Stellar Labs 30-2475 - Fringe Directional Antenna VHF-Hi HDTV 174-230MHz

These do pull in stations that were farther away, in a different direction, and I could not get with my other antennas. These are directional antennas, and farther away or weaker stations require more precise pointing. I have my main antenna pointing in one direction to capture the major networks and two of these pointing in different directions to capture different alternate channels. I have a Televes SmartKom 531981 Antenna Combiner to pull everything together.You have to realistic expectations though. I live in southwest PA with plenty of hill, trees, and bad weather. The stations I am pulling in with these are weak but are within 30 miles of me. I can get them most of time, but severe weather can still cause some pixelation/loss of signal.

I live in the mountains surrounded by mature trees, i.e., trees much taller than my house which is built on the side of a mountain. My goal was to get ABC, CBS and NBC OTA with an attic mounted antenna. After going to the antenna websites, I learned the three major networks were transmitted from three different directions with the transmitters located 9, 24 and 14 miles away respectively. However, two of the transmitters are located on the other side of a mountain. I started out with Channel Master due to the name and reviews. They recommended their Pro-Model antenna with their adjustable gain preamp and gave very little guidance. One channel had a good picture, unfortunately the other two pixilated to the point of not being viewable. After exchanging emails with the Channel Master tech support, they said I was in a location where I could not achieve what I wanted with an attic mount antenna. So, I returned the Channel Master antenna/preamp and began my quest for a replacement attic mount antenna setup.I happened upon a promising attic mount antenna while surfing around reading reviews, so I went ahead and ordered the antenna from Amazon. After the order was placed, I stumbled upon the Antenna Man on YouTube. I decided to take a chance and pay the Antenna Man for his antenna recommendation and guidance. I provided the Antenna Man with all my info. The trusses in my attic are designed such that an antenna either needs to be compact or oriented in a NS or EW direction so my antenna choices were limited. The antenna I ordered would not have been the Antenna Man’s first choice, however the truss design limited my antenna choices. The Antenna Man told me exactly which direction to aim my antenna, in my case to a closer repeater rather the main transmitter (who knew?) and use a meter to find the best signal location. Since I am using an HDHomerun tuner, I purchased the Signal GH app, which was recommended by the Antenna Man, to find the ideal location in the attic.The antenna pulled in NBC and CBS with no problems, but I could not find a location which would satisfactorily pull in all three major networks. Back to the Antenna Man. He advised me on installing the Stellar Labs 30-2475 to pull in ABC and a combiner to bring the signals from each antenna to a signal coax cable to my HDHomerun tuner. Following his instructions and purchasing the equipment through his Amazon links, I am happy to say I now have the ability to watch all three major networks plus several other channels.For my situation, I can’t say enough of the performance of the Stellar Labs 30-2475. However, it would not have been possible to achieve the outcome I did without the Antenna Man’s guidance. It was worth every penny to pay for his service, and I spent less money for the two antennas and combiner than I did for the original Channel Master which did not work for me.

5/4/21updated 4/25/24I use this Stellar Labs 30-2475 antenna, with an an RCA mast-mounted low-noise preamp, to receive a station which broadcasts 56 miles away on channel 9 and according to TV Fool has a power of -83 dBm at my location. To protect the preamp from sunlight, I made a simple sheet metal shield which is open on the bottom and allows plenty of air circulation around the preamp (see photo). I've included some photos of the inside of the antenna's balun. Note the sealant around the case mounting bolt to prevent water from getting into the case.My old Antennacraft CS-600 was apparently broken by an owl perching on one of the longer elements, so I added a perch on top of the mast (see photos). It consists of a 2 ft piece of 1-1/4" SCH 40 PVC pipe, a flat cap, and an approximately 1 ft piece of 2x2 with the corners rounded off, which owls like because they can get a grip on it without pain caused by sharp corners.The pipe was a slightly loose fit on the mast, so I wrapped the mast with a layer or two of Gorilla tape. To prevent the perch from turning, I used a hack saw to cut some slits in the end of the pipe, and a pipe clamp to tighten the end of the pipe around the mast. To cut the slits, I used a saddle clamp to hold the pipe solidly in a vertical orientation against a porch railing. The bottom of the pipe rests on the antenna, and I also put a heavy-duty clamp (normally used for chain-link fencing) under the antenna, just in case. If the antenna is long and narrow, I suggest orienting the perch so that the bird takes off to one side or the other, to reduce its chance of hitting the antenna.Update on owl perch 4/25/24The screws holding the piece of 2x2 to the pipe cap loosened up after a couple of years, so that the perch became slightly wobbly. So, I would recommend against gluing the pipe cap in place, so that it can be removed to tighten the screws. To ensure that the cap doesn't come off, I'd insert a sheet metal screw through the side of the cap into the pipe.

Went together easily and the parts are of good quality so it seems like it would work well, but haven't put it up in the air yet, so not sure how it would work.