is a clearstream 5 worth the investment if you are in a basement?

[mastermesh]

Thinking about buying a clearstream 5 but I'm thinking it might be overkill? A price of 150 bucks seems a bit steep for something that may not work?

Right now I am using a radioshack amplified antenna ... this thingy is what we have... http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...ce=CAT&znt_medium=RSCOM&znt_content=CT2032189

This is the CS5 that I'm thinking about getting:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchp...&fs=saas&saas=saas&keys=keys&st=clearstream+5

Area code on tvfool is 65203 if you want to look it up. Right now we are in a basement in an apartment, so reception for ota is sorta not so great, especially on bad weather days. Channel 6 pbs and 8 komu/nbc/cw and 25 knlj religious channel come in ok most times. 17 abc/metv is somewhat pixelated or non-existent on a bad weather days, and we've never received any reception on 22 fox or 13 cbs. We are probably too far away from Kansas City to get signal from there so most of the channels are south that we are able to actually get.

I've read in some forums that 13 is nearly impossible to ever get no matter what antenna you have as long as you are below ground level, but not sure if that's true or not. 22 is low powered (it used to be a substation on 17 a few years ago - I miss that time since it was nice having fox back then. That substation is now ME tv which is ok, but old gilligan island re-runs and junk like that isn't really as nice as some newer stuff fox puts out)

 

[southofi-10]

If I couldn't put up an outdoor antenna,I would do some reading on the quality indoor antenna ratings and reviews.
I personally wouldn't spend that kind of money if it's going to sit indoors.I'm thinking there are better "indoor" antennas that pick up the all tv bands ( if thats what you need)And if you have windows,maybe you could sit it on a ledge.
Good luck with the hunt

 

[boba]

I guess you didn't believe what was posted in your Build A Gray Hoverman thread. Unless you can get the antenna outside on the Southwest side your just pissing in the wind.

 

[Kraven]

Antenna is on sale for 96$ right now. At that price, i might pick one up.

Agree with previous poster that you need something outside in the right direction

 

[harshness]

Have you spoken to the manager to see what they recommend/allow?

The mostest and bestest outdoor antenna isn't going to be worth much if it doesn't have something relatively close to line-of-sight.

You may be better off with a flat antenna stuck to a south-facing window than a fancy UHF antenna buried somewhere deeper inside.

If you don't have a south-facing window, you're living in a virtual Faraday Cage and will have nothing but trouble until you get an outdoor antenna of some sort (and it doesn't need to be much of one).