Customer Reviews

ChannelMaster 4040 Indoor UHF Antenna

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I recently relocated to a new area and cable TV is not available. Instead of going with an expensive Satellite TV contract, I decided to give this antenna a chance. I purchased the Channel Master 4040 and put in the antenna on the mantle next to the TV, facing the TV station antennas to the east. I receive very strong HD signals from both Spokane, WA and Coeur d'Alene, ID with very little adjustments necessary.

For the past year, I've been struggling with the Artec. I thought that the Artec, which is flat and blue in color and looks rather weird, might be using a revolutionary new technology. Wrong! On the positive side, I did get a lot of exercise jumping in and out of my chair constantly adjusting it.

To be fair, I do live in a valley with large trees and a huge hill between my house and two stations. For only a few dollars more, this antenna is a far superior product. I still have some problems with one of the stations on the other side of the hill, but once it's pointed in the right direction, I can watch that station without any further adjustments. Vehicular traffic near my house is no longer a problems as it was with the Artec. This antenna is less affected by windy weather too. The low-flying police helicopter causes signal problems momentarily, but that's to be expected.

If you live 15 miles or less from the transmitters, I recommended the Channel Master 4040. One reviewer said glue was used to attach the base properly. This is not necessary. It takes a lot of force to snap the two parts together. Once they are joined, the unit is very solid and the two parts will not separate.

Of course I won't get as much healthy exercise with the 4040. Oh well.....

This Antenna is an indoor log periodic similar to a "Silver sensor". With antennas each situation is different, I'm only reporting my experience with DTV and with the Channel master 4040 antenna in combination with a Digital stream DTV box using coax connection. It is recommended for urban areas, which suited my needs. I found it likes to be as high in the room as you can get it and on a flat steady surface (I would'nt suggest just sticking it on top of TV like you might do with rabbit ears). I Adjusted the angle and direction of the antenna awhile to learn what works best. Although this antenna is specified as UHF, I got all broadcast channels in my area with it, from 4 on up to 66. A total of about 20 channels in all. The picture quality is better than I had with cable, and better than before the DTV transition. The truth is any antenna and capable reciever can get free HDTV broadcasts. Eventhough my box only puts out 480i (which is technically "standard definition") and I use a Trinitron CRT, the picture on HD broadcasts is comparable to and sometimes exceeds watching a DVD- for hardcore HDTV and bluray people that might not seem like much, but the results I got were really beyond my expectations. I still have to move the antenna a little bit to optimize a couple channels, but I can get all to come in at 80 or higher signal strength according to the signal meter of my DTV box w/ the majority coming in at 90 or more. This a good way to find the sweet spot, pull up your DTV box signal strength indicator meter on the screen and move antenna around while looking at the meter- by doing this I took the signal strength from below 50 (weak) to 80 or higher (good). Some people report frequent splotching and drop outs with DTV, I had only minor issues with that, if very windy or raining sometimes (which btw can happen even with satellite or cable services), but most times the picture was rock solid. One note, for assembly the base of this antenna snaps into place and it is not the sturdiest joint, if you un-snap and apply a little glue judiciously you'll fix my only complaint about this antenna. This thing is a good product and a total bargain considering it gave a better picture than cable and cost about as much as a week or two of cable service. This one is a good option for people who for whatever reasons can't use an outdoor antenna.

I'm renting an apartment in the city, so I can't easily add an antenna in the attic or outdoors. I purchased the Channel Master 4040 and parked it on a tall bookshelf, facing a sliding glass door. I receive very strong HD signals from both Detroit, MI and Toledo, OH, with very little adjustments necessary.

I got the antenna and attached it to my HDTV. It brought in a couple of low power boosted HD channels within 20 miles of my house with equal reception as my satellite receiver's non HD. However within a week the wire into the antenna flaked out. I would have to wiggle it to get reception but by the time I returned to my chair, it would go out. Its not worth the trouble to return it, but it let me know I would not waste money getting an outdoor antenna.

I can barely believe this wonderful antenna sells for these prices. It is not too large, but about one cubit foot in stature. I get a lot of channels with it. I live in town, with a few large buildings near by, and huge trees all around my apartment, but the antenna still picks up everything I need with beautiful clarity!

Well I must say that I was a little skeptical how an indoor antenna would work. The old fashioned rabbit ears didn't work very good in many years past, so I was expecting about the same. However this little antenna provides very good HD reception. No snow what so ever. Great value and nice to have a back up when satellite goes out due to storms. Would have givin it 5 stars except I think there may be a channel that I can't get. Not sure though.

The good:
- When it receives channels, they are clear, crisp, and in HD.

The bad:
- There's no such thing as channel surfing with this. You pick a channel, then sit there and twist and point the antenna until it comes in. Don't like what's on the channel? Oh well, pick another one and repeat. It's like the days of rabbit ears all over again.

If you only watch a few channels, or only need this for big events (like the SuperBowl), it's a great antenna at a great price. But if you're looking for something that receives a lot of channels, and if you're like me and live about 40 miles from the stations, you'll need something bigger on the roof.

Almost magical !!!!!!!!

Placed atop the plastic shelves next to the TV box thing, close to the ceiling with the pointy end pointed at the TV transmitter towers varying from a couple to 20 or so miles away the plastic antennae things was screwed into the proper hole in the back of the fancy new LED-type TV thing.

No high-falutin' powered antennae thing here. Just a basic relatively small uhhhh... antenna.

No powered rotator or signal amplifier or fancy lights.

It's an antennae.

Base needs to be attached to the upright antennae portion. Take a peek at the provided pic in the basic instruction manual (Espanol el insido).

Don't rush. Don't want to use excess force and break the not-super-thick plastic but the critter doesn't feel excessively flimsy as a super-cheap el junko unit would.

I see from above there ain't no mo' available at this time.

That's a shame.

This antennae works as well as the fancier one with a motorized internal rotating thingy and amplified output I bought from Radio Shack awhile back but it broke when I dropped it and couldn't fix it and what with the economy and all those illegals snapping up the jobs hereabouts and work so hard to get I had to buy via price and the price on this basic unit was less than any local price even when shipping was factored in well......

This unit works as well as the RadShack unit that cost four times as much.

And the shipped via UPS antennae arrived QUICK!!!!!!!

Good old UPS. Of course, with the depression (hah!!!!! ain't no recession... not with a REAL unemployment rate closer to 20 percent vice the 10 percent lie foisted upon We, the People by the ruling elite class and their lackeys.) and the amount of buying so low UPS likely has a minimal amount of packages needing delivery.

Anyway....

Amazon did its usual fine job and UPS did well and the firm selling the unit... Atlanta Network Technologies grabbed the order and got the device out the door so my TV-less shanty was soon receiving those invisible airborne wave things that allows me to be notified of tornadoes descending upon the shanty and how the USA is falling apart at the seams and what Hollywood celebrity wallowing in their multi-millions of bucks is facing the short arm of the law and the local bums' shouts in the night as they rejoice at finding a stale but edible donut in one of the local dumpsters and other than the cries of the hungry in the night all is well again with the world as I, the Disgruntled Old Coot, can view the channels available to me via the broadcast method.

Lemma' hit the Lottery for a buncha' bucks and I could get that fancy cable TV stuff but until then it's the basic el cheapo in-shanty antennae and this one is working.

Will work for food.

I just needed a basic antenna to pull in some sub-channels not offered by my cable service, and this antenna does what I need at a very low price.

I already had a "Silver Sensor" on my other set (which used to be available only slightly more expensive than this one), and I was hoping this would be as good, but I was surprised at how poorly-designed this one turned out to be in comparison. A couple of very minor design changes could have made it as versatile as the Silver Sensor, but the ChannelMaster is not as adjustable. Whereas the Silver Sensor is detachable from the base, allowing it to be mounted horizontally or vertically (which is necessary to pull in some stations), the ChannelMaster is screwed onto the base. To make matters worse, if that screw is loose, the antenna will droop, as it did when I first tried to use it. Also, be aware that the cable on the ChannelMaster is permanently attached to the antenna instead of detachable, but the cable is fairly long.

If your channels have a strong signal, this one should work fine, but I've noticed that weaker channels that I could receive with the Silver Sensor don't come in as well with the ChannelMaster.