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CLEARSTREAM2 Antenna
See it at Amazon.com for $64.60Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Great antenna for HDTV UHF channels but does not work with VHF channels
(2 out of 5) by Douglas W. Decampos on Feb 26, 2009 (Miami-FL)I live in South Miami Beach-FL and I was able to install the antenna inside my apartment without any assitance or trouble. The Antenna has a great design and size, however it does not receive any VHF HDTV Channels (such as FOX 7.1 and ABC 10.1 which are less than 15miles far from my apartment) and its specification says it was designed to receive both ranges (VHF and UHF). I contacted the vendor 2 times thru their website and they never returned my email. I am really happy with signal quality of all the UHF channels that I receive and due its gain I am able to watch FOX via channel UHF 29.1 from West Palm Beach but I lost ABC. very disappointed with the manufacturer tech support and customer service.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Didn't work well enough
(1 out of 5) by BobMac on Mar 5, 2009 (Napa Valley)Purchased this based on several glowing reviews. Unfortunately, it didn't perform any better (actually, it performed worse) than my existing $15 Radio Shack antenna. I placed it in many locations and experimented with it for hours. it never got any better, so I returned it.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Could not receive vhf channels -low signal strength
(1 out of 5) by Alice Mendoza on Feb 28, 2009 (Houston, Texas)Bought C2 based on positive reviews here. I live in northwest Houston, Tx - 28 miles from the broadcast towers. The best signal strength I could get was 35 outside. Didn't matter if on the roof or on the ground - not strong enough to bring in the vhf channels. Very disappointed.
5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
ClearStream C2 antenna - not sutable for use in area with VHF digital signals.
(2 out of 5) by Vincent Dabissi on Dec 3, 2008 (San Jose , CA USA)My initial visual impression of this product was that it's design might not be suitable for use here in the SF Bay Area where we have one major (network) station who's digital signal is on the (high) VHF band with another scheduled to move it's digital transmitter there when analog transmission is shut off on Feb 17, 2009. This, in spite of the advertising claim that it is for both UHF and high VHF (digital) use.
However, I was convinced that it would in fact be useful for all digital reception by what the president of the company; Richard Schneider, wrote on the HDTV Magazine web forum ( http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=33803#33803 )in response to a critical discussion of that antenna.
I quote relevant part of his responses here:
"I guess I didn't make it clear, one of the primary reasons we are migrating to the Clearstreams was to improve our capabilities on high VHF. Trust me, I have the list, We are very aware that 24% of the DTV stations will be on the high VHF band, post 2009 (about 400 stations). The necessity to cover both bands was why we started this project in the first place.
While it won't have the same range as on UHF, The Clearstream 2 offers modest performance of about 3.7 - 4.4 dB between 174 -216 MHz. (less than the VHF performance of our larger combination antennas) The single hardest part of the entire effort was trying to cover both bands with one design while not compromising the UHF performance...."
On the strength of that 4db claim for hi vhf I purchased one and tested it first indoors side by side against my existing Terk HDTVi (with low noise preamp)The C2 was setup right next to the Terk connected through the same preamp as the Terk. Unlike the Terk HDTVi I could not pick up analog channel 7 or 9, and with only a VERY snowy picture on ch 11 and no trace of digital 12 at all with the ClearStream 2.
By comparison, I have been getting a quite watchable, but grainy picture with the Terk on analog ch 11 and almost as good picture on ch 7 and 9. Clearly the C2 is not even as good as this indoor antenna I have been using and certainly not worth trying to install in the attic. (I am renting )
Bottom line; the claim that the C2 would give a gain on high VHF of approximately 4 db is evidentally not true as the 'rabbit ears' portion of the Terk has (unamplified) a unity gain of 0 db and yet performs much, much better than the Clearstream on all high VHF channels.
AS for performance on UHF, the Clearstream seemed to be quite good and did get one additional digital channel in my test, thus tending to substantiate the published figures of 10db for ch 14 - 69. Therefore I can ONLY recommend this antenna for use where there are no vhf digital channels, either presently of scheduled for after the analog shutdown.
Thus I cannot give this product a rating of more than 2 stars
However, I was convinced that it would in fact be useful for all digital reception by what the president of the company; Richard Schneider, wrote on the HDTV Magazine web forum ( http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=33803#33803 )in response to a critical discussion of that antenna.
I quote relevant part of his responses here:
"I guess I didn't make it clear, one of the primary reasons we are migrating to the Clearstreams was to improve our capabilities on high VHF. Trust me, I have the list, We are very aware that 24% of the DTV stations will be on the high VHF band, post 2009 (about 400 stations). The necessity to cover both bands was why we started this project in the first place.
While it won't have the same range as on UHF, The Clearstream 2 offers modest performance of about 3.7 - 4.4 dB between 174 -216 MHz. (less than the VHF performance of our larger combination antennas) The single hardest part of the entire effort was trying to cover both bands with one design while not compromising the UHF performance...."
On the strength of that 4db claim for hi vhf I purchased one and tested it first indoors side by side against my existing Terk HDTVi (with low noise preamp)The C2 was setup right next to the Terk connected through the same preamp as the Terk. Unlike the Terk HDTVi I could not pick up analog channel 7 or 9, and with only a VERY snowy picture on ch 11 and no trace of digital 12 at all with the ClearStream 2.
By comparison, I have been getting a quite watchable, but grainy picture with the Terk on analog ch 11 and almost as good picture on ch 7 and 9. Clearly the C2 is not even as good as this indoor antenna I have been using and certainly not worth trying to install in the attic. (I am renting )
Bottom line; the claim that the C2 would give a gain on high VHF of approximately 4 db is evidentally not true as the 'rabbit ears' portion of the Terk has (unamplified) a unity gain of 0 db and yet performs much, much better than the Clearstream on all high VHF channels.
AS for performance on UHF, the Clearstream seemed to be quite good and did get one additional digital channel in my test, thus tending to substantiate the published figures of 10db for ch 14 - 69. Therefore I can ONLY recommend this antenna for use where there are no vhf digital channels, either presently of scheduled for after the analog shutdown.
Thus I cannot give this product a rating of more than 2 stars
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Does Not Deliver
(2 out of 5) by Douglas R. Strief on Sep 13, 2009This antenna was recommended as the ultimate solution to a specific location. Not only did it not deliver as promised but an antenna with half the supposed range of this model solved the problem. For the money you pay for this product, you could buy a real antenna and still save money.