Customer Reviews

PCT International ANCM3671 Andrew Channel Master VHF/UHF/FM Antenna

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We have installed many of these antennas for people. Always great results. Good preamplifier and rotor are important.

Personal recomendation:
Channel Master CM 3671 Deepest Fringe Crossfire Series Antenna (CM3671)
+
Channel Master CM 9521A Complete Antenna Rotator System with Infra-Red Remote Control (CM9521A)
+
Winegard AP 8275 Chromstar 2000 Series VHF/UHF Pre Amplifier (AP8275)
+
30 to 40 foot mounting elevation of choice

I live in an apartment building between San Diego and LA. I tried indoor GE antennas. The first, at a price $35 did not pick up a single channel. I returned it to Home Depot. The second GE model, Futura, at a price $50, picked up a couple channels from San Diego, and nothing from LA.

Then I did some research, and learned that TV antennas can not be made small and cute. Just read dennysantennaservice.com.

So I selected the biggest antenna available. It's really huge. I put it on a Skywalker Signature Series 5ft Dish Tripod, on a short mast pipe, and the tripod is not attached anywhere. It is sitting on my balcony, because the apartment manager would not let me to install it on the roof or attach anywhere to the property.

But it is not necessary to put it on the roof.
There are dozens of channels from both San Diego and LA, perfect digital picture, better then it was on cable.
I have a single TV, so I'm not using either amplifier or preamplifier.
Investment in this antenna and the tripod at 24 bucks, - this investment will pay off in about 3 months, compared with the basic cable service which I disconnected.
Just one word of caution. If you live in a hurricane zone like Florida, do not blame the antenna.

This antenna is amazing and amusing, - especially for my wallet. I will save more than 500 bucks every year.
Go for a big antenna, pick up the free signal off the air and save some green !

Channelmaster Crossfire 3671 and 7777 Pre-Amp


If your like us and live on the fringe of mainland society, or in any case WELL AWAY from your signal sources, you'll need a solid `deep fringe' antenna to dial them in. With the switch to digital, many fringe areas that received analog signal in good order, lost out. Before Digital, or BD, we got our favorite channels on a clarity scale anywhere from well to acceptable. And while AD gave us ONE channel only with our old antenna, with our Crossfire 3671 and CM7777 pre-amp feeding a Vizio VW26 we not only get 20 some odd channels including all our favorites (except the weak powered Channel 9), but we get them in high definition and for free!

We do have to tweak the antenna from time to time and we do lose our signal on occasion. I have to attribute this to atmospheric vagaries. Frankly, we brought in several of the leading deep fringe antennas for comparison purposes and NOTHING beat the Crossfire. At our distance from signal, I don't expect to get reception on a par with sat or cable. Oddly, I can secure transmission more often than not by playing with the leads going into the tele. Must be electromagnetic fields. I thought these cables were shielded. Guess not.

On our remote island off the coast of Washington State, Seattle is the location of most channels we're looking to get and it is roughly 70 miles distant. We have a good southern facing toward the signal emission point at 139 degrees, SSE. There are tall trees in the vicinity of the house but the antenna points through a single branch and just clear of the horizon. We have it mounted in a low tech wooden cradle on the roof of an outbuilding (roughly 20 feet up).

If you've got problems bringing in reception due primarily to distance from source, you might just want to reach to the top shelf and pick up a Crossfire and save yourself some time and money working up to it eventually.

Highly recommended!

The Crossfire Antenna improved reception considerably. I am located 70 miles from the television transmitters and am still affected by occasional dropout because of varied atmospheric conditions though not as often as before installing the antenna.

Ever since the switch to digital TV, we've had nothing but problems with our existing antenna - channels breaking up or not coming in at all. We live between many stations - 60 miles to the south, 30 miles to the east and a major metro area 80 miles to the north. The existing antenna served us well when channels were analog, but it was time for the recycling bin. I read the reviews for many other antennas, and was apprehensive about this one for two reasons: 1- It's 15 feet long, how can I get it on the roof?, and 2- Other reviewers think it's fragile, will it last the first wind storm we have?

After owning this antenna for about 2 months, I can finally answer both of these concerns. First of all, the box was delivered intact, and not banged around a lot, like sometimes happens. I assembled it fairly quickly on the ground and was able to hoist it onto the roof. I mounted it on my old mast, had everything back together and was watching TV within 2 hours of starting. This isn't my first TV antenna, but I'm far from an expert and this was by far the biggest and most complex antenna I've ever worked with. It's couldn't have been easier, in my opinion.

Second, last week the wind blew. We had sustained winds of 20+ for 3 days, 30+ mph for two days straight, 40+ mph for hours at a time and gusts to 60mph. The antenna survived. and looks as good as the day I put it up. In spite of how fragile it may appear, it's as strong as any other antenna.

Okay, so what about the picture quality? It's excellent! Last night, we watched a TV program being broadcast from 60 miles to the south, and the antenna was pointed north. It did break up periodically, but was still better than the old antenna pointed south. Overall, we are now getting every single TV station within 80 miles, and most of them are crystal clear. I'm very happy with the antenna, and would buy another one just like it. It's great to have the full capabilities of HDTV finally available to us!

I liked the antenna and it seemed to give good gain with moderate directionality, but the first flock of birds that decided to settle on the nice struts broke the two rear (longest) pieces and they now hang down like a broken branch, and we can not get Channel 2 anymore.

Did a lot of research on this one.

I have four 10' poles for this from Radio Shack, it is cemented 2' into ground. And attached at the gable on my house 15' up. With this antenna I'm still going to have to reinforce, it is much larger and heavier than you think. It's about 3 foot tall, and the length and width of a full size Chevy Saburban.

I've got this fed into a Grounding block, which runs into a 6' ground pole via a thick copper wire rated at 60,000 volts. Do not put this thing in the air without preparing for lightning. Then it runs to a preamp, then into my house. I use a PHD-205 receiver, with an Optoma HD66 projector. I live in a small town about 45 miles line of sight from any city. I receive 30 channels with this, when I can't even get 1 with bunny ears. Without the preamp I only get 20 channels. The preamp doesn't get you any more channels, it just ensures you don't lose any signal on the way to your TV from the pole.

I suggest visiting [...] to figure out about how many channels you will get.

I also suggest hooking up a tv right at the pole, so you can get it twisted to perfection right then and there.

Lastly, I suggest you reinforce this thing, 3 times as much as you think, cause it's huge.

When I received the package, and it's a big box, I thought, where's the best place to assemble the antenna, on the ground or on the roof? Since my roof has a gentle slope I decided to carry box and all on top. Which, by the way, turned out to be the best idea. Once the antenna is assembled it's over 14 feet long and that would be hard for one person to carry it up to a two story roof without damaging the prongs. The instructions were somewhat lacking in details, but fortunately logic prevailed. I'm glad the antenna is lighter than it looks. I had no trouble lifting it over the top end of the pole with the clamps already in place, letting the antenna rest against one hand while tightening the nuts with the other. I then connected the cable adapter. I went inside, turned on my converter box and set it to scan. Within a few minutes it found 15 channels. My old antenna only pulled in 4 and with poor reception. These were crystal clear. Some of the channels were 90-95 miles away and a couple channels in the opposite direction that it's pointing is about 30 miles away. I live in the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia and it has always been difficult to get good TV reception here. I am very impressed with this antenna.

This Channel Master Antenna is awesome.
Easy to assemble, the collectors move into place nicely and lock to keep the wind from moving them around.
There are a few plastic isolators that need to be made a little more rigid.
Overall, nice to have an antenna that is more than a shopping cart special.
Make sure you have a good mounting system.

I installed a 3671 last week replacing my 15 year old channel master (couldn't tell the model number)

This is a deep fringe antenna, my previous antenna was probably 1 size smaller (30 inches shorter). I went from around 25 to around 40 stations available.

The antenna is big and requires a bit of caution to install high off the ground. It comes in 3 parts. The installation instructions left room for improvement. Probably unlikely to assemble wrong, but it would be easy to clarify the installation process with one more page and clearer pictures.

had to buy a separate grounding block. Had to buy a separate 6 foot rg6 cable to connect from the antenna to the preamp. I bought cable ties to afix the cables to the antenna and the house. Clamps were fine, but didn't seem of very high quality. I would have replaced, but couldn't find any better locally. if I look at my old setup, all the clamps are heavily rusted. The mast was fine. The Antenna of course won't rust. I replaced all the hex nuts with stainless steel and wing nuts where i could. I also spray painted the clamps.

My antenna is connected via a chimney mount. I added an extra mount, since this antenna is a bit bigger. Probably an unnecessary step.

I assembled on the roof. That allowed me to carry each piece up separately and build it in place. Instructions recommend installation on the ground. My approach worked for me. Probably wouldn't be good or safe in most situations.

Now we pick up stations over 100 miles away. We have an unobstructed view and are on top of a hill. Also bought a Wineguard 8700 preamp. I did extensive testing and found i didn't need a booster if I went from the preamp to a single tv. I split the signal out to 8 rooms. What I've read indicated that splitting could reduce the signal... potentially to 1/8th per tv. I have a booster (amplifier) that the preamp feeds. This would compensate for any signal reduction from splitting the signal. I bought a couple of antenuators in case the signal was too strong. I have stations 10 miles away, 30 miles away, 80 miles away, 100 miles away, etc. I've read that signal strength can become to strong for the tv to handle. A $3 antenuator lessens the signal (if you have it). Didn't need the antenuators.

Bottom line, I spent around $200 on antenna, preamp, and cables. I get two music stations (country, oldies), a weather station, NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, MyTV, MeTV, CW, PBS(regualar, kids programming, create), ION(regular, kids, lifestyle), religious stations and several one-off stations.

I don't have a direct tv or cable bill.

good luck!!