Antennas Direct Yagi Uni-Directional UHF Outdoor HDTV Antenna, 70+ Mile Range, 4K 8K UHD NEXTGEN TV – w/All-Weather Adjustable Mounting Hardware

I purchased this in the hopes that it would better deal with multipath problems created by an enormous amount of large evergreen trees in our yard/neighborhood in all directions, which our much less directional Channel master 4228 didn't fare well against. Ours is an original CM4228, not the new CM4228HD. The original CM4228 is regarded as one of the best UHF antennas ever made, so the 91XG had it's work cut out for it. Turns out I was not disappointed, and the 91XG has definitely earned it's keep.To start off with, the thing comes completely disassembled (obviously the only way to safely/economically ship it). The instructions are fairly decent, so while it takes time to put together, it's not bad. The whole thing is made of lightweight aluminum and plastic, so weighs much less than our old CM4228 does. It seems well built, and doesn't require any tools to assembly or adjust, which is nice. However, I found that no amount of tightening to the wing nut securing the reflector mesh grids would get them to be ridgid. No matter how tight the nut is, you can still easily rotate the grids a few inches in either direction. This isn't a huge deal, and they don't seem to be moved with wind or rain or anything else, so once you get them set, they seem to stay. The 10' length which must be arranged horizontally on the mast, along with the shiny aluminum finish, does make it much more of an eyesore than our old roughly 3' square and mostly galvanized CM4228, as well as cumbersome to move around until you get it mounted.The better performance for us makes up for any shortcomings, and in our case, much of that performance is due to one key feature that few antennas have - the ability to tilt the boom above the horizontal plane. I'm not sure exactly how far it goes up - I would say 15-20 degrees above horizontal. In our yard, we noticed a huge difference going from the horizontal orientation to the maximum tilt up. With the boom horizontal, reception was essentially the same (and in some cases worse) than the CM4228. Although, to be fair, even without the tilt, our problem channel (CBS on real channel 39) no longer had multipath issues, so that's an improvement. Our yard is just extremely tricky with all the huge 80'+ cedar trees. We're lucky to have an opening in the trees very close to where we need to aim, and this antenna helps us aim as high up into the openeing as we can.However, the best part of this antenna is the insanely good customer service from the manufacturer. I had the antenna up and down dozens of times during the installation and adjusting process, leaving it attached to the top of a 10' mast. Although it only weighs about 7 pounds, put that on the end of a 10' pole and it becomes very awkward! As Murphy's Law would have it, one of the times I was moving it, I managed to lose control of the mast and the antenna fell onto the ground on it's side (slowly, but still). This bent six or eight of the 'directors', the double U shaped metal and plastic pieces which clip onto the boom. I was able to bend them back, mostly, but they still were a little distorted. So, I thought it would be nice to replace them with new undamaged parts, even though reception didn't seem significantly affected. I emailed Antennas Direct customer support, told them exactly what happened and what I needed, and got a very pleasant response the next day. They said they were sorry I was having problems with my antenna, and asked me to send my receipt to them and they would take care of it. So I sent them my Amazon order, and they said they'd ship out a replacement within a day. I responded again, because it sounded like they were just going to send the order out at no charge. I told them I was expecting to pay something, since it was my fault. It also sounded like they may be trying to send me a whole antenna, not just the handful of directors I needed. Sure enough, they WERE sending me an entire antenna, since they said they didn't have any parts available. When I responded to this and insisted I should pay something, they refused to take any money. They insisted that the antenna has a lifetime warranty and that their goal is to have happy customers. I received a tracking number for the new antenna shipment the same day. So now I'm going to have a whole lot of spare parts! Needless to say, I profusely thanked them and told them I would always look to them first for any future antenna purchases, or if I knew of anyone else looking for an antenna! Kudos to Antennas Direct!

This UHF TV antenna lives up to its estimated reception capacity. The gain is over 16 db. I was able to constantly pick up a full powered UHF band station 70 miles away until the station converted to a low VHF channel. Please note this is only for UHF. And most digital television stations broadcast on UHF. However, here in Atlanta we have 2 network stations that broadcast on high VHF. Also, television frequency assignments are confusing since the switch to digital several years ago. You want to check out what real frequency your local television stations broadcast. TVFOOL is a good site as well as antenna web. For example, our ABC affiliate WSB channel 2 actually broadcasts on a UHF frequency. The FCC allowed television stations to maintain their branding during the digital conversion. Just a note. This antenna is EXTREMELY DIRECTIONAL! If you are attempting to receive stations from multiple directions; you might live between different television markets, you will want a rotor. RCA makes an outstanding rotor. As far as durability, I am just writing this review but purchased the antenna through Amazon in 2009! And it has held up perfectly. I climb up on my house roof every couple of years to adjust the wire reflector and check the 75 ohm to 300 ohm transformer! I love Antennas Direct!

I bought the 91XG after using a roof mounted Antennas Direct DB8 for several weeks. I live nearly 60 miles north of the NYC market where most of the networks transmit from the ESB. I use with a Wineguard mast-mounted pre-amp and a Philips rotor. The DB8 replaced the tiny Philips Manta 940 that I used for several months. The Philips antenna was not bad, bringing in about 20-30 channels of varying strength, but failed without warning. The DB8 would receive about the same number of channels, but had poor gain. Sometimes you get a channel, most times you get dropouts or no signal at all. I decided to give the directional 91XG a try.The improvement has been dramatic, and the irony is that while it is directional, it is less fussy than the DB8. I fine tuned the rotor to maximize signal from NBC4 and it has performed well for several weeks.TV reception from a fringe area with unpredictable New England weather and lots of trees in your path to the transmitter(s) is an adventure. One night, during a full moon I suddenly lost the signal from most of the NYC channels. When I rescanned I got the network affilliates in Hartford, CT and Philadelphia. BTW, the FCC assigned the CT and NY CBS stations the same frequency, so while CBS transmits from the same direction as NBC, ABC and FOX, they must operate at reduced power and compete with the signal strength from Hartford.The overall performance? I get NBC, ABC, FOX along with several PBS stations in NY and CT, and a few independents at 80-100% signal strength most of the time with no dropouts or pixilations. I can also receive CBS at about 50-60% usually with no problems. I also get ION and some other Spanish-language programming. CBS is negotiating to increase signal strength, and when the leaves fall, I should have even better line-of-sight. Terrestrial DT is still a work-in-progress, but you can't beat free HD. With high-speed DSL or similar, you should be able to round out your viewing experience. I would recommend this antenna for a similar application. Good luck!UPDATE JANUARY 2013: Over three years in service and still going strong! CBS worked out the conflict between NYC and Hartford, so I get all of the networks, even when the tall trees fill in. Make sure you have an amp on the mast and install on a rotor. When the heavy winds blow through, you will need to make minor directional adjustments.