Are These Any Good???

[bsr2002]

I'm starting to see alot of these popping up on the ebay:

DT-850C HDTV AMPLIFIED OUTDOOR ROTOR VHF/UHF TV ANTENNA - eBay (item 300250340324 end time Aug-21-08 07:59:20 PDT)

 

[charper1]

Looks like hype-ola too me. You can find confirmed quality units for about the same price so why not go that route?

 

[bsr2002]

Looks like hype-ola too me. You can find confirmed quality units for about the same price so why not go that route?

I already have a quality Ant. (4228) I was just asking out of curiosity. I sometimes wander off into the twilight zone of e-bay and keyword for fun, then I saw these antennas

 

[jgantert]

Haha, you're funny. Already have a 4228, and you're asking about that POS.

Funny guy.

You should buy it and find out how bad it really is. haha

 

[bsr2002]

Haha, you're funny. Already have a 4228, and you're asking about that POS.

Funny guy.

You should buy it and find out how bad it really is. haha

 

[lunkie]

I did buy one of them to see how bad it was and it is as delivered. Mine came from a different vendor and luckily only cost 29.95 with free 3 day shipping. Guess the guy was trying to get rid of them. So anyway it's a bit of a pia to assemble. In looking at it, the dual folded dipole drivers are cut for the upper VHF band, but the unit has no VHF reflectors. I lengthened 2 of the UHF reflectors that were behind the VHF dipoles hoping to help performance in that band. In looking at the coax that came with it, the center conductor did not seem centered in the coax. I checked the other end, same thing. I cut the coax in half, still not centered. On went new RG6 coax. Tried it on a pole I setup on the house deck and to my surprise it worked, and it worked better than the 22" oval all band that was mounted 20' higher than it on the roof. Now the rotor that it comes with is another issue. It only reverses when you stop the rotation or it reverses when it reaches the rotor stop. Otherwise you have no idea where it's pointing. Using the the signal strength meter on the 211 I can get it aimed OK. It rotates rather fast so it doesn't take long to point. Otherwise it works. So up it went on the roof, about 25ft above ground. I'm a little south of Ypsilanti Mi and it picks up all the Detroit and Toledo stations with signal readings of 85 to 98 on the 211. I connected it to an analog tuner and it pulled in a nearly snow free picture from Bowling Green Ohio (UHF about 70 miles) Even ch 2 analog from Detroit was snow free. So can I recommend this thing. Nope. A strong wind will move it off target requiring a repoint. The plastic that makes up most of the mounting will eventually fail being out in the weather and the assembly and tinkering I did may be more than most will want to do. And I would not pay anymore than I did for it. It's been up since last November and is still working but for how much longer????