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The Leaf Antenna: Unbelievable results

post #1 of 11
8/16/11 at 9:30am
Thread Starter 
I have Winegard SS-3000 Amplified Indoor UHF/VHF Antenna on my kitchen and bedroom TVs. Bedroom it has done fine just need to adjust its direction to watch channel 7 and 11 but in the kitchen it never did better than channel 2 - 9. I heard about the Leaf and found it looked pretty unimpressive but figured why not give it a shot. So I ordered one, watched the video on You Tube on how to hook it up which you have to follow closely because it makes a difference how it's placed. Used tape to hold it to the wall so I can move it around and gave it a try. From the first spot tried it grabbed 24 stations more than twice what the Winegard did. I needed to move it around a few time but now, "WOW" I got 34 stations. Not only 2-9 but 11,13 which I haven't seen since analog broadcast ended with a whole bunch of new channels. Don't ask me what makes the Leaf so much better than the Winegard SS-3000 Amplified Indoor UHF/VHF Antenna but it blows it away. With the Leaf I found inches makes a difference with reception so don't move it too far around when finding a spot for reception. Also don't position it on its side like the instruction says, follow its positioning closely and you will find this paper thin unimpressive looking antenna is truly impressive, well worth the cost. Oh i forgot to point out i'm around 13 miles from NY City in the glid path for JFK and i'm finding the Leaf isn't effected much by over flying planes or bad weather like the Winegard is.
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post #2 of 11
8/16/11 at 11:43pm
I wonder what sort of results you would have achieved with a modest, inexpensive outdoor antenna mounted on your roof.

I'm not too surprised to hear about "unbelievable" results given the unbelievable (and indefensible) lack of published engineering specs for the Mohu antenna.
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post #3 of 11
8/17/11 at 1:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimboG View Post

I wonder what sort of results you would have achieved with a modest, inexpensive outdoor antenna mounted on your roof.

I'm not too surprised to hear about "unbelievable" results given the unbelievable (and indefensible) lack of published engineering specs for the Mohu antenna.

I'm not surprised about "unbelievable" results being only 13 miles from the towers. Maybe nothing special about the antenna other than the fact you can place it on the wall which just may happen be a better location that where you could put a regular antenna.
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post #4 of 11
8/17/11 at 3:14am
My Terk TV 5 antenna is has unbeleiveable results from 8 miles out. But anyway congrats on free OTA HD.
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post #5 of 11
8/17/11 at 5:23am
I can pick up stations 70 miles away with a twist tie stuck in the coax port. Location, location, location.
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post #6 of 11
8/17/11 at 7:17am
The Winegard SS-3000 is an amplified antenna that is designed for both VHF and UHF channel reception. At 13 miles, it probably is being overloaded by excess signal strength, especially from FM Broadcast stations (this will definitely kill VHF DTV channels).

The Leaf antenna has two bowtie elements, stacked vertically, so it will probably have a tighter pattern vertically....helping it to ignore the high angle reflections from aircraft.
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post #7 of 11
8/17/11 at 11:10am
That Mohu leaf is apparently a very well designed flat panel antenna, whereas most others are not. The RCA and Terk versions are overpriced and don't work that well. Another good one from a few years back is the Winegard SS1000/2000. But location and strenghth of available signals does play a role.
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post #8 of 11
8/20/11 at 3:02pm
I received a Mohu Leaf from Amazon five days ago. My bedroom set was connected to cable via coax without a cable box, so I could use the actual Samsung remote to control things, just like in the good old days!

I replaced the cable with the Leaf antenna and taped the main unit to the wall behind the TV. Down low and on an interior wall. But I still receive the same HD channels as before. Not sure if the picture is better than cable, but it is certainly just as good. Plus I receive several more SD channels and onscreen information is more informative on my TV now that I'm using "Air."

I'm keeping extended basic cable in the other room for now. And I'm not sure how the Leaf will perform in bad weather. But so far I'm happy with the Leaf and may cut cable in the future.
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post #9 of 11
8/21/11 at 4:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kenglish View Post

The Leaf antenna has two bowtie elements, stacked vertically, so it will probably have a tighter pattern vertically....helping it to ignore the high angle reflections from aircraft.

I'm a little surprised to hear the the antenna is (2) bow ties stacked vertically (like the ubiquitous DB2?) because......

1. Has a patent application pending
2. Backgrounds of company principals (PHD degrees, rich in R&D).

I thought it might have been design shown here (specially with its claim of omni-directional characteristics).

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=138226

I spend a couple of hours at the USPTO site searching through pending patent applications without success.
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post #10 of 11
8/21/11 at 7:00am
It may be that they are running the two bow-ties out of phase from each other. It would be hard to tell from just looking at the deformation of the front sheet of plastic, but you can see the runs on whatever "circuit board" they have in there.
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post #11 of 11
8/28/11 at 8:25am
Thread Starter 
Well we just had a big storm on Long Island as you all must know and the Leaf held all the stations while the Winegard SS-3000 had lots of problems in my bedroom but did receive channel 7 for a short time. Seams when the wind blows in the same direction of the strom i get channel 7, sometimes. The leaf has a much better single strength on all channels than the Winegard SS-3000 did so i'll be moving them to PA and buying more Leafs.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-me...e=UTF8&index=0
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