With local television stations switching over to digital, the quality of your over-the-air TV antenna is now more important than ever. HDTVExpert.com recently compared 5 antennas: the Winegard Squareshooter SS-1000, Winegard Squareshooter SS-2000, Channel Master 2016, ClearStream C1, and ClearStream C2.

The clear winners from his tests where the Channel Master 2016 and Clearstream C1 and C2 antennas. In testing reception of UHF digital television stations near Philadephia, HDTV Expert writes:

Among the amplified antennas, the clear winner was the C1, which successfully picked off 13 of 15 available UHF DTV stations and delivered clean reception on all of them. Channel Master’s CM2016 and the C2 tied for second with clean reception of 11 UHF DTV stations and a bonus — New Jersey high-band VHF station WNJB on channel 8, 37 miles away off the back of the antenna.”

The review points out that the ClearStream’s excellent performance was with the UHF band, but was average for VHF. Most digital television stations (91% of them) are in UHF, but there are some that are staying in VHF even after the digital transition June 12, 2009.

The C1 and C2 are designed primarily as UHF antennas, as evidenced by the standing wave ratio (SWR) performance curve that Antennas Direct posted for the C2.”

If you have a local VHF channel but do not live close to its broadcast tower, HDTV Expert recommends the Channel Master 2016:

I should note that low-band and high-band VHF channels, although strong, weren’t as clean through the C1 and C2 as they were through the CM2016. The latter’s yagi design and higher VHF gain made for cleaner images, less multipath, and fewer ghosts. But you might be able to get away with the C1 or C2 if you live close enough to a given VHF station, with the signal coupling into the antenna just by sheer signal strength.”

Only 9% of stations will broadcast in VHF after the transition is complete. Antennas Direct has a list of all VHF stations here.

It should be noted that HDTV Expert was using a preamp, the Channel Master Titan 7778, to assist the antennas.

Links:

Channel Master 2016 (Amazon.com Link)

ClearStream C1 (Amazon.com Link)

ClearStream C2 (Amazon.com Link)

Antennas Direct has just introduced the ClearStream 2 Indoor/Outdoor Antenna ($79). It’s 50 percent smaller than previous models and can pick up digital signals broadcast from within a range of 50 miles. According to Anntennas Direct’s website, the ClearStream 2 has the range and power of antennas up to 5 times its size,  delivers TV signals from spread-out broadcast towers, and offers flexible aiming characteristics with an extremely wide beam width of 70 degrees.

With the analog shutoff, owning a good antenna is becoming even more important because digital signals have a much smaller cutoff range than analog signals. For instance, a weak analog signal would still display a “snowy” picture on your television, but with digital signals, no picture or a partial “frozen” picture would display as it tends to be all or nothing. Expect to see even more new antenna designs as the industry sees a resurgence.

The ClearStream 2 is being sold for $79 on Antennas Direct’s website and comes with a 90-day, no-fault return guarantee and a lifetime warranty.

Helpful Links:

ClearStream 2 HDTV outdoor antenna at Antennas Direct.

ClearStream 2 press release.