Putting two new HD television antennas to the test

Earlier this year, I dedicated several of my columns to the topic of over-the-air television reception — a great way to save money if you’re willing to cut the cord. These columns were popular with my syndicated readership, generating a lot of responses from people interested in installing an HDTV television antenna.

Around the same time, I also received an email from Antennas Direct asking if I’d like to review their television antennas specifically designed to receive HDTV signals. Over the course of our conversations discussing our current setup at home, Antennas Direct offered to send me two antennas to review:

• Antennas Direct Clearstream 4V Indoor/Outdoor HDTV antenna (retail: $149.99)
• Antennas Direct Clearstream Eclipse Indoor HDTV antenna (retail: $59.99)

My intention was to replace our existing element roof antenna with the Clearstream 4V and take the Eclipse indoor antenna to my daughter’s college apartment so she could enjoy free television reception at school, reviewing the antennas’ performance at both locations.

Antenna testing at our house

A little more about our antenna setup at home:  While our existing, element-style roof-mounted antenna is old (20+ years now) and has multiple broken elements from tree branches falling into it over the years, it’s still getting the job done. We have a Pico signal amp that cost more than our antenna did (it’s this one, if you’re curious) and with it, we can pull in more than 60 over-the-air television channels on a clear day.

As a benchmark for my antenna testing, I made a list of the 61 channels I was receiving on testing day with my current, element-style antenna mounted on the roof of a single-story home about 50 miles from Chicago:

Antenna assembly

Assembling the Antennas Direct Clearstream 4V Indoor/Outdoor HDTV antenna was pretty easy — the antenna comes with an excellent instruction sheet that has both text explanations and graphics to show how everything goes together. It comes with a bracket and short mast to attach it to the roof. You can also use its built-in clamps to attach it to an existing antenna mast, which is what I chose to do as I already have a rooftop mast installed.

After mounting the antenna, I connected the Clearstream 4V with the same coax that leads from our roof to the signal amp that my previous antenna was using. Once it was installed, I rescanned for channels with the Clearstream 4V antenna. I was able to receive 11 channels.

I adjusted the position of the antenna on the mast and rescanned a few times, but I was able to receive the most channels with it pointed in the same direction as my existing element antenna — 11. Using my old antenna’s channel list as a reception benchmark, I recorded which channels I was able to receive with the Clearstream 4V. Channels shown in red were not detected by the Clearstream 4V antenna; green channels were detected:

I was really surprised that the Clearstream 4V antenna did not pull in more channels. It has many excellent reviews online, but it just did not perform as well as our existing antenna installation. I’m not sure if it’s this antenna’s smaller size, the thick foliage of the mature trees on our property, or perhaps a combination of the two that limited what it was able to pick up. We lost all of the Rockford, Aurora and Joliet-based channels, as well as several major Chicago networks.

2019 UPDATE:  I re-reviewed this same Clearstream 4V outdoor antenna in 2019 after having the large tree in our antenna’s path trimmed. It now pulls in 70 digital television channels!

Next, I tested the Clearstream Eclipse indoor HDTV antenna. This antenna comes with a small amplifier that plugs into the wall, and the antenna sticks to the window or the wall. It’s very easy to set up. The box contains a loop-shaped antenna, an adhesive strip to stick the antenna to a wall or window, two coax cables, a small signal amplifier, and a cord and plug for the amp.

The antenna is white on one side and black on the other, so you can choose the color that best blends with your home decor. The adhesive Sure Grip™ strip can be positioned and re-positioned on any flat and smooth surface, so you don’t have to put any holes in the wall or risk damaging your paint.

I connected the Eclipse antenna to a television, then scanned a few times to find the optimal location for this antenna, which again surprised me — it received more channels stuck to an east-facing wall of the house versus hanging in an east-facing window a few feet away. Even more surprising: It picked up more channels on the first floor of our house than the roof-mounted Clearstream 4V antenna did.

The Clearstream Eclipse antenna was able to pick up 32 channels. Again, I’m noting the differences between our old rooftop antenna and the window antenna. Here, I also used my old antenna’s channel list as a reception benchmark and recorded which channels I was able to receive with the ClearStream Eclipse. Channels shown in red were not detected by the Clearstream Eclipse antenna; green channels were detected:

I expected to lose all of the Rockford channels as our house was effectively blocking everything to the west of the antenna, but it did pretty well and was able to receive most of the major Chicago networks. It was also unable to pick up some of the lower-powered stations, which I expected.

The biggest surprise to me was that this little round antenna picked up more stations than the larger and more robust Clearstream 4V antenna did. I think this Eclipse antenna would be a good option for anyone who can’t install a rooftop antenna in Chicagoland. Considering its small size and ease of installation, I was pretty impressed by its performance.

2019 UPDATE: My daughter’s roommate is using this ClearStream Eclipse indoor antenna in their Logan Square apartment in Chicago with great success, picking up 75 channels.

Antenna testing at our daughter’s apartment

As I mentioned earlier, the Clearstream Eclipse indoor antenna was always earmarked for my daughter’s college apartment at Eastern Illinois University, but I wanted to try it out at home before packing up for her college move. However, based on the lower channel reception of the Clearstream 4V antenna when mounted on our roof, I removed that antenna and packed both antennas to test out at her college apartment.

Eastern Illinois University is located in Charleston, Illinois. It’s about 56 miles from Champaign, 55 miles from Decatur, and 95 miles from Springfield, which are Charleston’s closest major broadcast areas. According to Antenna Direct’s website, Charleston residents can expect to receive 14 channels in the area:

2-1 – WTWO (NBC, Terre Haute, IN)
3-1 – WCIA (CBS, Champaign, IL)
3-2 – WCIX (Me TV, Springfield IL)
12-1 – WILL (PBS and University of Illinois campus television, Urbana, IL)
15-1 – WICD (ABC, Champaign, IL)
15-2 – Comet (Sci-Fi television, Champaign, IL)
15-3 – Grit TV (Classic television, Champaign, IL)
17-1 – WAND (NBC, Decatur, IL)
17-2 – Cozi (Classic television, Decatur, IL)
17-3 – Cozi 2 (simulcast, Decatur, IL)
23-1 – WBUI (CW, Decatur, IL)
51-1 – WEIU (PBS and EIU campus television, Charleston, IL)
51-2 – MHZ Worldview (PBS, Charleston, IL)
51-6 – Weather Mix & WEIU Radio – (EIU campus television, Charleston, IL)

Using this list as a benchmark of channels she might be able to receive, I connected the Clearstream Eclipse indoor antenna to see what channels would come in.

Strangely, the Eclipse was not showing much signal strength when we were scanning for channels. As her apartment is located less than three blocks from the WEIU broadcast tower, I thought that even if her long-distance reception wasn’t stellar, she should have no problem picking up her local campus television channels. Look how close the television station is to her building:

After unpacking our daughter’s furniture and gear and connecting her television, we connected the Clearstream Eclipse antenna to her television and scanned for channels.

Nothing. Not even one channel. This was the antenna that performed best at home in Chicagoland, but it couldn’t pick up a single channel in Charleston, even with the antenna facing the on-campus television station. 

I moved the antenna to several different locations in the apartment and scanned with two different televisions, but… nothing. It really baffled me that we weren’t even picking up WEIU. According to the antenna’s documentation, being too close to a broadcast tower can also be problematic, noting that “your signal may be too strong and may require the use of an attenuator.”

I was glad I’d packed the indoor/outdoor Clearstream 4V antenna, as it looked like we were going to need it. 

While the Eclipse antenna includes its own amplifier, the Clearstream 4V does not. Thinking that she would use the indoor Eclipse antenna at her apartment (which has a built-in amp) I did not invest in a signal amp for our daughter’s installation. I really hadn’t planned on an outdoor antenna installation at all, as bringing the larger antenna along was an afterthought.

With all of her closest major broadcast cities located more than 50 miles away, and the Eclipse indoor antenna not picking up a thing, putting the Clearstream 4V to the test in the same location certainly had the potential to be interesting!

The apartment building has a wood railing around the back, and I positioned the Clearstream 4V antenna outside, running the coax through a window. Then, I scanned for channels.

Success! After a few rounds of antenna re-positioning and scan passes to obtain the maximum number of channels, I mounted this antenna facing north with its included hardware. 

With the Clearstream 4V antenna mounted outdoors, here are the 15 channels our daughter’s able to get a few blocks from the EIU campus:

3-1 – WCIA (CBS, Champaign, IL)
3-2 – WCIX (Me TV, Springfield IL)
15-1 – WICD (ABC, Champaign, IL)
15-2 – Comet (Sci-Fi television, Champaign, IL)
15-3 – Grit TV (Classic television, Champaign, IL)
16-1 – WUSI (PBS, Carbondale, IL)
16-2 – WSIU World (PBS, Carbondale, IL)
16-3 – Create (PBS, Carbondale, IL)
16-4 – WSIU FM (Radio, Carbondale, IL)
17-1 – WAND (NBC, Decatur, IL)
17-2 – Cozi (Classic television, Decatur, IL)
17-3 – Cozi 2 (simulcast, Decatur, IL)
51-1 – WEIU (PBS and EIU campus television, Charleston, IL)
51-2 – MHZ Worldview (PBS, Charleston, IL)
51-6 – Weather Mix & WEIU Radio – (EIU campus television, Charleston, IL)

Channels shown in green match the list of channels Antenna Direct’s website predicted we’d receive in Charleston. Channels shown in orange were a complete surprise: The Clearstream 4V antenna is picking up television stations from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois without a signal amp. Carbondale is more than 160 miles south of Charleston — that’s amazing!

These are the channels that Antenna Direct’s site predicted we would receive in Charleston, but we did not:

2-1 WTWO (NBC, Terre Haute, IN)
12-1 WILL (PBS and University of Illinois campus television, Urbana, IL)
23-1 WBUI (CW, Decatur, IL)

Aside from not having the CW network, she’s got plenty of PBS channels, and she’s also able to pick up the NBC affiliate from Decatur, so she really doesn’t need two NBCs.  

Her signal is crystal-clear and strong, and after we got one television set up, I put a splitter in the line and ran a second coax to the other bedroom for another television. Now, both televisions are getting 15 channels with no loss of signal, and two people can watch two different shows at once. Everyone’s happy!

Final antenna thoughts:

Whenever I’m asked to review a product, I strive to present my experiences accurately, and I realize I’m presenting two wildly different experiences with the same antennas in different locations.

Television reception can be a bit of a tricky thing. The Clearstream Eclipse antenna that performed the best at home in Chicagoland couldn’t register a single channel in Charleston. I expected the larger, Clearstream 4V antenna to be a powerhouse at home, but it wasn’t. In Charleston, the Clearstream 4V performed much better than I expected, even without a signal amplifier. 

2019 UPDATE:  I re-reviewed the same Clearstream 4V antenna in 2019 at our home again, this time after having the large tree in our antenna’s path trimmed. It now pulls in 70 digital television channels from Chicago and Rockford.

There are many factors that can affect television reception. Antennas Direct’s installation literature notes that “building material such as brick, metal siding, radiant barrier and stucco” as well as trees and other obstacles can greatly inhibit the signal. If you’re looking for a new television antenna, I believe the best thing to do would be to purchase your antenna at a retailer with a customer-friendly return policy in case the first one you bring home doesn’t quite perform the way you’d like it to.

Also, remember to be patient and move the antenna around multiple times, rescanning between each move, to see if you’re able to pull in even more channels. (It’s helpful to have another person stationed at the TV who can rescan and report any changes in numbers of channels.)

I appreciate the opportunity from Antennas Direct to review both of these antennas. While we didn’t end up with a new antenna installed at home, my daughter is beyond thrilled with her free television reception at school. Cable and satellite television are simply out of her budget (a basic cable + internet package is over $100/month in her area) and free television is the best price!

In the days since I installed the Clearstream 4V, my daughter has called to report that there were heavy storms hitting the area, but her television signal remained strong and clear. (She also shared that she’s become hooked on watching Knight Rider reruns on Cozi, but that’s another story…)

More on Antennas Direct:

Learn more about Antennas Direct’s products at AntennasDirect.com. Antennas Direct products are also available at Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Costco, and other retailers.