LAVA HD-8008 Outdoor TV Antenna, Omni directional antenna 360 degree reception

I visited several websites that map broadcast towers and your chances of receiving a signal from them. Most of them said I would receive marginal or no signal from the towers 41 miles away in Philadelphia. They also told me which direction I needed to point my antenna. I took a chance and bought this antenna anyway, based on the reviews. I installed it on my roof, grounded it appropriately, ran cable down to my TV, plugged it in and every channel from those towers came in crystal clear with no distortion. Now I have a tip for you. (Probably this is the reason for some of the negative reviews). If you are planning to use a splitter for multiple TVs, DO NOT FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS that come with the antenna. The power adapter must be installed in line BETWEEN the antenna and the splitter, not at the TV set as the instructions tell you. I figured that out after quite a bit of head scratching, thinking I had bad cable, bad splitter, bad karma, thinking I had made a terrible mistake in buying this, several trips up onto the roof to needlessly reposition the antenna, wondering why I had crystal clear signal the night before when I tested it on one TV, and had crappy to nonexistent signal the next day when I completed the wiring. Was it the clouds? Then the light bulb went off and viola... all is well. Crystal clear HD from the reportedly weakest signal channel. My old analog TV looks great too. (You will need to buy a digital to analog adapter for that). Full disclosure: I live on a hill. I'm sure that helps.

After my cable provider doubled their cable box fee, raised their sports fee and broadcast fee, and took TCM and a western channel off my plan, it was time to cut the cord. The broadcast tower sites said I would get 16 channels. The antenna is 17 feet off the ground, and there are tall trees in the direction of some of the stations. The antenna gave me 29 stations, but 2 were duplicates, and 3 others didnt have a signal strong enough to view. Still 24 was much better than expected. Know that cable providers compress their TV signals, and for a lot of stations, the antenna picture is visibly better than the cable picture quality. I have this mounted on a 1 1/4 galvanized pipe. The top 6 ft is unsupported, but very sturdy. The antenna seems well built. The instructions are a bit lacking for 2 things. When you unscrew the bottom plates, there are locking tabs. I tried using a screwdriver to push them, but a video (not from the manufacturer) showed all you had to do was pry the plate from the end. Also, there is nothing mentioned about the rubber boot. The same video mentioned he had to cut the small end of the boot off, and cut the boot along its length, to get the end of the coax cable in it. The boot wont slide over the fittings on coax cable. During the video, the guy had trouble with the boot falling down. When I installed it, I wrapped electrical tape around the boot, and then put some plumbers putty around where the boot meets the antenna. One thing, where that boot fits into the slot on the bottom, that plastic boss makes it hard to tighten the coax fitting. The hex portion of the coax fitting doesnt stick out much further than that boss when near tight. With great care, I finished tightening with a needle nose plier. Another thing was the optional installation kit. The cable with that was rg59. RG6 is a better cable, and thought if I have a 4k UHD TV, I wanted an excellent cable. RG11 is the best, but can be hard to bend and work with. Consider looking at a coax cable site that lists the coax cable sizes, and their actual sizes , and uses before you decide what you want to do. My RG6, from another supplier, was delivered in the same box as my antenna. Lastly, the antenna has a low profile. It doesnt stick out like the old style antennas from the 60's, which looked like crab traps on your roof. So far, its perfect, and better than I hoped. And, in about 2 months, the savings from the cable company will pay for the antenna, coax and mast.

I ordered this to replace an old style from 1990 Winegard that is 7 feet long. I needed something that was not so noticeable as we are putting our house up for sale. The old Winegard pulled in 36 stations from Savannah and on occasion 2 from Charleston from the opposite direction. The new antenna pulls in 34 channels from Savannah, it did get the other 2 which is WJCL ABC, however that one dropped out. I must admit it does perform, I only have it mounted about 8 feet high, the old one was 16 feet up on the roof. I believe had I put it at the same elevation it would do as good or better than the old one. When we move to the new house this will go with me and will be on the highest place I can mount it. I am not at all disappointed in this product.

I live 60+ miles from Ottawa on the Quebec side (Campbell's Bay). I get 8 digital and 2 analog channels out of a possible 11 channels as according to tvfool.com. CJOH, CBC and Global come in perfectly and in HD. Even though it is indicated as being omni-directional, in the beginning you still have to turn the antenna to get best reception but it is set and forget after that. Very happy with purchase!

Great product! no more outragous cable bill!

It is now in the garbage it blew up the first week we had it. it worked great in the first 4 days and then it died. do not buy this product.

Easy to install....no where close to the range it says it can get...about half the distance.

I was worried that I was wasting my money on this antenna but the unit surprised me. I was able to pick up 25 stations from a rural area in Ontario including PBS stations from the states!!! Unfortunately, you have to place it high on a pole unless you line of sight and no obstructions. I don't know if surrounding trees full of leaves will cause some interference, but for now I'm very pleased with this Omni-Directional Antenna