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Originally Posted by TwoGrizz
I did some searching and it seems that they are up to Sensar IV now.
I found some 3's for about $15 cheaper.
Should I go for 3 or 4? Is there a difference?
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Yes, there’s a difference. The IV has the “Wingman” add-on that others have recommended, while the III does not. The Wingman is a set of director elements for UHF, and it increases the gain for channels 14-51. Like a lens for radio waves. Since most broadcasts are now in the UHF band, it’s worth it to increase the gain in that band, especially for $15. It really does work, too, and can be purchased as an add-on for an otherwise good Sensar III, which was developed for VHF mainly, long before DTV came about.
The main bat wing handles high-VHF channels (7-13). Low-VHF (2-6) is no longer used for TV except in a few special markets, like some parts of Alaska, and would require much longer elements for decent gain with weak signals, like the bad old days with gigantic TV antennas with some really long elements, on the roof, so no big loss that nothing is down there any more.
Doesn’t matter what channel number shows on the screen - most channels are broadcast on a different channel (‘real’ channel) than their channel number on the screen (‘virtual’ channel) since the transition to digital. In case the above was confusing.
And ditto the whole “digital” or “high-def” antenna bit of marketing tripe. The broadcast frequencies haven’t changed; only the information impressed on that carrier wave. Like changing from voice to fax on a phone line - the line still carries it and doesn’t care. I’m using rabbit ears from the 50’s in my office in fact.
If you want to see what the signals in your (or any) area look like, sites like tvfool.com will generate a list of stations with ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ channel numbers, direction and distance to the towers, noise margin (like signal strength), terrain, and some other variables. Just FYI.
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