Amplify Adjustable Gain

I've been using a flat fractal-style TV antenna for my living room TV since about 2015 and it did a great job picking up local stations about 99% of the time. I later added a SiliconDust HD HomeRun into the mix so I could share the signal to all the TVs in the house via my Emby media server. Unfortunately, due to changes in the location of local broadcast towers, I had to locate the antenna in my living room in an annoying location for it to work properly. I purchased this amp and a 'matching' Channel Master STEALTHtenna (see my review on that product). I initially installed the booster in high-gain mode and went from 11 channels to 15! This was a great improvement - and it worked great... for a while. Fast forward to last week and I realized I couldn't tune in some of the local channels, but could still see some more distant ones. I pull out the iPhone and fire up "Signal GH" again and I see that the signal strength is 100% but my signal quality is really low. Since I've been working with TV antennas long enough, I see the problem and realize what an ID:10T I've been - and immediately proceed to flip the booster to low-gain mode. Now I get *25* channels many with 100% signal strength and near 100% signal quality. I can now see all the local repeaters that were interfering with the main signal. I also now receive several channels from over 100 miles away, past the local group of towers. I also now see a host of channels from about 65 miles away, picked up on the BACK side of the antenna. Of the 25 channels I can now see, about 17 are worth keeping in my channel lineup. So kids, the moral of the story: don't be like me and immediately assume that you need 30db of boost when 17db is plenty. ------------------------- My notes on installation: Installation is a snap... assuming you've installed an outdoor antenna before. I mounted my new STEALTHtenna and pre-amp on the j-mount for my old satellite dish. (after removing the dish of course) I installed short (18-inch) pigtail cable between the antenna to the correct side of the pre-amp. Then connected the longer run to the indoors via a grounded lightning suppressor to the (included) power injector. The injector is powered by a USB adapter (cable and adapter included.) For the main run, I reused the high-quality quad-shielded RG6 I previously installed for my satellite dish. All terminations have good quality waterproof compression F connectors. I usually seal everything with waterproof tape for extra protection, but I couldn't find my roll of coax tape - so I may come back to that later if needed. Even the local cable companies never seem to use the tape anymore since THEY switched to waterproof connectors, so maybe I don't either. Using the included zip-ties, I attached the the pre-amp to the base of the j-pole below the antenna. I don't really like how it looks, so I may re-mount it later on - especially if I ultimately decide to install a taller mount or an extension pole.

I've been using the Channel Master Amplify for several years now, and it's hands down one of the best TV antenna preamplifiers out there. It has everything you'd want in a quality pre-amp: adjustable medium-to-high gain (17–30 dB), built-in LTE/5G/FM filtering to cut interference, and the flexibility of both power over coax and direct-connect power options. This preamp is designed exactly how a good one should be: it's meant to preserve and boost a good signal at the source, not magically create one from nothing. If your antenna isn't receiving a usable signal in the first place, no preamp—this one or any other—will fix that. The best a preamp can do is deliver to your TV the same signal quality your antenna is receiving at the source (e.g., if you connected your TV directly to the antenna outdoors). Some negative reviews here seem to misunderstand how preamps work. If someone installs this amp and still can’t get good results, the problem is likely the antenna or it's placement, not the amp. A negative review of this product only holds weight if the reviewer got clearly better results with a different brand amplifier—which I highly doubt in most cases, because physics is physics. This amp is top-tier in performance and features. For anyone who understands what a preamp can (and can’t) do, and installs it correctly (especially placing it close to the antenna), this is a fantastic piece of equipment. Highly recommended.

MM-7777HD arrived quickly, well packaged, appears to be good quality. However the 1st unit would not switch between Hi and Lo. Exchanged and the 2nd unit arrived within a few days and works extremely well. Easy to install and boosted my channel count and quality on stations 55 to 65 miles away. Picture quality also improved significantly with no pixelation on any channels. I am receiving all the channels in the Orlando, Fl area including PBS which broadcasts with a lower power than the other surrounding area stations. PBS would not even come up before I installed the amplifier. Heavy powder coated cast iron casing, not plastic and should weather for many years. Long time user of Channel Master products and not disappointed in this amplifier yet. Using with a Channel Master antenna that has been up for 15 years and has taken hurricanes with 130 MPH + winds and relentless sun with virtually no signs of wear. Even the plastic connectors for the aluminum fins have shown no wear. I also replaced the original Channel Master balum which was still working well with their CM3203 Balum which seems to be a much more durable heavy duty metal casing construction. I had put the external antenna up originally for emergency long time cable tv downtimes after storms . I have recently cut the cable with Comcast when my bill jumped over $40.00 a month and also upgraded all the coax with C.M. cables and installed a OTR Tivo DVR so my wife could record her PBS craft shows. Could not be happier.

I ordered two amplifiers, this and one for $37. Both worked to amplify the antenna signal that I get, and I get 11 channels with that. However, I ran a 100' coax to an out building to hook to 2 TVs. The signal was so weak, that it was sporadic at best, thus the need for something to amplify the signal going out. This one worked fine, all channels viewable out there, BUT the other one did as well, and was only $37! It does not pay me to keep this one. However, if you are going to mount a unit outside, instead of inside like I did, I do think this is a better unit by a small margin.

All I can say is WOW! Replaced a very poorly made Winegard powered preamp with this Channel master beauty. The Winegaurd power unit was poorly made and kept shorting out ...I actually had two units and both had the same issue. When functioning properly the wineguard barely pulled in most of the U.S. channels. In bad weather, most stopped receiving. The channel master is way better built, the power supply is solid. I am on the lake in Toronto. See the pic, that’s Buffalo / Niagara in the background. I now get every single U.S. station in Buffalo NY, continuously and without any interference ...this thing works like a charm. It is set on the low amp setting. Very easy to setup. The indicator light on the amp at the antenna end is a nice touch. I am so glad I got this product.

Great amp! Immediately stabilized several Buffalo-Rochester channels, that were otherwise iffy from Mississauga. Setup was easy, manual was concise with both outside/inside setups amp setups. Nice bonus is the extra inline power adapter to USB power the amp from inside the house while the amp was setup outside. Mine is setup before a cable splitter to two TVs. USB power is from one tv location, but does fully power up the outside amp. Didn’t get any new channels, but happy enough the weaker channels I’d only get on an overcast day, now come in strong ... no more poor signal or stuttering video.

I had high expectations from this device after watching many reviews. I did spent time to investigate if this product would do any good in my case and decided to go for it. I have an average outdoor antenna (clearstream c4-v-cjm) attached to the side of my house and about 100 ft cable with a two-output splitter for two TVs. In the high gain mode, I was able to go from 15 channels to 32. It improved reception of the channels I had issues with before. I highly recommend the product*. * if you live in i.e. a rural area where you don't have any reception at all - don't assume the amp will magically bring the broadcasting stations closer - you still have to be within the range.

The quality of the amplification and its filtering system are both very good. The sturdiness and quality of the box is very strong and probably will withstand good temp. variations. Finally, in my particular case, around the Montreal, Qc. area , I was amazed to find that I did not have to use the second setting on db gain ( the higher one) to get a good number of signals from the Burlington area. Mind you I have quite a big and powerful antenna that I designed and built myself as per tips on U-tube from an old timer from down south in the USA, and this of course beats many commercially sold models. Bye All !!! mfm

Installed the item as per instructions. Scanned for channels and only received 1 channel, compared to 18 channels I received before installing the item. I tried both high and low adjustments and had the same results. By installing this device I lost channels instead of gaining some which were not clear before the installation. I removed it and re-installed the device which came with my antenna and was able to regain the lost channels. I do not recommend.