Review on TV antenna

I wanted to give some feedback on a good product.

HD/DTV/UHF/VHF/FM 360° Motorized Rotating Antenna

QFX Model: ANT-105

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Many of the over the air broadcast stations are 20 - 30 miles from my resid ence.

Which required me to rotate my Terk antenna to as many as 3 different posit ions.

After experimenting with several positions of the antenna, I found one that pulled in good signals for about 60 stations.

The instruction manual was seriously lacking and I contacted the company ab out it.

I had to drill 2 holes in the aluminum part to complete the installation.

Best regards, Andy

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Take care, Andy

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Reply to
Andy
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I never heard of that brand name, QFX. Where are they sold?

It sounds like you could use an antenna rotor. I live in the country, and I have a rotor. The nearest stations around here are 50 miles away, (except PBS, which is 22 miles). I bought an antenna from Menards, about

12 years ago. It was their second best (costly) model. The most costly one was very pricey and seemed like it would require an actual tower becuse of it's size, rather than use a simple mast. I dont recall the brand name, but I have been real satisfied with it. I have gotten stations as far as 90 miles, but they are sporadic at that distance. But those at about 50 miles come in well.

However, without my rotor, I could only get stations from one region, and there are large cities in three different locations. I put marks on my rotor control for the best signal for each of the 3 locations.

I get at least 50 stations, as long as I change the rotor, but most of the time I leave it set, pointing to the nearest city (50 miles), and they have all the channels I like the best. Probably get about 30 channels. But sometimes I cant get something like a football game, so I turn the rotor.

Rotors are sort of outdated, but they do work well, and are not all that expensive. But for city folks, I guess antennas are sort of outdated too. Personally, I would not pay for cable tv even if I did have it available. What I get on my antenna is plenty for me, and dont cost anything.

I DO have an antenna amplifier too, and it's mounted right on the antenna. That makes a huge difference in signal strength.

Reply to
Paintedcow

What part of "360° Motorized Rotating Antenna" did you not get? :)

Reply to
Mr. Emann

Guess I missed that !!! :)

Reply to
Paintedcow

Where exactly do you live?

Reply to
Micky

Advertising copy like this:

"The QFX ANT-105 provides full-band DTV/VHF/UHF/FM reception while the built-in motor rotates 360° for optimal reception at 1080p, 1080i, and 720p resolution? allowing owners to view digital channels on their HDTVs in stunning detail, vibrant colors, and sharp contrast."

makes me think the product is total bullshit.

Reply to
Bud Doobie

Andy:

I have only one word for antennas like the one in that ad:

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Reply to
thekmanrocks

Plus, with only UHF stations, you don't even need the bulk of the one pictured ... with exception of a few VHF translators that are quickly converting to UHF.

Reply to
Art Todesco

Art Tedesco wrote: "- show quoted text - Plus, with only UHF stations, you don't even need the bulk of the one pictured ... with exception of a few VHF translators that are quickly converting to UHF."

Art: Please stare at that image link for one hour, nonstop, and learn what a REAL aerial looks like.

Those dinky toys, including the one mentioned by the orig. poster, are just that - TOYS. Good mainly for viewers less than 20 miles, line-of

-sight, from a major metro market. That is, they can SEE the Empire State or a guy-tower from their windows. Or someone living where a "real" antenna is not permitted.

The only thing those weird looking contraptions are good at pulling in is money from ones wallet.

Lesson over.

Reply to
thekmanrocks

The antenna is shit with a 10 dB amp hooked to it. I had one. You would do as well with a coat hanger. Do yourself a favor and go to MCM.com and buy a real antenna.

Reply to
gfretwell

I think the OP was spamming to draw attention to his website. Just my opinion! I dont see this antenna as having much to offer, but for $35 one cant expect much. Heck, my antenna amplifier cost more than that. I probably paid 10X that amount for my entire antenna system, (antenna, mast setup, amplifier, rotor, and all the cables & wires), but it works well, and beats paying a monthly bill for a tv service. (cable or satellite).

I get a laugh out of the advertising for all antennas these days. Especially those "magic" ones they advertise on tv. They make it sound like you can suddenly get FREE tv, as if this is something new. This may work for the young generation who have never known anything more than cable or satl. tv. But any of us who have been around for decades know that there was a time when the ONLY way to get a tv signal was to have some sort of antenna, and it was always available for free, as long as we deal with their commercials.

What really gets me, is their ads make it sound like getting "optimal reception at 1080p, 1080i, and 720p resolution", requires some sort of special antenna. The truth is that the antenna dont see it as 1080 or

720 reso. It just brings in the signal that the station is sending. As long as the signal is good, it all depends on the tv itself, whether it has "stunning detail, vibrant colors, and sharp contrast" or is 1080 or 720 reso. My antenna was designed for analog tv, since it's around 12 years old. They still sell the same antennas today, but now the box says it's for "Digital" and for "HDTV".

What HAS changed, is that most tv signals are now UHF. Few still use VHF. So, some of the VHF elements on the older antennas are really not needed anymore. Thus, antennas could be made smaller and still be as powerful....

Reply to
Paintedcow

His claim that he gets 60 channels well sounded false to me. And his failure to reply where he lived. It would only take 20 stations with 3 channels each, but I don't think that much is available anywhere. Especially if you don't count shopping channels, spanish channels (unless you speak Spanish), duplicate channels.

Reply to
Micky

I'll stick with my suspicion that he was spamming. I have not seen any other posts from that user name, and he has not posted back. Just a cheap way to spam. I doubt the 60 channels too. I get about 25 from one location, and thats counting 10.1 10.2 and 10.3 as three channels. And I get the PBS channels twice (duplicated from two locations). I get one analog channel which is rarely in use, but always has a carrier. And I get some "audio only" *weird* channel. No picture, just sound. I dont get any shopping channel, but do get some "religious" channel which appears to be mostly a money making scam.

When I rotate my antenna, I get *one additional network*. The other channels are the same as the ones in my prior location, just the news is different, and sometimes the commercials. But that location is further so I dont get as many channels. Then there's a 3rd location, which is pretty sparce do to the extreme distance.

Overall, I get about 20 USEFUL channels regularly, and 3 or 4 more that only come in occasionally. This does not count the duplicated ones from other locations, or the audio only or worthless ones I mentioned above.

Reply to
Paintedcow

Well sure. 3 seems the only number to me.

No kidding?

I've never gotten that either.

I get a weather channel, but it's nationwide weather, and I might care about the weather where my brother is, or somewhere else, but I don't care about every part of the country at the same time. To wait until it gets to my area takes too long.

I think I get 2 shopping channels but no religious ones. I can make t he scanning stop ony at certain channels but on this dvdr, if I allow 14, for example, then it has to include 14 point all of them, including the spanish channel.

I get more than that, counting real stations even though I don't watch them, but not 60.

only come in occasionally. This does not count the duplicated ones from

Only because weak stations don't usually show, right? Not even badly, so y ou don't know to turn up the amp. Other than that, why would it be different. BTW, I've never gotten that afaik.

Reply to
Micky
[snip]

We have one VHF channel (7) around here.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

PaintedCow wrote: "What HAS changed, is that most tv signals are now UHF. Few still use VHF. So, some of the VHF elements on the older antennas are really not needed anymore. Thus, antennas could be made smaller and still be as "

Just leave on the elements critical to picking up FM radio. Some folks do use those aerials for it.

Reply to
thekmanrocks

Micky wrote: ", right? Not even badly, so y ou don't know to turn up the amp."

No antenna worth the metal it's made of needs an "amp". Build enough gain into the antenna itself and you won't need to add a noisemaker to it.

Reply to
thekmanrocks

Ever heard of a hobby called TV DXing? Do you know any amp. which can only amplify signal?

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Tony Hwang wrote: "- show quoted text - Ever heard of a hobby called TV DXing? Do you know any amp. which can only amplify signal? "

I heard of DXing, just not in the TV context. I'm just providing advice for how to pull in the ballgame, that's all. And anything that requires amplification to achieve that goal is just adding noise and is a waste of money.

One circumstance where it may be necessary is where you have a rooftop antenna like the one In my image link, and are feeding 4-8 devices, I.E.

4 TVs and 2 recorders/DVRs. In that case you run power to your attic, so the amp is as close to antenna is possible. Coax into the amp, and out of it into the splitter, and out into the rooms. All RG-6, by the way. Good digital reception is an all- or-nothing proposition - unless you live within visual range of the transmitters.
Reply to
thekmanrocks

An amp mounted at the antenna can sometimes help. It is difficult to make an anetenna large enough to have enough gain to overcome a long coax run. Even the rg-6 coax has a large loss at the digital frequencies. If the signal is not amplified at or near the antenna, the amp may not help.

Sometimes a low gain antenna is wanted because the patern will be larger. That way the antenna will not need to be rotated. Then the amp will help out in that case.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

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