Side by Side Comparison of: Winegard vs RCA

Purchased this to replace DirecTV. This device is engineered to do that exact thing. It fits on the antenna stem my Slimline Dtv dish was mounted on. It uses the same coax cables. It comes with a power injector and an ac adapter. I literally just unhooked my pre-installed DirecTV system, mounted this antenna and the supplied power injector to the existing co-ax cables, and then plugged the correct line into my Sony flatscreen. After I auto-programed the TV's built in tuner, I got more channels than Anntennaweb says are available in my area.Hats off to a great, well engineered device here. It performs well, and it's engineered and built in the USA.

First I had bought the Winegard MS-2002 for my last house in the attic and loved it. But didn't bring it when we moved (regretted it since). We had cable with our recent home until deciding to cut the cord. After reading recent reviews I was worried that they had gone down in build quality. After unpacking it and a quick install in the attic I was worried until I started checking everything out closer. After some inspection I found two of the cables that had worked fine for cable couldn't cut it when switching over to an antenna. Using new RG6 cables to connect the antenna to the power inserter then running it to my powered 10 port splitter and checking every connection in the house and replacing the bad cables fount at two wall jacks to TV's I now get 31 of a possible 33 stations identified on Antenaweb with a maximum distance of around 30 miles. The best I could do with an indoor antena we just got rid of was 23. And of those 31 I will admit 2 stations are borderline with a few pixles that drop every once in a while but still watchable. So your results may vary however with some checking on your end this antenna can do a great job. Take your time and use only RG6 cable with good ends and you are well on your way to great reception with this antenna. No need to pay for TV when I get this much for free.

I very very surprised at the performance of this small antenna. I happen to be in a good area but still this antenna pulls in 42 stations for me.I have it mounted on my house using an 11.5 foot mast. I get stations from 45 plus miles away. Every location is different but this has worked for me in an excellent way. Check www.antennaweb.org for best estimation of your local possibilities. Good Luck in your application. Winegard also makes and great line amp for long cable lengths.

Finally got tired of the Comcast / AT&T switch every other year to try and get decent TV pricing... went back to over-the-air antenna TV. I did not want to put an antenna on the roof, hoping to find something that would fit in the attic and still get a good signal. Sent in a request directly to Winegard, giving them my home location, to let them recommend a product - very happy I did that. I was thinking of some sort of older style antenna with lots of arms, etc... hoping that I could get all the local channels and still fit it inside my attic. Winegard came back with a recommendation of their MS-2002 antenna so I went ahead and ordered it thru Amazon. 2 days later, the antenna arrived and I started the installation process. I had previously run good quality coax wire to the various TV locations in the house, but I still had to get the coax up into the attic. After running the coax, I installed the MS-2002 and started checking the local channels. Some came in clearly, others were marginal, a couple did not come in at all. I marked the antenna with some blue masking tape so I had a reference and started rotating the antenna 15 degrees at a time. After a half hour of testing, I found a direction that allowed me to see all the local ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and PBS stations. Very pleased with the picture quality - CBS and NBC both broadcast in 1080 definition and the picture quality is superior to either Comcast or AT&T. The other local channels broadcast in 720 and the picture quality is still very good. Very happy with free TV once again. Would recommend sending your zip code location to Winegard and let them recommend one of their products and buy based on their recommendation... Would also recommend using high quality coax along with a decent splitter... Worth the $60 investment to save money for cable TV.

- Installed this at relatives home. Used a longer arm mount similar to dish tv mount, sold here on Amazon. Antenna ended up about 25 ft above ground level. TV transmitters were located in all directions, so a directional antenna wasn't going to be the ideal set up.. We chose this one and it did the trick.. Mounting was simple and painless.. The antenna has a built in pre-amp. Hoping that stands up to the test of time as well. I would guess without a preamp this antenna will not pull in many stations. We were impressed with how it performed. I would say the farthest tv transmitter was 50 miles away, and it was holding it solid.. I would recommend this to anyone needing an Omni 360 degree antenna.. Prob really good for in town Urban application, where towers are located in many different directions.. If you are looking for something on for Rural application, prob be better off with a directional antenna for better range.. For this application, it works great.

I was skeptical when I ordered this antenna since it looked very simple and toy-like. It replaced a long-range multi-element aluminum roof antenna that was almost 10 feet long and had to be aimed at the desired stations. Since my stations were in two groups about 180 degrees apart and between 25 and 65 miles from my house, I needed the extra range. The old antenna was damaged in a storm and wasn't working very well anymore. To make a long story short, the old antenna received 13 stations, even with an amplifier, and the Winegard, mounted in the same place, picked up 32 stations without trying to aim it at anything. It truly worked in a 360 degree circle. It's constructed to be completely weather and sun resistant and seems to work very well after about 3 weeks of service. I had to install an electrical outlet in my attic to plug in the included amplifier. It's recommended that the amp be installed ahead of any splitter and I split the signal in the attic to run to two different TV sets...thus the need for the attic electrical outlet. Earlier I mentioned that I amplified the old antenna but I did it with the new amp included with the Winegard before removing the old antenna just to see what it would do. That resulted in the 13 channels I got...the same as without the amp. The wind loading is much less and the Winegard barely moves even in a strong wind and at the end of a 10 foot chimney mounted pole. The antenna is a disc about 2 feet across and about three-quarters of an inch thick. It comes with a pole mount adapter and all necessary hardware.Bottom line...I would definitely buy this antenna again. Hope this helps you in your antenna shopping decisions.

This antenna is amazing!! I was using a "coat hanger" antenna I made from online instructions and it worked OK as I was just using it for the major networks (ABC, Fox, etc) but it sometimes went in and out (CBS is about 50 miles away). I got tired of it not always picking up the signal so I decided to buy this RCA antenna after doing considerable research. I went from 10-11 channels to about 35 which constitutes all that are in my available area. I am surrounded by tall buildings in the middle of a fairly big city and it has no trouble locating any of the available signals. I have it placed inside on the 1st floor close to a window, about 6 feet off the floor, and aimed in the direction of the towers that are furthest away and I used a free compass app to aim it as close to possible to these towers. I have a few towers in-town that are in the opposite direction and it picks those up fine too but they are 20 miles or less in distance.

This antenna includes everything you need for installation and use other than the coax cable that will go from the TV to the antenna. The elements are super easy to unfold coming out of the box and they snap/locked into place which is nice so you don't have second guess if they are in their ideal position or not. The included high-quality mounting pole and bracket are solid and powder-coated well. I can see this holding up well outside just be mindful of the coax connections and future-proof them; I recommend covering them in electrical tape to add an extra layer of protection especially against moisture (rain, snow, etc.). If you are mounting this outside, this prevention ahead of time will be well worth not having to potentially change out a cable once installed sooner than necessary.

All in all, I am more than pleased and this RCA product is a winner. Great product!

Absolutely flawless! HD broadcasts received via this antenna have never pixelated or degraded during the two months that we've used it. Even during (rare) inclement weather in our area, the signals received are perfect ... and, frankly, that's far better than what one local cable TV service provider has delivered in the past.

Our family resides in far north metro-Phoenix (Arizona, USA) and just over 28 miles from the region's television towers atop South Mountain. One concern that we had before trying any antenna was that we are nearly surrounded by volcanic rock hills (400-500 feet in height) and mobile phone service (phone-to-tower) doesn't work at all in our neighborhood. Nonetheless, we hoped this antenna might perform for us.

With all of the included hardware (and our cordless drill), we easily mounted the antenna in the attic of our single-floor home (composite concrete shingles and stucco exterior) ... about 14-15 feet above ground level. We used http://www.tvfool.com/ to determine that the antenna should be directed at 167 degrees (toward the towers on South Mountain). Using a compass/GPS app on our mobile phones made that simple, but a simple compass will work Next, the coaxial cable that is connected to the TV set was disconnected from the coaxial cabling in the attic and attached to the new antenna. Finally, we went to our Vizio television, accessed the menu, switched the channel source to "antenna", and started a channel scan om the TV.

In just a few minutes, the TV scan found about 57 channels. Some channels were standard definition channels which were duplicated by HD channels. Perhaps more than half of the identified channels were either standard-def religious channels (evangelical ministers begging for your dollars) and shopping channels (also begging for your dollars). We opted to turn off the duplicate standard-def channels and religious/shopping channels using the TV's menu. Now we can use the channel up/down buttons to move through only those channels in which we have an interest.

ALL the major networks are received perfectly ... ABC, AZFamily, CBS, CW, Fox, NBC, 3 PBS channels (Eight, Eight-Life and Eight-World) and others.

This antenna supplements our family's use of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and SlingTV (with the ESPN add-on). We now have far more viewing choices (and enjoyment) than we ever had when we subscribed to cable TV.

OK gang here's the story:
Tried a few antennas before settling on the RCA.

Background: 40+ years Broadcast Engineer. Radio, TV, Ham, Radar.
Havana FL Terrain: Hilly in a slight valley and trees surrounding the property.

The Story.
Cut the cord a few years ago with DirecTV.
Prices constantly rising every month. You know, nickle and dime stuff until the bill was close to $100.00.
Bye, Bye satellite.

I then went exclusively with Amazon Prime, been an Amazon customer some 15 years now, also went with Netflix.
These 2 gave me the best bang for my buck. Movies and TV shows streamed via my DSL and my DVD collection helped.

Recently I decided to try a converter box on my TV, it's an oldie but goodie HD 1080i DLP. ( I keep stuff forever).
I purchased a View-TV AT-163 ATSC box with a 50 mile antenna, well so they say.
You know the antenna I'm talking about, the one that looks like a mouse pad.
I used my old satellite RG6 cable and hooked the antenna to it and laid it on the patio rail. Sort of aimed it to see what I'd get. 7 channels - not bad for where I am. 30+ miles from the antennas in a valley with trees all around and yes the signal was breaking up - I expected that.
Decided to see if I could do better so......

Antenna number 1 was a Winegard Omni-directional 40 mile MS 2002 and a Winegard DS3000 J-Pole mount for side of the house. This antenna was 30' AGL. Reception was terrible and this antenna was supposed to be amplified also. The same 7 channels with break up. Back it went.

Antenna number 2 was a 1byOne 60 mile Amplified Omni-directional. Up the pole it went - 30' AGL. 8 channels some usable the others constantly breaking up. Back it went.

Antenna number 3 was the RCA Yagi Directional ANT751R antenna UHF/VHF. It boasts about a 40 mile range.
I also decided to pick up a Windgard XT LNA-200 Boost preamp since this antenna is not amplified at all.
The RCA comes with everything you need for mounting on the side of the house. (now I have an extra pole, thanks RCA, love ya's)
Up the pole it went. 30' AGL. I placed the LNA on the pole right under the antenna, hooked everything up and aimed the Yagi to 94 degrees magnetic. Had the converter box re-scan for channels and got 12 channels with almost constant signal strengths of 57 to 75%.
Terrific. I now have view-able television.

This RCA ANT751R is a keeper.
Construction is of high quality aluminum, stainless, and plastic/nylon parts and I have no doubt it will last for years to come.

Networks received - ABC CBS NBC FOX and a few piggyback stations that transmit from the networks including a channel that plays old B&W movies, love 'em, and a local weather channel so I can tune into MY area for up to date weather feeds.
All of these networks are approximately 27 to 30 miles from me as the crow flies as calculated by TVFOOL.com.

All the other antennas I tried only got signal strengths fluctuating of around 49 - 55% amplified - that was unacceptable to this engineer.

The RCA ANT751R and the Wingard LNA Preamp are a perfect combo if you live in an area like mine.

There are other stations to the South of me as well and I see another RCA Yagi in my future.
It has proven itself completely reliable - Oh! By the way, I put this antenna up under very cloudy skies with intermittent rain.
Signals should increase slightly when the weather clears.

Enjoy.
-v-

Update on OTA TV Box, 02-10-2016:

Was using a View-TV AT-163 ATSC box.
Box has since failed and I went to a Mediasonic HW-150PVR HomeWorx ATSC Digital TV Converter Box.
I've reviewed this box and find it to be superior to the View-TV and iView boxes that I've tried.

-v-

Update: 04-04-2017

The antenna reviewed above with it's Wineguard Preamp are still functioning perfectly.
Absolutely no adjustments have been needed as of this date.
Very happy with this combination and recommend both.

-v-

Update: 08-30-2017

Tweaked the antenna a bit and signal strength is 75 to 95%

-v-

A compact version of the "fishbone" antenna that I remember fondly as a kid, this antenna brings back that 60's suburbia look. The mast that comes with the antenna was inserted into the existing Direct T.V. mast, and oriented north by north east according to a broadcasting map for my area. I used the existing coaxial cable that was installed by my former provider (Direct T.V.), and am now receiving the local and public channels that I was watching before for $77 dollars a month, but now with this antenna, am watching for free. Those who do not watch a lot of movies or sports, maybe just the news and a cooking show on the weekends along with the repeat episodes of Huell Howser, would find the deletion of their paid T.V. provider and the acquisition of this antenna, a great way to save some begonias.

I wanted TV channels, but I DID NOT want a cable bill - opted for installing this fantastic little antenna and getting entirely too familiar with my attic space. I worked without a spotter, so I made a lot of trips up and down those stairs (putting my calf muscles, thigh muscles and sweat glands to the test). This latest DIY project only cost me a few well-spent dollars and a good bit of patience and it was well worth it. Once i got the antenna installed and correctly oriented, I went from 0 to 48 digital and analog channels! I'm also getting 9 radio stations.

Since I connected the antenna to two TVs (in family room and master bedroom), I decided to add a preamp. It proved to be very unnecessary so I returned it. Both TVs have incredibly clear video and audio - I'm very pleased.

This Antenna works extremely well with all over-the-air channels in my area (all are within 30 miles). It was easy to install as I used the existing mount and even cable from the previous satellite system that was used. I changed out the power adapter that was used for the satellite with the new Winegard transformer. Great return on investment. I do like that this is omnidirectional so I don't have to change directions to get the best signal.

Product quality is fairly good and it functions well. I get all my local channels and more. Two small issues, I can't get the antenna to be "snug" with my mount pole. It may be the size of my mounting pole and the nylon/plastic bolt that comes with the unit and that you screw into the bottom of the antenna. The antenna won't be able to come unattached to the pole very easily, but the antenna itself wobbles back and fourth if you put pressure on one end of the top of the antenna. Second issue is that the instructions/illustrations show a rubber boot the slides over the coax cable where it connects to the antenna (on underside of antenna) to protect the connection from moisture. I'm having trouble finding one with out spending $5+ shipping on a $0.25 piece of rubber.

I know there are a lot of negative reviews about this product but so far it has worked great for me. I was able to remove the three directional antennae's in my attic with this single antennae. Unlike before I am now able to get a strong signal for all channels. I also had an issue with my old setup where when you ran the microwave it would cause some interference which no longer happens with the Winegard. My only complaint would be that as big as the box is I would think they could also provide the pole and additional bracket needed to complete the install. In my case I was able to simply mount it to a cross beam in my attic with the bracket that came with it so it was not an issue but I was surprised it was not included.

The MS 2002 worked better than I expected.I can receive about 13 transmitters with an average of 3 channels per transmitter. I mounted it on a PVC pipe about 7 feet above my roofline, attached to the chimney. Most channels come in perfectly, but one or two have occasional signal quality problems; possibly due to weather, tress, etc. With amplified rabbit ears I was receiving about 7 or 8 stations though this required some fiddling with the rabbit ears.I worry about the built in amplifier but time will tell. An amplifier located at the antenna is certainly the optimum amp location for best signal quality.

This antenna is almost perfect for my needs.I recently bought a house and decided not to go the traditional cable/satellite route for TV service. My household doesn't watch a ton of TV so I was trying to minimize the monthly bills.Using AntennaWeb.com I found the locations of broadcast towers in my area. Most were within 25 miles, but they were spread all around me. A directional antenna like I grew up with would not give me the best reception for my needs. This antenna is omni-directional, meaning it tries to grab signals from any direction. It does this at the expense of maximum distance. Advertised at around 35 miles for this amplified version. My goal was to get all the major over the air networks (to me this meant: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and PBS).The antenna itself is pretty self explanitory. It's a plastic plate with the guts concealed inside. All you need to do is use the (included) bracket to mount to an (not included) 1 inch antenna mast and hook up the coax with (included) amplifier. Ideally you put the amplifier as close to the TV as possible, so you don't have to run power outside to the antenna or anything like that. Just plug the amplifier in with the rest of your entertainment center stuff. The bracket attaches to the antenna using a plastic "plug" screw. If I were to improve anything, this would be it. It simply doesn't seem super strong and has a little tilt to it. I don't want to try to bend the plastic and the bracket is straight (and made from steel). It sits at a small tilt as a result. No big deal, but I think there is a small amount of improvement to be had there.After installing to the corner of my house and hooking up to my TV I ran the "find channels" program. I ended up with all the major networks I listed above with a few other channels I have no interest in. So I consider it a success.I was using a dinky little digital over the air antenna temporarily before this and was getting NBC, CBS, and PBS only. This antenna was the difference maker that allowed me to pull in ABC and FOX.The antenna looks a little different that what you'd probably be used to, but it works as advertised and is a great addition to lessen the monthly bills. Saving ~$20/month for regular basic channel service from the cable company is easy to make this cost a non-issue. Total I spent about $120 for the antenna, mount, cable/connectors, and wallplate/box. I am very happy with the results.

Good quality, shipped much sooner than I expected. I took standard shipping, planned to take it to the boat in the marina the following week and it came at 1;00pm that Friday.I got it mounted in mintutes and it worked fine. It does seem to have favorite directions for 2 of the many channels it gets. Local 5.1 and 11.1 vary slightly. They require about a 30 deg. rotation ON SOME DAYS to get a reliable signal. This was common with 2 other antennas I tried also. I would give it a 5 rating if it was 100% omni directional but I don't think any are 100% any direction based on my experience.

I set this up when we cut the cable cord. I put it up in the attic and it worked well given our location...in a slight valley. The sensitivity was just at the edge of the station broadcasts but it worked well for what we needed at the time.
We got HD signals over this antenna...you don't need a special HD antenna to get HD signals.

The antenna works fine. My reason for the 4-star rating instead of 5 stars is twofold. 1) Parts of the antenna were bent right out of the box and had to be straightened before use. The box was sealed so this is a factory problem. 2) The nuts supplied are too small to fit the bolts that mount the mast to the mounting plate, requiring a trip to the hardware store to buy additional parts. Summary: Good antenna, poor quality control.

I placed this antenna in my attic, and paired it with an over-the-air Channel Master DVR+ 16 GB. I'm 25 miles from the main transmitters for my area, and am getting 100% signal and signal quality, which I never got with the flat bowtie type antennas. I am also getting very strong signals from another city over 80 miles away. Nice! The only issue was that the rivets holding 2 long horizontal reflectors to the main boom were very loose, I had to reset them with a hammer and vise. If I have an issue later I'll put in a sheet metal screw in each.

Rec'd Dec 2015. My first impression was it was kind of cheaply made, as it's aluminum, very light, and the edges are not real smooth in places, so be careful. The instruction booklet stopped short of instructions to hook it to the cable. I wish it had added a couple of steps, as it didn't say how to attach the black plastic all-weather thing, so I left that off. (if someone can enlighten me, please do)
I hooked it to the TV first in the family room, worked right there in the house, so I went ahead and installed it to the railing on the back deck with a cable tie (we rent and didn't want to bolt anything), hooked it to the cable company's old coax cable that came out through the house wall, and the Tv to the interior end of the cable. Ran channel check, works well. Much better and more stable reception, by far, than with the original Mohu Leaf I've had for 2 years, and more channels. (The Leaf was taped to the patio doors, but very unreliable reception.) I now get ION, some shopping channels, and more. My only regret is that I didn't get a 360 degree version, as I live between two major cities in New England.
And yes, finding out where your towers are located via tvfool.com and adjusting your antenna direction really does help. A few degrees one way gave me ION, etc., and less than a 1/4 turn the other they were gone. I think I have about 15 stations or so - several PBS, ION, FOX, CBS, ABC, 3 shopping channels, Spanish, THIS TV, COZI, etc. The HD stations are, wow, very clear and bright! All we have used is Netflix and Amazon Prime for TV for 3 years now, plus the antenna. Saving 100's $ per year. That alone makes it worth cutting the satellite.

Getting a good solid HD reception can be tricky when you live in the center of an apartment complex, surrounded by trees. But, since I live on the outskirts of a major metropolitan area, with several tantalizingly close broadcast towers, I was determined to find an antenna that would do a reliable job. I tried every type of Mohu and Amazon flat antenna, from the cheap entry-level models all the way up to the giant amplified $100+ bowties. While they all worked to some degree, none of them could keep a channel locked in on my tuners consistently. I kind of expected this, especially since we're in the midst of a leafy, rainy summer, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. I still spent several nights with each model, inching the antennas around the apartment and rescanning each time, but never found a sweet spot.

So, I decided to go a different route and try one of these old-fashioned directional antennas. I bought the RCA compact yagi, set it up in my HVAC closet, pointed it in the general direction of local broadcasting towers, and started scanning. After a bit of repositioning and rescanning, I managed to lock into about 90% of the channels I had before. I can get the other 10% by rotating the antenna slightly, but then I lose another 20% of the other channels. AntennaWeb indicates about 40 degrees of difference for the outlier stations I'm having trouble picking up, and the others I do get are all within the same 20 degree band. So, this thing's definitely directional.

But man oh man, the stations this antenna locks in get really, really locked in. Rain, dense fluttery leaves, traffic, people walking by, none of those cause even the slightest blip in my channels. To me, that's worth losing a couple of channels (which, if I really wanted to watch, I could pick up by just rotating the antenna). I'm also amazed at how well it works indoors, with a floor above, a floor below, and several apartments between it and the direction it's pointing outside.

Everyone's situation is different, so it's tricky to say that this is objectively better or worse than other antennas. But, I will say that if the majority of your broadcasting towers are in the same direction, and you've got a lot of obstacles in your way, definitely give this antenna a try.

360 degree capability certainly doesn't mean that you don't have to turn this antenna to get better reception. When you get it turned just right, it's fine. Had high hopes for this antenna. Went and got a cheap-o from the big box store that works the same for a fraction of the cost.

I am in Frederick, MD, which is about 40 miles west of Baltimore, and 40 miles northwest of Washington DC, and I have tried them all mounted in the top of my attic, about 30 feet above the ground.I purchased this omni-directional unit after having tried three other antennae:Antenna's Direct ClearStream 2VAntenna's Direct ClearStream 4 Extreme RangeXtreme Signal HDB8X-NI 8-Bay VHF/UHF HDTV Bowtie AntennaI also have a Winegard LNA-200 Boost XT Digital HDTV Preamplifier.With the Clearstream 2V and the Boost XT, I get about 65 channels. With the MS 2002, with no amplifier, I get 3 channels. With the MS 2002, with the amplifier with which it ships, I get 32 channels. With the MS 2002, with the Boost XT, I get 54 channels.For my location, the best performance combo is the Clearstream 2V, with the Boost XT, aimed at DC.Best of luck in your testing

Easy to install. I mounted mine in my attack. 110 power is required for signal booster.I have three televisions attached to this antennae. I receive 11 channels. They are all UHF.I have one television that indicates signal strength for each channel. The antennae was at20-30% when it was mounted. I rotated and leveled the antennae and the signal strengthimproved to 70%. There is occasional digitizing but it is minimal. I have not had an antennaepreviously so I have nothing to compare. I am using this antennae for local stations andinternet services, Hulu Plus and Netflix for movie and sitcoms. Hulu Plus also offers severalTV channels. This antennae would have a 4-5 rating if the reception was better and the signalstrength was better.

Other reviewers have mentioned omni-directional issues, "sweet spots", and necessary use of the amplifier. I fully concur with their reviews.At my location, in a mountainous region, I have signal towers in all four quadrants - from 45 degrees clockwise to 150 degrees around to 260 degrees and another about 320 degrees. Distance ranges from about 5 miles to 55 miles. These include both digital and analog. This antenna picks up the following digital for me: NBC (2.1 & 2.2[this]), CBS (10.1, 10.2[cw]), PBS (22.1, 22.2[world] & 22.3[create]) ABC (31.1 & 31.2[lwn]) Can't get the "local" FOX and it didn't find anything for analog. So... 9 stations. Pretty good for here considering my local obstacles.Now, in addition to being in mountainous terrain, I also have considerable trees and other housing in my line of sight all around. For testing, I put the antenna up about 10' from the ground. I ran a scan WITHOUT the amplifier. I received ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I added the amplifier and got everything listed above on the first channel scan. I've tried other DIRECTIONAL antennas that would receive with or without their amplifiers. I suspect you MUST use the amplifier with this one. Lost a star here.Other reviewers have mentioned finding a "sweet spot" with this antenna. I concur. Though it is advertised as omni-directional, I was able to improve reception with small rotational corrections until I found the sweet spot that appeared to work for all the stations. Unfortunately, when I ran a rescan after I thought I had the sweet spot, it missed a couple stations it had before. I found 'em again, though. Lost another star here.I plan to use it for travel trailer RV'ing and I think it'll be okay. I'm a little bummed that I had to use the amplifier to get anything at all with my testing, though. The thin flat design will be good for travel storage, and the light weight & "pseudo" omni-directional features make for easy carrying around and setup. Hopefully shouldn't need to search too much for broadcast towers.I'll try to remember to update after I try it in a few other locations as I move around this summer.

Purchase one used off Amazon. It ended up being faulty. Pissed around with it for weeks. Ended up when you would push the connector up it work and down it would loose stations. Was able to get a replacement from Winegard only after replacing my RG-6 cable which was a huge PITA. The replacement didn't have an ARS tag for sending it back:(Now with the replacement I still have problems with a couple of stations. I used TVFool.com to locate my stations. With the clover leaf patter of a Omni antenna it should be perfect to for my towers. Three located NE direction and three SW direction all less then 30 miles away. I mounted it above the roof line and using the connector as a pointer (This was what tech support said to do) one station would not come in and another was a little weak. I now have it mounted under the roof line and now get all but one station perfectly. I have been able to get all station with a good signal but it wouldn't last. I'm still messing with it now. I have no idea if I'm dealing with multi path issue, too much signal gain, to little signal or what. If I had an $8000 signal scanner maybe I could figure it out. Still debating on wheather to send it back or not.

OK this is my 2nd one. The first one worked good at first, but then slowly started to drop channels. Before too long it was worse that the old aluminum antenna I had. Turns out, since it has some sort of electronics inside the antenna itself, apparently they burned out and then it was just about useless. Also as others have mentioned, the packaging was horrendous. Half open, looked like it had been dropped somewhere along the line, and was missing the crucial peice that screws into the antenna body and allows you to mount it to a mast. Wasn't real happy about that, but I'm an electrician and have a van full of materials and was able to fabricate something to work. I pity the homeowner who dosn't have a van like I do full of all kinds of stuff, and isn't accustomed to making things work regardless of circumstances.The 2nd one came and I'm still using it. The package was in much better shape and complete, but it's still a delicate package, flimsy cardboard and such. So far it's working good and it hasn't dropped any normal channels. However, both antennas exhibited the same quirk: when first plugged in and fired-up, it gets all manner of channels that I would usually never recieve. But after a couple of days, those odd channels disappear.You will need a co-ax cable that is long enough to reach from the antennae to the transformer that is included with the antenna. Then you will need a co-ax cable that will reach from the transformer to your TV. You will need an electrical outlet to plug the transformer into, and it should be convieniently located to where the co-ax cables will need to go. Again I am an electrician and am able to make my own co-ax cables and install an outlet where I need it. Think carefully about what you will need to accomodate the co-ax cables and electrical outlet. You may need to have an electrician help you if all this is not convienient.I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. I am located about 40 miles north of Greenville SC and about 40 miles south of Asheville NC. Most of my signals come from these 2 areas. I am out in the country in heavily wooded mountainous terrain with an elevation of 3000' above sea level. My antenna is mounted to a 6 foot mast attatched to my chimney. The antenna sits at about 30 feet from the ground overall. Any antenna is going to struggle where I live, so for the price I guess I am ok with this one. It does work much better than old style aluminum antennas and looks better too. I went from about 8 channels to about 20, some are repeats of each other. The high definition is nice also. The antenna seems to hold up well in inclement weather that we can get-snowstorms, ice storms and high winds.As long as this one dosn't burn-out also...verdict is still out on longevity...UPDATE 2/26/2012This 2nd one is now dropping stations also. After 2 of these doing this, it's obviously not just that I've gotten a bad first one, but a product defect across the line. You'll see others have had the same issue. The antenna has potential as a design, but wineguard apparently does not use quality components that last. I recommend shopping for a different omni antenna from another manufacturer.

This is the first of many antenna's I bought when I ditched cable a few years back. The whole reason I bought it was so I could hook all of my tv's to it. Worked good for the tv's closest to the antenna. But the one furthest away had a lot of interference problems and stations did not come in very good. Guess the distance was too long to keep the signal.

The plastic coated wires that attach the coaxial adapter to the chassis of the antenna are very flimsy so I had to do a little repair work. The antenna is definitely better than nothing, but even with a clear shot at the mountain all the area's TV antennas broadcast from, I still get digital artifacts in the picture and breaks in audio from time to time. For the most part it makes free TV watchable. If I were starting over today, I'd probably try a different model, but there are so many variables in a purchase like this (TV make/model, range of channels you're trying to receive, geographic location, weather, etc.) that I wouldn't discourage buying it and trying it. I have read it can be used in attics though, and I definitely have my doubts as to how effective it would be if I didn't have outdoor line-of-sight to the signals I was trying to receive.

The antenna works exceptionally well, but RCA needs to take a long hard look at the 300 ohm to 75 ohm Balun it supplies with this antenna. For just a few cents more they could supply a much more durable connector and resolve 75% of the complaints about this product. I was well aware of the problem with the delicate nature of the cheap connectors on the adapter when I bought it, because I had read the other reviews. Despite my awareness I still broke the connector and had to run all over town trying to find a more durable product (Ace Hardware). My recommendation for any person contemplating purchasing this antenna is to purchase a superior 300 to 75 ohm Balun at the same time you purchase the antenna and don't even bother using the RCA supplied Balun and just save yourself all the grief from the get go.

I pulled in 54 Channels but only a handful were at 100%. It was put to the test during a period of light wind and cloudy skies and did not pass the test. Channels will go in and out with the slightest wind or cloudy skies. The matching transformer is cheaply made and broke when I tightened the nuts, so I had to go online and do a scavenger hunt for their customer service contact. Instructions for mounting are poor and require a little know how. It's going back and am going to split the signal on an attic antenna thats been doing a great job.

I think the ANT751 is a good, compact antenna and would work well in certain circumstances, but it ended up not being well suited to my circumstances, which are considerably less than ideal. Even though I'm only about 10 miles from most of the broadcasting stations here in the Seattle suburbs, I have the antenna in an attic crawlspace, there is a hill between me and the transmitters, and there are trees in the way.

I originally bought the RCA ANT751 antenna because it's compact and well-regarded, but I ended up with multipath problems (go figure, given my circumstances). I decided to try the Antennas Direct DB4 with the thinking that a more robust, specialized UHF antenna might help, and it did. With the DB4, I have strong, rock-solid reception on the UHF channels now, even when the trees are blowing around in the winter. Like the ANT751, the DB4 is compact enough to fit easily in my attic. Note that all of the relevant UHF transmitters are in the same spot in Seattle, so I don't have the problem of having signals coming from different compass points.

As the Antennas Direct DB4 is a UHF-only antenna, I still had the problem of VHF reception. I solved this by combining the RCA ANT751 with the Antennas Direct DB4 via a UHF-VHF combiner (a $5 part which I got from an electronics specialty store). The combiner strips the UHF signal from the RCA ANT751, leaving only the VHF signal (and strips the VHF signal from the DB4, if there was any), and sends the combined signal to my TV. This setup gave me the rock-solid UHF from the DB4 with the pretty good VHF from the ANT751, and as an added bonus I can point the ANT751 toward the most relevant VHF transmitter in my area to optimize that signal.

The above setup served me well for VHF signals within the range of the ANT751, but eventually I decided that I wanted to access a VHF signal that was out of reach of the ANT751, so I replaced it with a longer, stronger dedicated yagi-style VHF-only antenna whose signal I combine with the DB4 as described above. It was much harder to fit this longer, wider antenna into the attic than was the case for the ANT751, but I eventually got it pointed right and I'm getting strong, reliable signals from all of the stations I care about in this market.

Among my learnings - keep the antenna at least 3 feet away from electrical wires. There are electical cables in my attic that run along the attic floor, and I got better performance by mounting the ANT751 up and away from them.

I do amplify the signal coming from the UHF-VHF combiner with the Motorola Signal Booster 484095-001-00 Bi-Directional RF Amplifier. I probably don't need it for the UHF portion of the signal from the DB4, which is pretty strong, but I definitely needed it for marginal VHF signals coming from the ANT751 before I swapped it out. I split the signal quite a few times inside the house, and the booster helps with that.

Overall, I like the ANT751, but it wasn't ideal for my circumstances. If you have circumstances that are less prone to multipath, it might be a good choice for you.

After trying a directional type broadcast antenna and finding it constantly had to be rotated for best reception I read the reviews onthis omnidirectional Antenna and it sounded like a better solution. I live within the city of Atlanta and am no more than 18 miles fromstations I was targeting. After installing the dish for a test approx 30' above ground above my ranch house roof I found that I got26 stations (most of which you would not care to watch) but did not get a couple of critical stations, NBC, etc. and even during clearweather there was some breaking up on reception. Although the quality of the main station we wanted, like PBS, ABC, etc was very goodthe consistency of the signal was not. Dissapointed!! Sending back

Ordered this based on reviews. Looking to receive channels in Memphis and Tupelo. Memphis channels are 24 miles away North and Tupelo is 50 miles south. I have friends who get 50 channels with indoor antenna.I mounted it at 12 feet using the direct tv mount. Used the direct tv cable that was already in place. Auto scanned and got a whopping 5 channels. I then proceeded to turn the antenna 15 degrees and scan again. I did this for 360 degrees. The max I got was 8. I am disappointed in this product which failed to deliver its advertising specs. I will be sending this back.

Well, it works. That's about all I can say. I was using rabbit ears prior to this purchase. I really don't see an improvement after installing this antenna. It is multidirectional which is a plus, but I found that turning it definitely affects signal quality. I live in a rural area where television transmitters are in all directions, but all within 35 miles. I have two stations that I could inconsistently pick up with my rabbit ears. I had to adjust them perfectly in length and orientation to get these stations and I still received them inconsistently, often with pixelation and often had to make minor adjustments. This antenna did help, but I still keep the rabbit ears connected as well since it didn't pull in those two weak stations on it's own and I still have to make minor adjustments to the rabbit ears. With this antenna combined with my rabbit ears I have more luck receiving these weak stations, but it is still very inconsistent and often dependent on the time of day and weather. Not rain or snow. More like heat and humidity. My best chance of receiving these stations is mornings and evenings. (When I was a microwave technician we would call this 'temperature inversion'.) With this antenna by itself I flatly cannot receive those weak stations. Only in combination with my rabbit ears to I have a chance. This antenna improved my circumstances only slightly. It might work better in your situation, but I don't think it was worth my dime. I guess I needed a better multidirectional antenna with a further reach.

SEEMED OK AT FIRST, PULLED IN 48 CHANNELS PHOENIX, AZ. YOU DO KNOW 20 ARE USEFULL, REST ARE RELIGIOUS, PAID PROGRAMMING, HSN, SPANISH, CARTOONS.AFTER 1 YEAR, MAYBE SUMMER HEAT LOST 3 PUBLIC T.V. CHANNELS AND MAYBE 3 OTHERS.I HAD BOUGHT ONE FOR NEIGHBOR, AND 3 MONTHS LATER HE STARTED LOSING SOME OF HIS CHANNELS. I STILL USE IT GETTING ABOUT 12 USEFULL CHANNELS, BUT WILL LOOK ELSEWHERE.

I tried this after the ClearStream 5 that I purchased on Amazon failed miserably to get channels well within its claimed range. I have 3 UHF channels (39.1,39.2, and 39.3) in which the transmitting tower is 26 miles away and I am just outside the green signal area. According to tvfool.com terrain is not an issue but my tower locations are since they are 53 degrees apart. I figured after the ClearStream 5 a normal directional (yagi style) be out of the question and this Winegard omnidirectional antenna seemed to fit the bill.Unfortunately, I could not get this to work whether at 23 ft. or 33 ft above the terrain. This was on new install, which included new roof tripod, mast, and approximately 50 feet of RG6 Quad. Not matter what I tried I could not get this to work for UHF channels 39. Additionally, channel 5 (VHF) at 19 miles away from the transmitting tower was only giving me 1 signal bar, which was better than none with the Clearstream 5.I was finally able to get signal on all locals, not with this guy, but with an Antennacraft Colorstar C490 from the local Radioshack. It was half the price of the ClearStream 5 and $15 more than the Winegard MS-2002. It is a yagi style antenna and of course the C490 is a mammoth in comparison, after putting it 33 ft in air and half between transmitting towers of 353 degrees and 46 degrees it was the only way to get all my locals even in the roughest weather. This exceeded the C490's beamwidth by 14 degrees, but all the locals channels get full signal bars. I am happy about Amazon's return policy, but couldn't recommend this antenna because it can't meet its claims.TV and OTA have come along way, but don't doubt the tried and true methods of old school antennas. If they didn't work as well as they did, they wouldn't keep making them. Also, be sure If considering a VHF/UHF/FM antenna be sure to buy an FM separator or filter to avoid the FM signal bleeding into your beloved HD OTA signal. I bought a separator and and have it piped into home theater receiver for a double win.

I've had this antenna for over a month now, so I thought I'd give reviewing it a whirl. I first installed it in various spots in the attic, and it received some channels pretty well, but not as well as my home-made "coat hanger" antenna. The MS-2002 wouldn't even receive channels 8 or 11 (Hi-vhf). To the internet to see if there are problems with VHF reception, and find out that this product is not as "omnidirectional" as advertised. Next step is to rotate it, but seemed to make no difference.I then installed the MS-2002 outside at a height of 25'. Better reception on most channels, and channels 8 and 11 are usable, but I still couldn't rotate the antenna to a position where most channels I want to view are fairly stable. I was never able to receive channel 51(old channel 14 ION), but that's a bit unfair since that station is located 38 miles away. Still, the MS-2002 does not work as well as another homemade antenna, a Gray-Hooverman, I installed outside. Channel 51 is sometimes viewable/some downright good with the Gray.I have channels all around the compass (see a TVFool map for zip 30345 ... I'm not technically capable enough to insert a link). I did somemore googling, and found a "lobe pattern" for the MS-2002, and it shows that this isn't a very "omnidirectional" antenna. This is on the Winegard web site.I've taken the MS-2002 down and here it sits. I'm going to keep it, and play around with it some more, but wouldn't recommend that course for anyone else.

This is probably a fine antenna. But I found it impossible to get it "aimed in the right direction to pick up the stations I wanted. I first tried it inside just to see what I was able to pickup before I went to the trouble of installing it on the roof. Picked up all the channels I wanted. Installed on the roof and I was never able to get anything except local PBS stations, aiming it in roughly the same direction as I had inside the house. After several frustrating hours, I gave up and purchased a multi directional antenna. Up and desired results in about 30 minutes. This antenna may work great for you as it has for many others. Just did not work out for me. Returned to Amouzon, no questions asked. Full refund minus return shipping.

Was hoping to replace a traditional rooftop antenna that seems to move every time there's a serious wind. The roof antenna worked fairly well until it moved then I'd have to climb up on our tile roofs and re position it. All of the broadcast antennas are in about the same location and less than 30 miles away with a fairly clear line of site. I mounted the Yagi in the attic and really none of the stations I usually watch were watchable. I used a digital compass to tune the antenna at first and then several alternate positions in an attempt to find a signal. All to no avail. I had high hopes but ended up returning it. To be fair, I did have the old antenna on a 10-foot mast so the old antenna was a good 15 feet higher than the Yagi.

Unfortunately, this small antenna is NOT worthy of the RCA brand-name. The construction materials are flimsy and the build-quality is POOR. Some of the rivets (used to secure the elements to the frame) are LOOSE and therefore barely hold the parts together. The most disappointing aspect of this product is the SHORT-RANGE pick-up ability. The range is nothing near what the manufacturer claims. (Before you leave an unkind comment: Yes, I am familiar with terrain restrictions and line-of-sight importance.) For the amount of money I spent, I now believe that I could have done much better by looking at other brands. No, I DO NOT recommend the purchase of this pitiful-excuse-for-an-antenna to any other Amazon customer who might be in the market for a device that will receive signals from over-the-air broadcast stations in their local area.

Will not acquire VHF low channel signals, contrary to technical advice I was given.The distance from which I live from the transmitting towers, (35 miles) is too far for the SHORT elements on this antenna to receive VHF LOW! It's approved use should be VERY URBAN and not SUBURBAN!
Specifications say:
1) "Compact antenna is designed to maximize signal collection including all HD and SD in digital formats via UHF and VHF frequencies"
and
2) "40 mile radius"

Not so impressed. Cheaply made with the barest minimum necessary to function. Bought it b/c a friend said it works GREAT at his house. It's no better than what I already had, cheaply made -- be very careful not to get cut or to damage it during assembly. The electrical plug that connects b/w antenna and the antenna cable broke during setup; I cut off the broken connector, stripped the wires -- but then the post I was attaching it to is riveted on -- and I could not unscrew the nut-- it would spin. So, I jammed the wire between the washers and got it sort of functional. Doubt I can return it in damaged condition, and sorry I spent my money on it. Not specifically intended for HDTV use -- or is that just marketing? Not like the signal knows what kind of TV it's going to....

This product seems plagued with issues, from poor internal design through insufficient Quality Control to spotty technical performance. I'm in the city, at max ten miles from our "antenna farm" on Lookout Mountain. Should be a no-brainer, but definitely "lobes" on a very erratic reception pattern, good luck trying to figure out which way to point the platter despite it's billing as "omni". My unit mechanically failed just trying to hook it up! While finger-tightening my roof lead-in cable to their F-connector, there was a "pop" sound and the mounted threaded F-connector came loose from the underside, wobbling in its mounting hole. Good luck trying to fix this, because of the razor thin clearance on their molded-into-place tall plastic "collar" surrounding around the F-connector, there's no clearance for tool of any kind. OK, now their connector seems to be holding on only by internal wiring to the center conductor, very loosey-goosey, but maybe it'll still work? Not really, channels come and go for no reason whatsoever, I lose picture on windy days, their "indoor power amplifier" only adds one or two DB of gain according to my set's onscreen signal strength meter. Worried that this connector is "hanging by a thread" I call the Winegard factory, nice guy, but all he can do is offer to sell me a refurbished model at reduced price, and we're outside their limited warranty window. Two weeks later, the entire MS-2002 goes dead, won't receive a single channel above "2.3." Tired of trying to make this thing work, and the "black magic" nature of whether it works from day to day, I throw in the towel and pull down the platter from roof and put up one of those hand-sized "bow tie" UHF antennas I had in a workbench drawer (from back in the days when you wanted an external FM antenna on your stereo receiver). Bingo, instantly 70 to 90 percent reception on all channels, no wind fade, solid as a rock ... all from a 10" bent piece of wire, and so much better than what I could get from the MS-2002. Sorry Winegard, but this is case documented in my emails back-and-forth to your Tech Support. My review? Buyer beware!UPDATE: Checking back over other recent "poor reviews" I've already spotted eight other customers with exact same issue ... the connector snaps loose, from inside, rendering antenna useless. So I took my "dead" MS-2002, and cracked it open. Guess what? The connector mounts to circuit board with one single solder point, then projects out through bottom hole in housing. No fastening nut, no lock washer, no strain relief, nothing. No wonder these things just snap off! Winegard has a real design problem here. They need to step up and make good on this, stop telling customers (like me) that "no one else has a problem with this"!!! Take a look at 3 photos I attached to this review update. I've seen "designs" floating in a toilet that make more sense than this.

Already broken. Always had signal leakage for PBS stations. Attempted to unscrew the coax thinking it was a loose connection, and the antenna connection broke. Very discouraged at the lack of quality. There is only one connection point....you would think they would make it no crappy and flimsy. Wasted money and now more landfill fodder. I do now t recommend this product.

Purchased the product and was able to pick up 19 channels, within a week it dropped down to about 9 channels. Pulled the antenna connection and found I was still getting 9 channels. Pulled the product from the roof and determined the connection was bad and sent it in for return. Purchased a different brand and I now get 59 channels and no reception issues. The mount point was in the same location.Summary: Poor product quality and craftsmanship, steer clear.

I just installed it tonight, so I don't know about the product's longevity. But, I expect that it will last and perform for a long time. I took my Directv dish off it's mast and mounted the antenna on the mast. The fit was perfect. The install was very simple. Since I was getting away from satellite, the placement of the antenna on the mast made the install very quick. I used the already installed coaxial cables for the install. I just added my own splitter installed after the power injector. I can now use one antenna for all my tvs. I actually picked up a couple of stations that I thought were too far away from me. As of right now, I'm very please with my choice of this antenna.Update.....for some reason my reception is spotty at best. Initially it worked great, but not the case now. My time is up to return the item, so I guess it's just trash. The power injector is still working, so something must be wrong inside the antenna itself. Time to shop for a different brand.

reception was horrible. It came in worse then my indoor antenna. I had a professional antenna installer come out & he explained that a round dish will never get good reception. I had him intall a large metal rod style antenna which comes in Great & I get a lot more channels. Unfortunately, by the time all was said & done, it was to late to return this one, so I'm out the money I spent here. I gave it to an elderly neighbor so that when his dish goes out he can at least get something....

I can see our 2 local transmission antennas from my roof, and I was aiming a rather antiquated antenna between them and getting 16 clear digital channels. Hoping for more channels I replaced the old antenna with the Winegard 2002, which gave me 2 channels. Disconnecting the amplifier and splitter gave me 3.While putting the old antenna back I found I could receive 7 channels with the coax cable just laying on the roof not connected to anything!!!I went to Winegards web site and filled out the on-line questions form. On pressing send it cleared the screen and took me straight back to a blank questions formQuite simply this antenna and Winegards web site do not work, and the antenna will be returned.

Finally was able to try it. My +5 year old RCA round antenna works better. Put that one back up.

Signal was not as good as my other antennas DISAPPOINTING PART: Came open box and was not new, it was previously installed and used.
i bought the 8 element bow antenna and it works great.

I was really disappointed in the poor quality of this antenna. The contacts for the coaxial connection were so flimsy, they literally "fell" off the antenna before I could get up the ladder! Then the screws that the connectors bolt to would turn and since they are riveted in, it was impossible to tighten the nuts onto the screws to hold the coaxial connector. This was VERY frustrating! I ended up having to solder my own connectors onto the antenna connector and try to hold the bolts with a pair of vice grips to be able to get the nuts to hold the connectors to the studs. I finally have iot installed an d can only pick up 9 digital stations. I am really disapointed.

We were receiving 10 channels with an old antenna mounted to our chimney, but every time the wind blew very hard, the antenna would move a little and some of our channels would go out. After reading all the positive reviews, we bought this to mount in our attic, hoping to eliminate the need to climb up on our roof every few weeks to readjust the chimney-mounted antenna. Once we hooked this up instead, we lost 7 of our 10 channels, leaving us with only 3. Then we tried mounting this on our chimney, hoping that would give us better reception, and we still only picked up 3 channels with it. Needless to say, we hooked our old antenna back up again. This one was a total waste of money for us.

Checked antenna web before purchasing this antenna to make sure it should work and since the channels I wanted to receive were all to the south west I thought a directional antenna should be fine. I already have a different companies antenna in my attic that picks up over 20 channels without a problem It is connected to a tv on the second floor of my house but because of the location of this tv I wanted an outdoor antenna. I installed the antenna on the side my roof about 15 feet off the ground, connected it to the tv, pointed it towards the south west, and ran a channel search. Only picked up 4 channels. What I don't understand is 3 of the channels I did receive with a very good picture were 22 miles away at 204 degrees which is the same as at least 10 other channels that I didn't get. While doing this I would check the reception on the other tv to verify I was still getting all the channels I normally get. Tried moving the antenna in a little different direction about 5 or 6 times with no change.