This TV Antenna Gets All the Free Channels! - Televes DATBOSS LR Mix Review

VIDEO INDEX:
00:00 - Intro
01:35 - Assembly
02:24 - Preamp module
02:54 - Testing Environment
03:36 - ATSC 3.0 Performance
04:58 - ATSC 1.0 Performance

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[LonSeidman]

Had a bunch of questions on tower distance - they are roughly 30-40 miles away depending on the station. WFSB (the station I couldn't get before) is around 35 miles away with a lot of challenging terrain in between.

[hastingb]

I did the paid consultation service with The Antenna Man and he was spot on. Well worth the $40 for the analysis and antenna recommendation. In my case I'm much closer to the TV towers and a Televes Dinova-Boss antenna was recommended. I mounted mine in the attic and pulled in 30+ channels more than I was getting with a flatenna in the living room. The Dinova-Boss like the Databoss includes an RF amp/splitter/LTE filter. This was perfect for me because like you, I wanted to integrate the HDHomerun tuner so I could stream live TV across my home network. I've found that putting in a little extra money for an OTA TV solution makes a lot of sense because it's basically free, no monthly follow on costs at all. Thank you for producing these videos. They were super helpful in getting my home set up.

[capblack]

These type of antenna is all over houses/villa's/apartments in Spain

[tcowgill]

Lon, this is out of the question where I lived in far northwest CT, but as a journalist, I really appreciate your attention to ethics and always disclosing whether or not you paid for the items that are being reviewed. A lot of tech reviewers don't do it, so kudos!

[Airbear]

I have the same one and works! I get 67 Channels in Houston!

[JFrenchRennier]

I purchased this exact antenna when it 1st came out this years model a few months ago.
I live in Louisiana flat country with trees, antenna is installed at 22' height & set up for 2 towers 70 miles away.
I receive 56 stations clear but edited out PBS repeaters. This is the best antenna on the market & have 3 others installed.

[johncampbell]

Glad to learn that I'm not the only one who struggles with spousal approval when it comes to projects like this.

[igeekone]

Thank you for showcasing Televes. I hope they gain traction in the U.S. ATSC 3.0 should bring on a renascence of OTA viewership. Even if I already have cable/streaming, OTA is great to have as backup.

[garyweaver]

My antenna is only 7 feet high. It is aimed at a forest of 60 foot tall trees. Most of our channels have been moved to the same location. My antenna is aimed at 306° magnetic according to Rabbitear information. I did rescan and now we receive 72 channels 40 miles away, I was getting 60 channels before. I use online OTA TV guide to learn what is on TV. Reception is better than before, a 70 foot tower won't make reception better. If I rotate my antenna to 89° magnetic I can receive the same channels from a different town 70 miles away. That town is at a higher elevation about 2000 feet. Where we live our house elevation is 860 feet. It is interesting if I am the antenna up at about 30° at the clouds sometimes I can receive a few stations 120 miles away. Shortwave ratio people call that, skip.

[studioopinions]

Wow, what a big Antenna! The Antenna Man, is likely going to give you a trophy for showing your newest accomplishment. Very well done. I've been meaning to get me a new outside Antenna for a long time now, but since I watched this video, I have something to look forward to. Thanks, Terry

[Brewskii]

Excellent, I'm watching these videos very closely! I so want to be able to cut back on some of my streaming services.

[RobbieStrike]

Thanks for the Review Lon, I have been wanting to get this on my tower with a rotor. It can be a expensive setup but it is the best for long range tv DX ing and I love picking up far away stations in the spring and fall!

[RickPaquin]

Televes is an impressive company. I purchased their 3 input preamp which works perfectly for me. It has 2 UHF inputs and 1 VHF. I could have spent money on a rotor, but I couldn't find one location, at any height where I could pick up ALL of the channels in a 70mi radius perfectly. The 3 inputs on the preamp allow me to point 3 separate antennas at all of the stations at different directions, elevations and various locations for their optimum signal levels. For my current setup, on the south side I have an 8-bay, sitting on my deck picking up a UHF station from a 70mi distance. It get's it's optimum signal only in ONE spot and ONLY at a 10 ft. elevation (very strange). I tried mounting it as high as 30 ft in several areas of the yard and NO signal!! According to the FCC footprint, I'm at the extreme contour for a signal.

A second 4 bay antenna is on the west side, pointing west, up in the attic, along with the VHF in the attic that points to a station South-West at a distant station 35mi away. It also picks up 2 other VHF stations well in that location. Using the HDhomerun signal meter I now get full signal level with 90% SNR quality on all channels except for the 70mi distant station, which comes in with 90% signal and 65% SNR, but that's good enough for 100% solid reception. Without the Televes preamp, that signal is fairly solid (with occasional dropouts) but the SNR drops to 30%. Some engineers say preamps only compensate for long coax distances. I disagree. I measured this signal at the antenna both with and without the preamp. This preamp definately makes a marginal signal SOLID.

The only drawback is that none of the inputs make use of a UHF/VHF antenna. But the 3 separate antennas at various locations provides perfect reception for all of the stations WITHOUT the need for a rotor, and each preamp is fully adjustable. I think it would work great for Lon considering where his signals come from. I remember as a kid we would watch (then) WTIC with a low band antenna, which was a HUGE monster 12ft in length, tuned ONLY for Channel 3, but we had perfect reception 60mi. north of Hartford. We also received WTNH in New Haven with another 12 ft. antenna tuned to Channel 8. We had a switch to switch between antennas. Those were the days and those massive antennas peaked my interest in antennas.

Yes, you'll clearly spend more for the Televes preamp and additional antennas, than you would a rotor, but if you're using a system like Plex and sharing it with others in your family, it will eliminate a fight over a rotor and all of your available channels will always have optimum signal levels.

[RoxanneBenn]

I have had mine over a year .it is an awesome antenna. I have mine on a 40 ft tower. I am reliably getting stations over 60 miles away. It is a big antenna.

[dm]

Great posting. Please keep us informed as to your progress with OTA TV. Good luck and thanks for your channel!

[jamesm]

I might have to try this either though I just purchased a Channel Master Digital Advantage 100 CM-2020. Antennas are so inexpensive it's fun to test out different models. I'm still old school though because the bigger the better. I also find that antennas with low VHF elements seem to perform better when you're between two TV markets that are in the opposite direction as it helps soak up TV signals on the back side.

[DaveNLR]

The preamp is built into the driven element housing on the antenna itself. The box you were holding is just the power supply for it. If you tried using it with the Antennas Direct antenna, it would not do anything. Not sure if you were using a separate preamp for the Antennas Direct, or thought the power supply for the Televes was actually the preamp.
PS... you need a good 60' Rohn tower to clear all those trees. It would double as a great ham radio mounting point.

[KentuckyRanger]

I have a smaller Televes antenna, and LOVE it!
I might get this one later, but for now, mine does the job well.
That, and my Tivo Edge.

[caseyhartman]

My Televes Dinova Boss Mix does a great job. It can pick up all the DC stations (10 miles away) and all of Baltimore's UHF stations (45 miles away) from my condo unit. It's small so I have it on a shelf out of the way.

[tomwatson]

Lon, I rewatched this vid. I thought based on a small part of the channel monitoring the HDHomeRun ATSC 3.0 could single-scan channels. I spoke with Silicon Dust and that is not the case. So a Rotor would not be a solution for more channels. I have a televis long-range UHF model as Channel 8 ABC ATSC 1.0 is on channel 10 vhf. When I first put up the antenna I believe it was last fall. Now I find I get most channels except CBS 3 with 80 deg angle. I need 40 deg for ABC and still most. It may be that with the increased signal to noise of ATS 3.0 I will be able to get all channels with my compromise normal 60 deg angle. Or :) I could get a 2 HD HomeRun split antenna and scan each at different angles. It seems plex can handle multiple devices. So I am ordering from Amazon. I will let you know how it plays out. And by the way, I really like your channel.