbourhood with plenty of 100+ year old trees in direct line of sight to both broadcast sites. However, I am still pulling in almost all channels from both sites, and occasionally pulling in ABC from a tower in Rochester, which is 100+ miles away. In my book, that makes this antenna oustanding.

My best advice is to use TVFool.com or Antennapoint,com to locate broadcast sites and determine heading, distance and broadcast power relative to your position. At bare minimum run a signal analysis. But to get an accurate estimate of reception to specific channels, check the coverage maps. This will give a good approximation of where to point (i.e. your heading). Then during installation, you can fine tune the heading (+/- 5degrees at most). A sighting compass works best, but GPS with a heading/compass function will do as long as it's accurate (any GPS with better than 3 meter/ 10 feet resolution is preferred)

This antenna is definitely capable of receiving signals within at least 60 arc degrees, and is sensitive enough to pull signals from over 100 miles under the right conditions. This is where the high gain sensitivity really earns its keep.

If your position lets you point to towers within this area, then this antenna should be great for you. Otherwise, consider ganging 2 smaller antennas (e.g. DB4e or DB2 even) pointed in different directions, or install a rotor.

Cons: manual is poorly written. Transformer could use beefier weather protection - a few layers of electrical tape should do just fine.

Other Thoughts: Performance of any antenna is hugely dependent on the installation. Height and azimuth are critical, so take the time to get it right.

Avoid attic installs unless you are within 40 miles of the tower. Attic installs cut power by up to 40% right off the top.

Avoid splitters because they cut signal strength dramatically - up to 70% on low quality splitters. If absolutely necessary, install a splitter with a good 1MHz or greater chip board, and with as few splits as possible. (i.e. don't install an 8 way splitter if you only need 3, because each subsequent split reduces signal strength even more). The more you split, the more likely you'll need a pre-amp, which has its own set of issues.

Pros: This is an excellent multi-directional antenna.

Mine is roof mounted, approx 35 feet from the ground. Approx 70feet of RG6 cable with nothing but a grounding block on the line (i.e. no splitters, pre-amps, diplexers, combiners, etc.)

From my home, the two main sites are Toronto (heading = 53degrees, 16 miles) and Buffalo and surrounding area (furthest tower heading is 133 degrees and 78miles). From my home, these sites are almost a right angle apart from each other - about 80 arc degrees.

With my antenna pointed at a heading of about 115 degrees, I am pulling *almost all* channels from these sites, so I don't know why some owners are claiming operating ranges of 10-15 arc degrees. My operating range is about 60 degrees (i.e. 115 - 53= 57 arc degrees)

I can get up to 22 channels, including 1 weak signal from Rochester on good weather days. To be clear, Rochester is about 12 arc degrees and 104 miles away from my antenna's position and heading. In the future, I'd like to try a 10ft extension (for a total of 45feet off the ground) to see if I can stabilize the Rochester signal.

On bad weather days, I lose up to 3 channels - all of them are from a similar heading in Buffalo. I lose NBC partially to weather, but more likely due to the fact that the NBC tower has had fluctuating broadcast power for quite some time now. Other than that, all channels are stable all the time.

This is a great design... very light and wind resistant. Not monstrously large, but still sensitive enough to pick up a signal over 100 miles away. I'll bet with the right set up and conditions, this would be capable.

Cons: As some have said, Installation manual isn't great. Would have been better if the antenna was labelled with letters and/or arrows and cross referenced with the manual. I had to re-assemble both cross braces because I put them on the wrong side of the mesh.

Also, the transformer didn't seem as weather resistant as I would have liked - no visible gaskets or weather sealing. I wrapped it in several layers of good quality electrical tape. So far no issues.

Packaging is average. I would have preferred more styrofoam molds or peanuts.

Pros: This is a very good top of the line DIRECTIONAL antenna.

Cons: Miscategorized by newegg. This is a directional antenna, not multi-directional.

Other Thoughts: The people giving this a poor review are attempting to use it as a multi-directional antenna. The shield on the back reflects the signal back over the bowtie antennas to double the signal quality, but it prevents signal from coming in from the back. If you want this to be a multi-directional antenna, remove the shield from the back... but that will cut your reception in half. Basically, you have either a 35 mile multi-directional antenna, or a 70 mile directional antenna.

Pros: Greatest HD Antenna I ever used picks up everything very strong without fade and without a preamp on a 100 foot cable...

Cons: This antenna is not multi-directional at all you really have to dial it in..

Other Thoughts: Best to have person spotting on the tv on the inside versus placing it at the specified compass position it says on the internet as there are many variables

Pros: It is definitely a 70 mile antenna.

Relatively easy to assemble.

Almost doubled the number of channels received.

Cons: Assembly instructions were very vague, but this only cost me 5 minutes tops.

The high vhf reception is hit or miss, but the pre-amp seems to have helped that.

The 70 mile aspect is very directional, but this was expected.

Other Thoughts: I bought this antenna to see if it would improve reception of stations that are 41 miles away. The Clearstream 4 from Antennas Direct had about the same reception from this distance, so I decided to point it at Milwaukee. To my surprise, it picked up most of the Milwaukee stations that are 67.6 miles away.

I currently have the DB8 and Clearstream 4 combined; The Clearstream 4 is facing Chicago and the DB8 is facing milwaukee. Using an RCA pre-amp picked up from a local hardware store, I am able to pull in 70 channels reliably. Before combining these antennas, I was able to pick up around 42 channels.

Both antennas are installed in the attic with the pre-amp connected after the antenna signals are combined.

Pros: I'm picking up channels up to 153 miles away at 70' up
I'm getting 43 free OTA channels 40 of witch work 24/7 and never get drop outs.

Best antenna I ever had.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: this antenna is the best I have ever use.
digital converter, antenna is 70' up
and CM titan 2 pre-amp

Pros: looks good
light weight
good gain

Cons: instruction on how to put together leave much to the imagination..

Other Thoughts: i live providence, r.i about 50 miles south of boston, ma. needed something to be able to pull in the locals from my home town.. which i thought was a long shot since where i live i'm basically at the bottom of a bowl sorrounded by hills and to make it worse tall trees on top of those hills.. but this thing pulls in almost every station from beantown except for a few that come and go but should not be a problem that a pre-amp wouldn't be able to handle.. so i would recommend this to anyone living in a mountainous terrain and need a multi-directional tv signal catcher.
kudos to antennas direct..
eg. (house is a duplex- and it's roof mounted on a 10ft mast)