Antennas Direct ClearStream MAX-V Indoor Outdoor TV Antenna, UHF VHF Multi-Directional, 60+ Mile Range, 4K 8K UHD, NEXTGEN TV – w/Wall Bracket(Black)

I recently cut my tv cable due to rising costs and frequent reception issues. I still have internet and subscribe to some of the streaming services but I also wanted to be able to receive local channels. I chose this antenna based on a You tube review by Antenna Man. It's definitely not the cheapest antenna I could have ordered but I felt it was a good value based on the antenna quality. I also prefer the look of the antenna compared to the old style big metal rooftop antennas. The antenna was easy to assemble and install. I first mounted it to a piece of plywood and moved it around until I received the strongest signals from the stations I wanted to receive.. I live about 38 miles southwest of Seattle. A big part of that distance is the Puget Sound that doesn't create any signal barriers but on land, there are lots of hills, trees, homes and other structures between my home and the transmission towers. I wanted an antenna that would be strong enough to pick up signals in a challenging environment. The back of my home faces a few degrees to the north of east. I was able to mount the antenna on the back of my two-story home at about 15' above ground level. I swung the antenna on its mount to face it more northward to be in line with Seattle. The antenna is functioning well. It pulls in 70 channels with 65 channels being perfectly clear I read on a couple of forums that people claimed to be receiving channels as clear and in as high of resolution as with cable. I didn't believe it until I saw it for myself. A couple of the local stations also have apps that are installed on my tv so I can switch back and forth to compare them. The picture from the antenna and the cable look the same! I like the design and size of this antenna. It sits on the side of the house without looking too obtrusive. I'll never know if another antenna would work better, potentially at a lower cost but I'm happy with this purchase and believe it's a good value for the cost.

This antenna is great! Mounted about 8 ft above the ground. I get over 80 channels that are transmitted from over 20 miles away. Great HD performance on all the major networks.

In my previous review of the Mohu Leaf Ultimate Amplified Indoor HDTV Antenna , I commented on how I was located in a complete dead zone for signal (sitting in a valley surrounded by acres of trees in the middle of a woods). The Mohu Leaf brought in two digital channels which demonstrated the promise of getting more signal if I went with an outdoor antenna. I considered purchasing the Mohu Sky, but had my doubts as to its range. Plus the folks at Mohu told me it had to be placed as high as possible. The highest I can set an outdoor antenna, right now, is approximately 20 feet. I decided to go with the Clearstream 2V. I set this up on the roof of a ranch house on a mast strapped to the chimney. This gives me the 20 foot height. Using TVFool.com, I pointed the antenna towards Youngstown, Ohio towers (40 miles SSE). My initial scan brought in 14 digital channels. Amazing reception for an antenna this small! Ten channels are from Youngstown, while 4 channels originate in Cleveland. I'm receiving CBS, Fox, ABC, and PBS out of Youngstown. The fringe channel out of Cleveland is WVIZ (PBS). It's spotty and not at all as rock solid as I'd like (That tower is located SSW). In addition, for some reason, Youngstown's closest transmission tower (38.5 miles) to my location (WFMJ NBC), is nowhere to be found. Since installing, I've been adjusting the antenna's direction trying to find the sweet spot. Again, even though I can't get WFMJ, WFXP out of Erie, PA registers. It's 55.5 miles in the opposite direction! Pointing the antenna SSW, I was able to bring in WVIZ rock solid. I was also able to keep WKBN (SSE) out of Youngstown and, lo and behold, WFMJ finally registered. But, much like the Erie PA staton, I only received WFMJ as a still picture with a short burst of audio. I'm doing most of my testing on quite a windy autumn day. This means trees are blowing in the wind and all that movement is probably disrupting signal. Youngstown stations register an 84% signal strength as does WVIZ out of Cleveland. Again, for an antenna this small, in a valley surrounded by trees, this is amazing performance! I'm thinking once the atmosphere settles down, I should get rock solid steady reception on all 14 channels. And perhaps I'll also get WFMJ.:) All in all, an amazing antenna. EDIT -- I forgot to mention in my review...because I'm located in a fringe reception area (40 miles or more), I'm using an amplifier with this antenna. Radio Shack #1500321. It boosts signals by up to 33dB and has an FM trap. UPDATE - 5/15/2014. I've had the antenna now for six months. It's still mounted on the roof, strapped to the chimney. That puts it about 20 feet up. Reception has been pretty much the same as when I first posted this review. But, I was still scratching my head as to why WFMJ out of Youngstown still wasn't coming in. At 38 miles, their tower is the closest to my location. In contrast, the tower for Cleveland WVIZ is 48 miles away! And, as I mentioned, I'm not even pointing directly at WVIZ's tower. As one reviewer mentioned, "This is a directional antenna, but with a wide beam (around 70 degrees)." Yes, the CS2V has a wide enough reception area that WVIZ comes in quite well. This allows me to get this one Cleveland station and three out of the four from the Youngstown area. So, why am I able to receive a Cleveland station 48 miles away but can't get a Youngstown station 38 miles away? The other Youngstown transmission towers are 40-44 miles away and the CS2 pulls in these stations in with no problems. Well, I did some research and sent a few emails. The answer came back from WFMJ themselves. They wrote, "I'm sorry you're having reception issues with WFMJ. Unfortunately you're probably the victim of our requirement to cut back on signal strength to the north to protect a station in Canada. We've had that issue since we first got our DTV license in 2002." In a followup, they mentioned, "We have to protect a digital allotment Canada never built on St Thomas and CBLFT in Toronto, both on ch. 20. That was the agreement between the US and Canada back in 1999 and still stands. I don't think CBLFT is on 20 anymore and moved back to 25 but with the repack around the corner we can't change anything here." So the solution for me then is to go higher. Since I'm in a valley and WFMJ had to back off on transmitting their signal, I need to go higher. That's pretty much the standard solution in order to grab a distant/weaker signal. Get the CS2V as high as possible. If WFMJ was pumping out more signal, I wouldn't have to go higher. But, "repack"? What exactly is this repack? As they explained to me, "The upcoming spectrum auction will give space in the TV broadcast band to wireless carriers - cellphone companies - and TV stations will be repacked into channels in the lower part of the band." (I had information linked, but Amazon won't allow external links to be posted in my review. No matter. Just Google "FCC," "Repacking," etc. and you'll get loads of info.) Bottom line, It appears that the repacking could result in many TV viewers losing their free, local TV service. It might be time to contact your Congressman/Senator/legislator and tell them to keep free Over the Air Broadcast signals available. For the time being, until I can get this antenna hoisted a bit higher, and now that I can get on the roof (Wow! What a tough winter!), I'm going to turn the CS2V, once again, due WSW and see if more Cleveland stations are received (they are all less than 50 miles away). Now that it's Spring, atmospheric changes may have helped reception. I only hope that, regardless the direction the CS2V is pointed, free antenna T.V. will continue to be in the air for many years to come! Update: 6/22/2014. Well, it's the start of summer and I don't know if atmospheric changes have taken place or if broadcasters have changed the way their transmitters send out signal. Maybe both? But last night, after the sun finally went down, I decided to do a little television scanning to see what signals I could bring in. As mentioned earlier, I can grab Erie, Pa channels on the back end of the antenna. This happens mostly at night which is why I was scanning the T.V.'s tuner. I wanted to see what programs were on the two Erie, PA stations that usually come in. The antenna is pointed directly south. While the tuner scanned, I noticed that it grabbed a few more channels than usual. When the picture came back on, I was watching Channel 2, KDKA out of Pittsburgh! I clicked up one channel and there was WPXI, Channel 11. Again, a Pittsburgh station! AntennaPoint.com tells me that the transmission towers for these two stations are SSE 90 and 88 miles away, respectively. Morning found the two stations still coming in rock solid. As the morning progresses, however, it appears the signals for these stations are starting to break up a bit. But, more than ever, I want to get this antenna up another 10-15 feet. Once elevated, and with a rotor, these stations should be received more consistently. With the antenna higher, I'm thinking I'll be getting more channels from Youngstown, Cleveland, Erie, and Pittsburgh. I'm just amazed at how well this antenna performs. UPDATE 09/04/2014 Last week, I raised this antenna up another ten feet. It's now 30 feet above the ground. I raised the height because, being in the middle of a woods, the trees really filled in during August and cut signal to the point where I lost the ABC affiliate. Once raised, I was able to get ABC back. But, WKBN, the CBS affiliate, is a bit spotty. It has always been a rock solid signal. But now, the signal drops out. So, recpetion swings from being rock solid to not being there at all to being rock solid. I'll try adjusting and tweaking the antenna position and report later. In addition, WFMJ still does not register. Cleveland is still to far or the terrain not conducive for reception. Erie continues to come up on the back end in the evening and, once again, Pittsburgh popped up one night. Given that increasing the height of this antenna only helped marginally, I'm beginning to think I should try the RCA ANT751R Durable Compact Outdoor Antenna or Denny's EZ HD Antenna. UPDATE 09/06/2014 Last night, I turned on the television and did a re-scan of channels. I was surprised when 17 channels registered. Finally! WFMJ channel 21, the NBC affiliate, is being received. Last night, it was still spotty, but this morning it's rock solid. I'm not sure what has changed. Have they pumped up their signal? Have temperatures and terrain changed in some way making propagation of the signal better? Did someone, off in the distance, tear down a building or take down a tree that may have been blocking signal? I don't know. I tweaked and turned the antenna several days ago and maybe I hit the sweet spot. Then again, let's see how long this lasts. I was considering switching antennas and installing the RCA ANT751R Durable Compact Outdoor Antenna . But now that I have this outstanding performance, I'll hold off and see if reception continues. What was a marginal increase in reception last week has now become a major and significant boost! UPDATE 09/05/15. Well, one year later and I'm still using this antenna. In July, I grabbed 30 digital channels. Youngstown (including channel 21), Akron, Canton, and Erie PA stations came in. I even received Pittsburgh Channel 2 KDKA! Their broadcast tower is nearly 100 miles away. I realize this is due to atmospheric conditions, but still impressed by this performance. As the trees filled in, I lost channel 21 out of Youngstown. I suspect that, when the leaves fall, channel 21 will return. Again, this is due to their meager signal. Last night (9/4/2015), Pittsburgh KDKA returned. But this reception is spotty. Consistent reception comes from Youngstown channels 27, 33, and 45. More often than not, channel 25 (Cleveland) and 66 (Erie, PA) are received in the evenings. Again, channel 66 is received on the back end of the antenna. The valley, trees, distance, atmosphere, etc. all contribute obstacles for reception. So, it's pretty amazing that, with this antenna, I receive any stations at all.:)

I'm located in a second-floor, brick apartment building, a little less than 25 miles southwest of Chicago. In regards to aiming the antenna, my apartment has no window that faces Chicago's broadcast towers, and my apartment is at the back of the building, with one other apartment between me and the towers. After opening the box and checking the contents, it was pretty easy to see that I'd received an antenna that was not brand new. The Loop Element Base had been re-mounted incorrectly on the Reflector. The screws that held it in place were covered with scratches, as if someone had used a steak knife instead of a Phillips screwdriver to tighten them. The four Roof Sealing Pads (used in mounting the J Mount Mast to a roof) were completely fused together into a useless clump. It appeared as though they had been melted together. They were fused into such a sticky mess that I couldn't even remove them from their plastic packaging (the whole mess was stuck to the inside of the bag). As this is Chicago, and it's mid-winter, it's very unlikely that this fusion happened at my end. Fortunately, I am using this antenna indoors, so the Sealing Pads are not needed. Assembly of the antenna was pretty easy and straightforward using the instruction sheet, once I'd re-positioned the Loop Element Base. The only issue I had was attaching the J Mount Mast for use indoors. The only instructions given are for mounting the antenna outdoors, on a roof. Anyone using the antenna indoors (like in an apartment) is strictly on their own. If you attach the mount as instructed for outdoor use, you will have an unstable installation that tips over. The base of the mount is very small. Its J shape causes the setup to be unbalanced if you try to stand it up using the supplied Mount Base, without bolting the base into something. Not a good solution for an apartment dweller. After some thought, I decided to mount the mast upside-down, with the J at the top (almost like an extended handle). That's working fine for me now, although it's still not the most stable setup. If I have any issues with toppling over, I may consider buying a broader piece of wood and screw the Mount Base onto that. After assembling the antenna and attaching the coax (not supplied) between the antenna and my iMac, I attempted to scan for channels using Elgato's EyeTV. Many attempts at scanning gave no results. Antennas Direct strongly indicates that they want you to call their Helpline before considering returning their product. They do this by putting the message, "Call To Learn. Don't Return." on several parts of the packaging: 1) on the outside of the box, there's a sticker with that message, 2) that same sticker is on the plastic bag that holds the Loop Element, 3) there's a singe-page insert included in the box that shows a big, red STOP sign and the message, "Do NOT return to store", and 4) 50% of the backside of the instructions sheet has the "Call To Learn. Don't Return." message printed with instructions for how to contact the Helpline. I called the Helpline when I was having trouble scanning. I spoke with a very disinterested woman who told me she knew nothing about EyeTV and could not help. She asked me if I could face the antenna towards a window. When I explained my apartment setup, she said that I would definitely not be able to get a signal. At that point I asked, "I should return the antenna, then?" and she was very quick to agree. The whole call took less than 5 minutes. I packaged up the antenna and requested a return from Amazon, then did a little bit of googling to look for another antenna. During that search, I found a message board entry from someone who had a similar problem to mine regarding EyeTV and scanning. He noted that he'd had to use EyeTV's "Manually Add Channel..." feature in order to get all of his channel listings. I unpacked, re-assembled, and re-connected the antenna. Sure enough, by manually adding channels, I had excellent reception on all available OTA channels with the exception of CBS 2.1 (the only VHF channel in Chicago - most Chicago area folks have trouble getting CBS via OTA signal, so I didn't fault the antenna for this in my star rating). Like an idiot, I called the Antennas Direct Helpline again to see if I could get some advice on picking up CBS. This time I spoke with a man who was as equally disinterested in my success as the first woman. He recommended I buy and FM Trap and attach it to the antenna. When I asked for instruction regarding how to attach an FM Trap to my Clearstream antenna, he said, "Put it between the antenna and the coax cable." When I asked for more specifics regarding how to do that, (i.e. at the antenna end, or the computer end?), he suggested that I buy the trap from Radio Shack and that someone at Radio Shack would be able to give me instructions. Again, the call lasted less than 5 minutes and I got bad advice from a disinterested "antenna specialist" (so-named by Antennas Direct). I did not buy an FM Trap, BTW... ADDITIONAL SIDENOTE: Although it can take nearly 24 hours to SHIP a product, returns are processed almost immediately and are completely IMPOSSIBLE to cancel through Amazon or UPS. (Again, this did not effect my star rating of the antenna.) I gave the Antennas Direct C2-V-CJM ClearStream 2-V Long Range UHF/VHF Indoor/Outdoor DTV Antenna with 20-Inch Mount 4 stars because I definitely "like" it. I get great reception most of the time (weather and time of day have an effect, but that's not the antenna's fault). I dropped a star due to the lack of instructions and appropriate mast/mounting for indoor use, the condition of the product as sent from Antennas Direct, and the really, *really* poor service from the Helpline that Antennas Direct bends over backwards to *insist* that you use.

I was directed to this antenna by an expert (one of many he recommended, and affordable). Just Google it, you don't want to just guess your way into one of these antennas. You might spend more for a quality antenna, but probably not less. The assembly instructions confused me so I went looking for a video. Okay, actually pretty simple to assemble once you see how. Mounted it at a high point on the side of my house, using the provided J pole (screwed into the soffit because the fascia didn't allow enough room for 4 screws). It looks askew at this point, but you can rotate both the J pole and the antenna to get it pointed where you need it. Actually I do have it somewhat sideways, with the horizontal poles at the top of the antenna pointing up and down. In any case, reception is good and there is nothing between the antenna and the source, so even on windy days with trees moving, etc., should be good. This antenna is lightweight and should not "catch" a lot of wind. I expect it to stay secure for many years to come, but in any case it's right there on the side of the house where I can get to it with a ladder. Don't go too cheap on the coax (for 100' I paid closer to $30 vs. the $17/$19 stuff you'll see). Hire somebody to put the ends on whichever end you cut to length (unless you have experience with coaxial cable). I bought coax with rubber protective ends, but this antenna already protects that end of the cable, so the rubber part was simply slipped off and discarded. The other end was cut to length and got a nice connector, but not the one that came with it. So good indoor/outdoor coax is more important than the connectors. I also had the guy put connectors on every coax run into the house (most houses have "home run" coax cable to each connector in your house, but are left with no connector unless you have something installed). Now if I move the TV or my cable modem to a different room, I can just switch to a different cable. Yes, I have internet using one cable and my broadcast antenna using a different cable to get to my TV. No cable TV in this house at this time. I still have two unused cables going from the cable box into rooms in my house.

This antenna is terrific! I had a cheap one in the living room and it only got a few channels, and had to keep fidgeting with it at times to try to clear the pixelation. I installed this one up as high as I could get it in the attic and now I get over 100 channels nice and clear!

Good reception indoors, I would not trust it installed outside, seems a bit flimsy for that.

Bought this after seeing Tyler the Antenna Man review it on YouTube. I am about 25 miles from TV towers and am able to use this antenna indoors to get major broadcast networks - ABC/CBS/NBC/CW (UHF) and FOX (VHF). I also get the other channels like Court TV, Antenna TV, Buzzr, etc. FOX was the tricky one. Before this I used a Channel Master flatenna (non-amplified) and that pulled in all these channels too, but the signal strength was very low. In sunny conditions the signal looked good but I wanted higher signal quality, so during storms/wind the signal would be resilient. Got this antenna and it pulls in all those channels at a higher signal strength. I placed the antenna near a window pointing to the towers and get 80-99% signal strength on all channels except FOX. FOX is more tricky as it’s high-VHF & that signal doesn’t transmit at the same strength as UHF, so FOX Is only about 70% signal strength. But I am confident this is enough to withstand any signal impact/loss from storms. The antenna doesn’t look that nice so I hooked it up to an HD Homerun in a room with the best signal, out of sight. I don’t have to see it and because the HD Homerun is a network tuner hooked up to my internet connection, any TV/display in the house running the HD Homerun app can view over the air TV from the antenna (smart TV, fire tv, android TV, iPhone, fire tablet, etc.). Very happy with this antenna! Yes it is a bit expensive, but why pay $100 a month or more for cable TV to get broadcast channels when you can spend less than $100 and have an antenna that will last for years? Thanks to this antenna and HD Homerun (investment of about $275 total) I was able to cancel YouTube TV. These products will pay for themselves after about 3.5 months. After that the TV is free! Well worth the price in my opinion.