So, the CM 4228 has been discontinued. When will the new one be available? Any ideas. I want to put a new one on my roof. Thank you.

So, the CM 4228 has been discontinued. When will the new one be available? Any ideas. I want to put a new one on my roof. Thank you.

Really? That is the first I heard of it. Try antennasdirect.com or solidsignal.com. I know Terrestrial Digital has en equivalent called the DB8. It is also an 8 bay bowtie.

The "old" model is discontinued and will be redesigned and manufactured in China IIRC.

There are many places that still have the legacy 4228 in stock. Get 'em while you can...

Yes, I was on the solidsignal website when I saw it. I've been waiting for the new one to come out. I sure hope it is available soon. Sounds and looks like a much better antenna then the old original one.

Found this tidbit online about the new one...

Late news: Channel Master is introducing a new version of the 4228. It should be available late in 2008. It looks lighter than the present version. It has no discontinuity in the screen, eliminating the wind VHF problem. It has no vertical wires in the screen, which probably eliminates the dips in the VHF gain. It will officially be a VHF/UHF antenna, specified for channels 7-69.

Cool!

Glad I didn't already get the old one recently. I would have probably ended up buying the new one too. LOL

Hopefully we can get some comparisons from both models on here from real experiences.

It will be interesting to see how the new 4228 compares, but judging from looks, I don't expect it to be as durable. Chances are we will have to deal with mill grade aluminum as well, which means cleaning off the rust, if so inclined. At least it won't have as much surface area as a CM3020 that I cleaned (only to donate later).

I also want to see how the new 4221 and 4220 perform for VHF.

Hopefully, we won't have to wait very long before the new models are available.

I wonder if Fry's has any of the old 4228's still available. A year and a half ago a local store had about 50 of them in stock. I didn't see any the last time I was there, though they had some 4221's and 4220's. Will they carry the new Advantage line since LA won't need 2-6? Time will tell...

This has already been discussed here;
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14427323#post14427323

Yeah, when I first saw this thread, I was gonna say "old news", but I didn't wanna come off like a jerk. I've probably been teetering on that too much lately as it is.

The lighter weight of it might at least cut down on the wind load some. Just hope it performs at least as good.

Wind load depends upon surface area, not weight.

Yeah, when I first saw this thread, I was gonna say "old news", but I didn't wanna come off like a jerk. I've probably been teetering on that too much lately as it is.

The lighter weight of it might at least cut down on the wind load some. Just hope it performs at least as good.

I realize there is a specific thread about this antenna. Anybody that has read that thread would realize that I have posted there since I already own a 4228 and it is installed in my attic. I simply posted this because when I went to solid signal and searched for 4228 accessories I noticed they had the antenna discontinued. This was the first time I've seen that. Many other retailers still have it but it gave me hope that it will be available soon. I would buy it today. I was going to move the one in my attic to the roof but the new 4228 looks like it will look better, perform better and have less load on a rotor. I'm sure I could find it in China because I believe it is just a rebadged antenna that is already produced since the other new Channel Masters are.

Warren Electronics has them for pre-order. This thing is huge! 49" wide!!!
Oh, looks like pre-orders are everywhere. Shipping in late October and November.

Cheaper? How do you figure? It's $65 on preorder at Warren and $80 (!) preorder at Solid Signal. They used to sell the 4228 at $50 and $55 respectively.

Found this tidbit online about the new one...

Late news: Channel Master is introducing a new version of the 4228. It should be available late in 2008. It looks lighter than the present version. It has no discontinuity in the screen, eliminating the wind VHF problem. It has no vertical wires in the screen, which probably eliminates the dips in the VHF gain. It will officially be a VHF/UHF antenna, specified for channels 7-69.


Dang - for Philly market I need 6-69. Guess I'll keep my existing 4228 and look into a dedicated VHF6 to supplement.

There are some VHF 2-6 specific antennas out there.

Dang - for Philly market I need 6-69. Guess I'll keep my existing 4228 and look into a dedicated VHF6 to supplement.

you dont need anything up to 69.

A 4228 works fine for WPVI. I use one in the attic and get "analog" 6 with no problem. Looks good. I'll wait on a VHF6 antenna until after the cutover in Feb. 09 and go from there if necessary.

you dont need anything up to 69.

The difference is moot right now because there aren't any antennas that only go up to 51, as far as I know. If such a thing does appear, it will be interesting to see if it performs better because it doesn't have to cover as wide a frequency range.

The difference is moot right now because there aren't any antennas that only go up to 51, as far as I know. If such a thing does appear, it will be interesting to see if it performs better because it doesn't have to cover as wide a frequency range.

Exactly!

There is one design (that I know of) which is optimized for the 14-51 band: The Gray-Hooverman designs (http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna/design.htm) are optimized for ch. 14-51.

The difference is moot right now because there aren't any antennas that only go up to 51, as far as I know. If such a thing does appear, it will be interesting to see if it performs better because it doesn't have to cover as wide a frequency range.

Not in the US, but it's a different story in the UK. They have antennas for their various UHF groups (A, B, C/D, E & K) along with W (Wideband) as well. Here, everything is W, but antennas like the 91XG are designed to go up to 83. I wish they would release a group "K" design (470-694) in the US, which is close to the post-transition range.

Some examples can be found here:

http://www.blake-uk.com/page/aerial_range/aerial_jbx
http://www.aerialsandtv.com/aerials.html#AerialGainCurves

However, it probably makes the biggest difference for group A, which is not enough for most areas in the US (470-606, 14-36).

It seems that US manufacturers want to retain up to 69 for Canada and for LP stations, though it remains unclear to me exactly how long LP's can stay on 52-69.

Cheaper? How do you figure? It's $65 on preorder at Warren and $80 (!) preorder at Solid Signal. They used to sell the 4228 at $50 and $55 respectively.You forgot to add, where each was/is made. ;)

$65 for a made in China POS. $50 for a US made quality product. :rolleyes:

Not in the US, but it's a different story in the UK. They have antennas for their various UHF groups (A, B, C/D, E & K) along with W (Wideband) as well. Here, everything is W, but antennas like the 91XG are designed to go up to 83. I wish they would release a group "K" design (470-694) in the US, which is close to the post-transition range.

Some examples can be found here:

http://www.blake-uk.com/page/aerial_range/aerial_jbx
http://www.aerialsandtv.com/aerials.html#AerialGainCurves

However, it probably makes the biggest difference for group A, which is not enough for most areas in the US (470-606, 14-36).

It seems that US manufacturers want to retain up to 69 for Canada and for LP stations, though it remains unclear to me exactly how long LP's can stay on 52-69.

I've purchased several antennas over the years from CPC in the UK.All you need is a credit card and an email account(ON-LINE ORDERING NOT ALLOWED).Noticed they have recently added an XG16B/K which would cover 14-51 and cover the bottom end better than a wideband.Cheaper if buying 3 or more.

Normally they charge 25gbp frt for one antenna,which would be around $116 total.Last time I ordered 4 widebands the frt was 50gbp.They can be somewhat erratic on the shipping charges though.Best to send an email to the international sales dept and ask for a quote.

http://cpc.farnell.com/AP00994/aerials-satellite/product.us0?sku=antiference-xg16bk

I still haven't heard if the elements have been resized on the new 4228 along with the reflector.
If it has been resized it should perform better than the old one in the ch14-50 range, unfortunately it's made in China:(
That style antenna has a really fast drop in gain on its upper end and a slower curve on the bottom, so to make it cover all the channels reasonably well it has to be tuned above the center of the channels to cover them all and I think that antenna was originally tuned to go to ch83. Even if they retuned it to work to ch 69 it would be an improvement and ch 50 even better.

I built an antenna that's based on the old 4228 design (rescaled dimensions and a few tweaks), it has a 56" reflector and 10" whiskers and a little wider stacking distance and it really comes alive in the lower to mid UHF channels but starts to drop off fast after ch 48.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~mclapp/Antennas/8%20bay/8%20bay%20bow%20front%202.jpg
I tested it along with some other antennas I had around and the gain was quite good, I wish I had an old 4228 to compare it with head to head.
Heres the link to the test results.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14748974#post14748974

FWIW, this 'new' design is also sold by these people;
http://www.digitek.tv/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypageDIGI&product_id=121&category_id=55&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1