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Philips MANT410 with Magnavox MG9 CECB

post #1 of 12
5/28/08 at 6:03pm
Thread Starter 
Got the MG9 for my mother a few weeks ago and it worked pretty good with the rabbit ears from her 20 year old tube set.

But, channels were a bit flaky here and there during odd times, so I thought I would try the MANT410. Well, maybe I got a broken one or something, but the signal was actually worse when I powered it on versus when it was off...yes, both gains were turned down and, yes, the cables were hooked up right and, yes, the switch was set to ANT (you get no signal otherwise lol). Yes, I extended the dipoles (that about covers it, I think).

I tried all kinds of positions, tweaking both gains just a bit at a time and it pretty much sucked ass overall. Hooked the rabbit ears back up and got near 80 strength on a few channels. With MANT410 is was down near 40 or less...and never got near the rabbit ears in strength.

Walmart had two of the 410's, one with a China-G marking and gold F connectors, and the one I got with a China-J marking and silver F connectors. The boxes were the same, but the internal packing was a little different. The one with the gold connectors almost looked like a return so I skipped it.

At any rate, it's going back. Sticking with the rabbit ears I guess.

Any chance it matters which rev of the 410 you get?

-Rick
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post #2 of 12
5/28/08 at 8:38pm
I believe the consensus is that the dipoles should not be extended when trying to receive DTV, since it's uhf for the most part. Good luck.
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post #3 of 12
5/29/08 at 7:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rweed View Post

Got the MG9 for my mother a few weeks ago and it worked pretty good with the rabbit ears from her 20 year old tube set.

But, channels were a bit flaky here and there during odd times, so I thought I would try the MANT410.

Indoor antennas are a trial-and-error proposition, you may end up trying several. See the Looking for good indoor antenna! thread.

"Old" antennas sometimes work as well in some locations as newer designs. Sometimes non-amplified antennas work better than amplified ones. You should check the channel reception forecasts for your street address at TV Fool; if all the desired channels are relatively strong, you might focus on a NON-amplified antenna. If your stations are all in the same direction from your residence, you might try a Philips PHDTV-1 Silver Sensor - which is a very directional UHF-only antenna that works very well in some locations, though it is prone to tipping over if you aren't careful with it. The biggest drawback to a UHF-only Silver Sensor, of course, is some of your local stations may be migrating to high-VHF channels after February 2009.

In addition to the Silver Sensor, some really inexpensive bare-bones indoor antennas have obtained surprisingly positive reviews - such as the $10 RCA ANT 111 sold at Best Buy (also at Wal*Mart and Amazon) and the $10 Terk TV-1 at Amazon (also at Fry's). Your mileage may vary. You also might consider using a small outdoor antenna like the Antennas Direct DB2 or Channel Master 4220 indoors if these don't work well enough for your mom.
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post #4 of 12
5/29/08 at 8:00am
Another thing to consider is a lot of these indoor amplified antennas
add "noise" and that can muck up your digital signal.
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post #5 of 12
5/29/08 at 3:50pm
Radio Shack makes very good non-amplified models. I'd try one of those before I tried an RCA, a Philips (other than the original Silver Sensor) or a Terk.
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post #6 of 12
5/29/08 at 7:06pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all of the comments!

I'll try a number of the non-amplified ones and see how that goes.

-Rick
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post #7 of 12
5/29/08 at 7:43pm
I tried the amplified MANT510 first, but it had the bug of having the gain setting go down to zero after it had been on awhile (a known problem).

I then tried the amplified MANT410, which I picked up at WalMart for $27. It has the silver connectors.
The UPC is 0-26616-81683-5.

It works fine. I get most of the Digital channels in the Dallas-Ft.Worth area, and there are quite a few. It took about 4 days to tinker around and find the "sweet spot" for the antennas, but this really depends on where you live in relation to the majority of the transmitters in your area.

The MANT410 does not lose it's gain like the MANT510 did.

I am a happy camper with the MANT410.
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post #8 of 12
5/29/08 at 8:07pm
Thread Starter 
Yes, I avoided the MANT510 because of the gain 'fade' issue I read about here.
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post #9 of 12
5/29/08 at 8:13pm
In my location, less than five miles line-of-sight from our local antenna farms, I have experimented with three different indoor antennas on Zenith DTT900 converter boxes.

I rate these non-amplified antennas in order of performance, showing the purchase price of each:

1-RCA ANT111, strong signal strength, $9.99.

2-STAPLES #1 Paper Clip, standard size, very good signal strength, $2.99 for a box of 1,000 antennas. (The user needs to unfold this antenna before use, a simple procedure.) Office Depot offers a similar model priced at $3.99 for a box of 1,000 antennas. The Office Depot model should offer similar performance.

3-Philips SDV2270/17, good to very good signal strength, adjustable gain controls, around $18.00.
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post #10 of 12
6/4/08 at 8:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rammitinski View Post

Radio Shack makes very good non-amplified models. I'd try one of those before I tried an RCA, a Philips (other than the original Silver Sensor) or a Terk.

Which Radio Shack non-amplified indoor antennas have you used? Which do you think tends to work the best for OTA DTV?
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post #11 of 12
6/4/08 at 12:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DigaDo View Post

2-STAPLES #1 Paper Clip, standard size, very good signal strength, $2.99 for a box of 1,000 antennas. (The user needs to unfold this antenna before use, a simple procedure.) .

Do you unfold it from the outside in or the inside out?
Which works best?
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post #12 of 12
6/4/08 at 3:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DigaDo View Post

I rate these non-amplified antennas in order of performance, showing the purchase price of each:

1-RCA ANT111, strong signal strength, $9.99.

2-STAPLES #1 Paper Clip, standard size, very good signal strength, $2.99 for a box of 1,000 antennas. (The user needs to unfold this antenna before use, a simple procedure.) Office Depot offers a similar model priced at $3.99 for a box of 1,000 antennas. The Office Depot model should offer similar performance.

3-Philips SDV2270/17, good to very good signal strength, adjustable gain controls, around $18.00.

I just bought and connected the $6.99 RCA ANT110 at Fry's. The ANT110 has a larger UHF loop than the ANT111. The ANT110 also has a sturdier base and sturdier VHF arms, and seems to perform better than several other indoor aerials I've tried out (albeit I haven't used paper clips yet).

Note: Older versions of the ANT110 use flat-lead connecting cable and 300-ohm connectors; the one I bought at Fry's has very thin coax cable and 75-ohm connectors. Signal strength seems more stable than with many other indoor antennas I've tried - several of which I recently donated to neighbors or to a local thrift store.
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