eBay Antenna Reviews, Ratings, and Discussion

[Piggie]

Here is a ebay video with a closeup of the aluminum feedlines from the VHF and UHF on the Nitro 3000.

Ok, it appear my guess was about right. The two UHF active elements are in parallel. And the folded dipole feeds from the top. Not sure what matches them, as that is a hard guess, hence the 2 UHF elements might not be in exact parallel but each could be into a different side of a transformer input.

Still it looks more like a real antenna just from seeing the feed points.

Even people in apartments could clear off a top shelf of a closet if these things really do lower the system noise as they claim (2 db) and offer UHF multipath rejection and even unity gain on VHF.

It's so hard to guess if that circular reflector give any VHF gain. It's not really wide enough.

===========

as an aside, speaking of VHF gain or not, why the heck is the Winegard 1080 antenna rated even by them as having so much negative gain on VHF? That doesn't make sense. I have asked them that directly and was told that Hans is re-evaluating that antenna. It's not just negative VHF gain but a lot of negative gain. More so than a 2 bay UHF without any VHF elements would have.

I wish I still had even some of my old 2 way radio and paging test gear. Or even lived close enough to try VHF antennas. It takes me 2 YA-1713s at 30 ft to even get a glimmer of VHF here. Anything smaller or closer to the ground doesn't do much.

Still not an outdoor antenna with all that plastic and what almost looks like tin foil feed lines. But again this could be the new generation of indoor antennas.

I like the Standing Wave Radio... what is that? lol....

They are brave enough to list a noise figure.. and if it's really 2 db could be their main point of helping indoor reception.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

More so than a 2 bay UHF without any VHF elements would have. --- Piggie

Really, that is a catastrophe!


I think Im going with teh #2, it looks more balanced, even though the #1 probably has more UHF gain with the extra director and the mesh reflector.....and the Nitro further still with the stacked UHF and circular corner reflector.

The VHF section looks wider on the #1 as well.

I might end up with 2 of them together, but Ive got to move some antennas through first.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Here is another interesting Chinese rotating antenna...

 

[CptlA]

Here is another interesting Chinese rotating antenna...

Hey, looks like you can mount it in a lake too.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

I have Antenna #1 and Antenna #2 on the way.

That last one I posted looks kind like a blend of the the Nitro and the #1. Stacked UHF front with the backend of the #1.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Here is another one. I see these are mostly all branded by different companies/names....Cornet, Quantum FX among others. I like the telescoping horizontal Rabbit Ears for VHF on this one.

Here is some info, mini review of this antenna...

I just put a cornet ET-4A rotor ant on the roof today and the picture comes in just fine. ( All Stations are about 30-40 miles from me - Syracuse, NY).

Before I had 3 different indoor Antenna's

A Radio Shack Amplified Indoor Antenna ( A self enclosed Rotor type)
That worked better that the Terk TV50 Amp unit as I would get a signal about 60% using The RS ant the rest of the time was spent adjusting the ant with the remote control. This is the downstairs Philips 42" LCD HDTV

The upstairs TV is a Samsung 32" LCD ( which pulls in the OTA signals better than the Philips) was using a Philips Indoor Amp Antenna.

Both TV's had such poor OTA Reception that I almost gave up so I tried the Cornet ET-4A and what a differance!! Now the ET-4A is a really cheap Rotor antenna I figured for 40 bucks I'd give it a try.

Well it works surprizing good and when I was looking for outdoor antenna's I went to Circuit City and saw one that looked just like it but for the cost of $149.00 usd.

So in answer try your antenna on the roof you have right now and if it works for the HDTV cool, if not shop around ( I bought the ET-4A off of Ebay) it goes to show that you don't have to spend a arm and a leg to get a Antenna that will work just fine.

http://www.highdefforum.com/339059-post6.html

Cornet Mobile UHF-VHF-FM 360 Degrees Rotating Antenna ET-4A is controled by a remote control. There is only one cable to the antenna that supplies the low voltage to the motor and sends the signal to the TV.

There is a small reciever which the cable is connected to ( which is pluged into a AC outlet. You get 75 foot of cable for the ant connection, a 6 foot cable, the remote, the IR Reciever and assembley took a whole 2 min. The one thing you don't get is a mounting pole. I went to Home Depo and for 4 bucks bought a 10 foot 3/4" pole and a couple of pipe hangers. Instalation time was about a half hour.

The antenna weighs about 1-2 lbs. I also could not find much about this antenna on the web as I belive it's an out dated unit but I am quite happy with the operation and the signal quailty that it has provided. The antenna can rotate 359 deg ( there is a tab stop )

Best thing is it was cheap lol. Ebay and this other site Jellyfish com/products/offerings/5095/7262396 has it for $24.43.

I hope that helps in giving you the information you need.

I'll post a picture today if I can do that on this site

http://www.highdefforum.com/342253-post8.html

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Update on the Cornet ET-8DA (Terk HDTVo look alike)

Well, Ill have to get back to this one. I went to mount it on the roof, I hooked up the power injector that came with it to the Philips RG6 Quad Shield that goes to the roof and connected the other end to the Vizio GV42LF. Then grabbed the antenna and a wrench or 2, and went to climb the ladder. As I approached the ladder and shifted the tools in my hands, I dropped the antenna, not hard from about waste level to the ground, and one of the aluminum fold out VHF dipoles snapped off. So I went to repair it and the low build quality was immediately revealed.....two of the dinkiest little screws you could imagine into the dinkiest little plastic up spikes...the plastic spikes broke. On a positive note, the seller agreed to a return for exchange for a new one.

I think the design is sound, but the build quality just isnt there. I think the Terk HDTVo is the way to go on this design....as Terk antennas are typically well built.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

A-Neutronics AV ANI-851 eBay Chinese Rotor Rotating 360 Remote Control Antenna Review

Here is the box.

Here you can see the items in the box...now out of the box. Bugaboo: This thing takes some assembly, and more than your average antenna or consumer electronics item.

Here is the Remote Control and Cables and Remote Controlled Controller Box for the Rotor. I dont know if the amp is in this box or at the antenna end. My guess is its here in this box...which is less than ideal. You cant turn the antenna without the Remote Control. (Edit: The amp could be in the box at the bottom of the mast where the white coax leads into.)

Here are the connections on the back of the box and the power switch. Bugaboo: Note the proprietary connections for TV1, TV2, and Antenna. Bugaboo: The antenna itself has permanently attached RG59 about 45ft long, which plugs into the box here. You only get one cord to plug a TV in, so you're screwed. (Maybe this is a foreign standard and you can find connectors like this...anybody know?...but I dont want the hassle. (EDIT: I guess you can use a splitter if necessary on the one 6ft adaptor cable as a solution.)

Here you can see the short 6ft or so cable with the proprietary connection on one end and the F connector on the other....which came with the stinger pre bent...so the unwary could run into an unexpected hassle trying to connect this blindly to the back of the TV.

Here is a picture comparing the size to the widely known DB2 and the Quantum FX Indoor which is about the size of the Radio Shack 1880.

Here is the balun for the VHF section of the antenna. You didnt know this had a VHF section? Well me neither till I opened the box and inspected the antenna. The 2 outside loops of the reflector screen which measure 16" wide and 9" high and are made of aluminum. There are 2 of them one on top and one on the bottom with 2" separation between them with insulators which stand them off from the rest of the UHF section reflector screen. The total size of the reflector screens together is 20" vertical and 16" horizontal.

You have to strip a small piece of RG59 coax that leads towards the rotor unit and somewhere joins the UHF signal....and connect the VHF balun box.

Here you can see the plastic housing of the rotor, as well as the aluminum shaft. There is the UHF balun box up front. The UHF loops are 9" horizontal and 7" vertical diameter, with a 17" spread from the bottom of the bottom loop to the top of the top loop which leave 3" spacing between or a little less because the loops go into the UHF balun box and disappear. Also note the attachment of the upper and lower VHF elements on the rear behind the VHF balun box. The spacing between the reflector screen(and VHF elements) and the the UHF elements is about 5.5".


Bugaboo: The fit and finish of this antenna leaves something to be desired, as you can see the UHF loops are skewed and the reflectors vary from plane, the aluminum corners arent nicely machined. The reflector screen inside the VHF loops, are of low quality and the weld busted on one of horizontal steel bars and now I have a free floating spine on one of the reflectors.

Bugaboo: The performance of this unit leaves something to be desired as well....it was dissappointing. I initially had high expectations for this unit, because the design seemed sound with the dual loops like on the ClearStream2 or the Radio Shack 1880....and seeing the VHF loops and matching transformer balun box, my hopes rose further. However this unit was marginal at best. I tested it against the highly regarded legendary Radio Shack 1880 and the RCA ANT108 basic unamplified Rabbit Ears & Loop(a good antenna for that category). The Radio Shack 1880 did well, bringing in all my stations (including VHF Ch. 7 with the dipoles adjusted horizontal and extended 15" each and Ch. 16 off the backside), except my weakest or most problematic channel 4 WCIV (Real Channel 34). The RCA ANT108 came in next and adjusting the Rabbit Ears similar to the RS 1880 above also pulled in Ch. 7 but on the digital cliff, and brought in all stations except Ch. 5 WCSC (RC 47) and Ch. 4 WITV (RC 34) including 16 (my closest and strongest channel) "off the backside" (well this si a bi-directional antenna so). The good performance of the basic RE&Loop is evidence of good atmospherics at the time of testing these 3 units as Im very familiar with this antenna and its performance over time at this location....which makes the A Neutronics performance even more dissappointing given its dismal showing. It was only stable on 2 of my strongest post transition channels (24 WTAT RC 24 and 36 WMMP RC 36). I wanted this to do better and tried to use the extra 45 foot of coax to walk it outside and find a better sweet spot....but I could only get Ch. 2 WCBD (RC 50) to lock and got pips of digital cliff on Ch. 5....it did bring in Ch. 16 when I turned it around and pointed in that direction....and I did find a lock on 7 in a sweet spot so the VHF loops are working...this was with a lot of dancing around with the antenna though. Bottom line....the basic unamped Rabbit Ears & Loop smoked it!

And to top it all off, I couldnt get the rotor to work, and couldnt figure out why for the life of me...trying to troubleshoot it....after some frustration....turns out the darn remote is a dud...no power on the remote and no rotor controls on the controller unit box. More poor quality.

I wanted to like this antenna....

Nicely sized 9" double loops for UHF with good reflector spacing....VHF loops maybe a bit smallish but the thought was great with insulated stands offs from the UHF reflector screen.....thick aluminum for the VHF and UHF elements....integrated rotor with remote control.....but alas....

NOT Recommended

Pros

Promising innovative design.
Thick gauge aluminum loops on UHF and VHF.


Cons

Non-standard connectors and permanently attached coax.
Somewhat difficult and complicated assembly.
Poor build quality.
Poor material quality.
Poor fit and finish.
Poor quality control.
Poor performance.


Edit:

Update on the A Neutronics...

Review continued....

Without most of the suspect Chinese electronics between the naked antenna and the tuner, this antenna is performing great (at least on UHF).

I hooked it up to a 6 foot coax with an F-connector adaptor to the short coax lead out of the UHF balun box of the A Neutronics front loops.

Picked up all stations....including my most troublesome Channel 4 WCIV (RC 34)....solid no pixelation......except for VHF High channel 7 WITV (RC 7).....but I didnt have the VHF loops hooked up, yet! This was UHF double loops only. Channel 16 off the backside....solid.

I referenced against the RCA ANT108 basic RE&Loop in the same location directly afterwards. The RCA was giving 16,24,36 (all with same RCs as call numbers) solid. Also it was giving bad unwatchable pixelation, basically frozen pixelated images from time to time, on 2 (RC 50), 5 (RC 47), and 7 (RC 7) and nothing on 4 (RC 34)

Cant wait to wire up the VHF loops and combine them into a UVSJ to see how it does on VHF High!

Its a shame the electronics are so shoddy on this thing. If everything worked as advertised, low noise amp, rotor control etc....then this thing would sing! Perhaps others got luckier than I. If so they got a very good antenna.

I hooked up the DB2 in the same location, for a double check. The naked A-Neutronics is at least performing on par with the DB2 on UHF. Indentical reception recorded.

Please read the following 3 pages for more details and pics of the interior electronics...

 

[Piggie]

A-Neutronics ANI-851 Review

Here is the balun for the VHF section of the antenna. You didn't know this had a VHF section? Well me neither till I opened the box and inspected the antenna. The 2 outside loops of the reflector screen which measure 16" wide and 9" high and are made of aluminum. There are 2 of them one on top and one on the bottom with 2" separation between them with insulators which stand them off from the rest of the UHF section reflector screen. The total size of the Reflector screen is 20" Vertical and 16" Horizontal.

That makes each loop resonant at 224 MHz, again a little to short lowering it's radiation resistance at American high band channels. Plus being that close to the ground plane of the UHF reflector would seriously limit the electrical field surrounding the VHF compared to it being in free space. It's a little closer to the upper end of Chinese high band that is 167-223 Mhz (compared to 174-216 in the states). So it may be close to unity gain at Chinese Channel 12.
http://www.soontai.com.tw/tvtab5.html

It would not have any gain at VHF and be subject to mulitpath. However it's one of those things that in the right location it may be all the VHF reception one needs.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

I wonder if the amp wasnt working and therefore acting as an attenuetor, never can be sure with Chinese quality.

I dont think I want to hunt down a remote, purchase it, then sell the unit. I may get into this one further with pictures, and then try to salvage just the antenna, minus the rotors and other crap....use my own UVSJ and see how that works.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

That makes each loop resonant at 224 MHz, again a little to short lowering it's radiation resistance at American high band channels. Plus being that close to the ground plane of the UHF reflector would seriously limit the electrical field surrounding the VHF compared to it being in free space. It's a little closer to the upper end of Chinese high band that is 167-223 Mhz (compared to 174-216 in the states). So it may be close to unity gain at Chinese Channel 12.
China TV Frequency Table

It would not have any gain at VHF and be subject to mulitpath. However it's one of those things that in the right location it may be all the VHF reception one needs.

Yeah, I bet having a reflector inside the loop seriously negatively affects the way the loop functions as an antenna. Great catch on Chinese television channel frequency and assignment, then it would makes sense to have a loop tuned to 200ish MHz. I bet the connectors are a Chinese standard as well.

 

[Aaron62]

Here you can see the plastic housing of the rotor, as well as the aluminum shaft. There is the UHF balun box up front. The UHF loops are 9" Horizontal and 7" Vertical, with a 17" spread from the bottom of the bottom loop to the top of the top loop which leave 3" spacing between or a little less as because the loops come into the UHF balun box and disappear. Also note the attachment of the upper and lower VHF elements on the rear behind the VHF balun. The spacing between the reflector screen (and VHF elements) and the the UHF elements is about 5.5".


Bugaboo: The fit and finish of this antenna leaves something to be desired, as you can see the UHF loops are skewed and the reflectors vary from plane, the aluminum corners arent nicely machined. The reflector screen inside the VHF loops, are of low quality and the weld busted on one of horizontal bars and now I have a free floating spine on one of the reflectors.

Bugaboo: The performance of this unit leaves something to be desired as well....it was dissappointing. I initially had high expectations for this unit, because the design seemed sound with the dual loops like on the ClearStream2 or the Radio Shack 1880....and seeing the VHF loops and matching transformer balun box, my hopes rose further. However this unit was marginal at best. I tested it against the highly regarded legendary Radio Shack 1880 and the RCA ANT108 basic unamplified Rabbit Ears & Loop(a good antenna in that category). The Radio Shack 1880 did well, bringing in all my stations (including VHF Ch. 7 with the dipoles adjusted horizontal and extended 15" each and Ch. 16 off the backside), except my weakest or most problematic channel 4 WCIV Real Channel 34. The RCA ANT108 came in next and adjusting the Rabbit Ears similar to the RS 1880 above also pulled in Ch. 7 but on digital cliff, and brought in all stations except Ch. 5 WCSC (RC 47) and Ch. 4 WITV (RC 34) including 16 (my closest and strongest channel) off the backside(well this si a bi-directional antenna so). The good performance of the basic RE&Loop is evidence of good atmospheric at the time of testing these 3 units as Im very familiar with this antenna and its performance over time at this location....which makes the A Neutronics performance even more dissappointing given its dismal performance. It was only stable on 2 of my strongest channels post transition (24 WTAT RC 24 and 36 WMMP RC 36). I wanted this to do better and tried to troubleshoot it and use the extra 45 foot of coax to walk it outside and find a beter sweet spot....but I could only get Ch. 2 (RC 50) to lock and got pips of digital cliff on Ch. 5....it did bring in Ch. 16 when I turned it around and pointed in that direction....and I did find a lock on 7 in a sweet spot so the VHF loops are working. Bottom line....the basic unamped Rabbit Ears & Loop smoked it!

And to top it all off, I couldnt get the rotor to work, and couldnt figure out why for the life of me...trying to troubleshoot it....after some frustration....turns out the damn remote is a dud...no power on the remote and no rotor controls on the controller unit. More poor quality.

I wanted to like this antenna....

Nicely sized 9" double loops for UHF with good reflector spacing....VHF loops maybe a bit smallish but the thought was great with insulated stands offs from the UHF reflector screen.....thick aluminum for the VHF and UHF elements....integrated rotor with remote control.....but alas....

NOT Recommended

Pros

Promising design.
Thick Gauage Aluminum Loops on UHF and VHF


Cons

Proprietary connections and permanently attached coax.
Somewhat difficult and complicated assembly.
Poor build quality.
Poor material quality.
Poor fit and finish.
Poor quality control.
Poor performance.

What was the total cost? EV, you really need to start a new EBay antenna thread, I almost missed this!

 

[Yes616]

What was the total cost? EV, you really need to start a new EBay antenna thread, I almost missed this!

Ya know, a FleaBay antenna thread does sound like a good idea. Titled as such.

 

[Piggie]

But they have 100 mile range!:flypig:

 

[EscapeVelocity]

I thought this was the eBay Chinese antenna thread?

 

[Yes616]

We will see. Again, it's in the mail. :azn:

 

[EscapeVelocity]

What was the total cost? EV, you really need to start a new EBay antenna thread, I almost missed this!

$36 shipped. They go for between $27 and $50 with the average probably around $36-$40. I think A Neutronics is clearancing them on ebay right now.

Its not worth the effort to buy a remote and then sell this crappy antenna to someone else. I think Im going to tinker with it and remove the rotor and box and remote and amp and check this thing out in the clear without the riffraff....maybe with my own low noise amplifier too.

 

[Piggie]

Yeah, I bet having a reflector inside the loop seriously negatively affects the way the loop functions as an antenna. Great catch on Chinese television channel frequency and assignment, then it would makes sense to have a loop tuned to 200ish MHz. I bet the connectors are a Chinese standard as well.

It may add an addition turn like a coil in parallel which I think I remember raises the frequency. Or does it add capacitance with the air between the loop and the screen the dielectric? Would that lower the frequency? Either way it affects and more than likely reduces the reception as just a non-resonant piece of metal in the near field of the loop. The same way satellite dish clips on stink. They are so close to the dish the only advantage they have is getting the antenna outdoors, but actually have less gain than rabbit ears.

Another thing to remember is the loop is apparently tuned to the top of the band. And we talked about and I looked up you would rather be too long than too short based on radiation resistance, which is a very good indicator of reception or resonance of an antenna.

UHF I need to know the length of each loop.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

you would rather be too long than too short based on radiation resistance

Thanks for the confirmation.

23 inches....that is a guestimation as I cant see where the loops enter the box. I assumed a 1 inch gap at loop termination.

 

[Piggie]

Thanks for the confirmation.

23 inches....that is a guestimation as I can see where the loops enter the box. I assumed a 1 inch gap at loop termination.

That looks good actually, tuned somewhere in the American 20's.

Loops like that tend to broad so it's not so critical. Probably how the VHF side works.

But the UHF side has 2 elements in phase (I assume), with a reflector. Which should yield 8 dbd at least. I think the VHF side though one would find it's below 0 dbd.