am a die hard Packers fan
How is the antenna?
OK let me start by saying I have studied antennas pretty extensively as a hobby. Living in Wisconsin, I am a die-hard Packers fan, and being a nursing student, cable is just too expensive for me. I started researching this antenna out of desperation because the antenna tower setup at my rental house is very outdated, and the cable connecting the antennas that are at the top of the 60ft tower is so thin, it looses an immense amount of signal. Anyway, I live about 36 miles from the Milwaukee towers, and about 50 from the Chicago towers. I already had the Antennacraft HBU33, which is an absolutely PHENOMENAL antenna if you are more then 40 miles from a tower (I have never used it for signals more the 50 miles away, so keep that in mind). This antenna (ANT751R, and make sure the "R" is at the end of the model number, as the model with the "R" is optimized for digital signal, as opposed to the older model which was more for analog signal) is designed for signals within the 40 mile range. I used my old antenna for Chicago stations, and bought this antenna for the Milwaukee stations. The setup works very well so far. I use both antennas with a signal combiner (a splitter that works both ways) and a RCA TVPRAMP1R for a pre-amp, and the picture so far is awesome. This antenna is so small, it seems like it would be ineffective, but WOW, its works like a champ! I will warn you that it does not pick up the lower VHF stations very well (2-6), so I had to modify it with coathangers to pick up those stations (Fox is channel 6 here, which a majority of Packer games are on). I did have to change the location of the antenna after not getting good reception on fox, even with adjustments with coathangers, to a higher place with fewer obstructions (the original place was clamped to the antenna tower as high as I could reach (which was about 10 ft up with a ladder), and was obstructed by the house next door, so your antenna may not have the low VHF issue, but I am not willing to take off my coathanger modification to find out if it works without it (if it ain't broke, don't fix it) in the new location. It is now on the roof of my porch, which is about 20 feet in the air. I also installed this antenna in the attic of my friend's 1 story house who is about 15 miles form the Milwaukee tower, and he reports perfect reception even without any sort of amp. Keep in mind that he was using a radio shack amplified set-top antenna before with a 15-20db amp built in, and on windy days, the reception would be choppy at best. He checked the reception on the day that the winds from hurricane Sandy were really bad in his area, and reported the signal was completely solid, so there you go. When installing this antenna, I would HIGHLY recommend using quad-shielded type f coax cable, to minimize signal loss. I would recommend purchasing the cable from monoprice, they were the lowest price when I installed my friend's antenna. Also, be careful with amplifiers, they can actually destroy your signal if your signal is already strong, so just keep that in mind. If you are at the very edge of the reception zone for this antenna, and your antenna is in a low place, or in your attic, then you may want to look into a pre-amp, otherwise, don't even bother.So to recap: This is a fantastic antenna that may not pick up the low VHF stations very well. I made a long loop with a coathanger and used hose clamps to attach them to the end of the VHF elements to get better low VHF signal, but that's just a suggestion. If you are putting the antenna up high, you may not have anything to worry about it. USE QUAD-SHIELDED TYPE F CABLE FOR YOUR SETUP TO MAXIMIZE GAIN AND MINIMIZE SIGNAL LOSS. 