It’s the thing holding up the TV antenna.
Provides rotation for convenient signal adjustments.
Brilliant! With the Antop’s renowned ability to retain signal long enough to mitigate breakup, 33 1/3 (or in extreme conditions 45 or ever 78) would provide continual good coverage all directions.
I’m not going too far out on a limb to say that my new Antop AT-400B is beyond question the best I have ever had or seen, and I used to live in a tough signal area with a big CM Yagi up 45’ on a 360° rotor setup. The darned thing pulls in stations that I didn’t even know were there, and were not visible to any previous antenna from where am. The “smartpass” signal booster isn’t needed here, but with it I get 34 channels when 21 was the norm. I went back & forth trying to decide whether I needed the (+$35-$40) VHF bars on the 400BV, and since we don’t have any VHF-Lo band broadcast channels, I def do not: both 7 (still actual 7 = PBS) and the new 12.1-12.10 stations are VHF-Hi, and rock solid with the 400B. Not so with any flat model including my Mohu Curve+ which picks up 7, but not well. I decided that I didn’t need VHF bars because 7 moves up to 24 in June near the end of all of the repacks, leaving us with zero UHF broadcast stations (well, except for 12.1 - 12.10 that I didn’t know I could get). Those stations are convenient, but certainly not deal killers regardless…
I will have to say that I am truly glad I decided to go with the Quad, since I have found myself needing 1 more tuner already once. It won’t happen often since I augment my OTA with Sling Orange + “Total”, Netflix and am an Amazon Prime member. STIRR is active on our ABC station as well.
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I have the AT-400BV. I need the arms to get one VHF-Hi channel in my market. They have a UHF repeater coming from the other “back” side of the Antop but I get the VHF signal perfectly most of the time.
I will be getting the SuperBowl nice a clear using my Antop. It is on a UHF channel that is always strong.
Yep, I am going to guess that it (VHF-Hi from 7 to 13) somewhat depends on the radiated power and distance. I am less than 10 miles from the tower which is over 600 meters high (1860’) and has a 50K watt signal. My flat antennas (now trash) barely get it at all, but my better ones get it perfectly, especially the new AT-400B which is in a window about 35’ above ground and looks directly at the tower with zero obstructions. Amazon has a few “open box” for about $60 now (they show up as “Like New” - you have to read the full description and occasionally they list the same condition as “Very Good” (undamaged in original box), and I paid $58 for one last week. NewEgg has the same model refurb for $58 + shipping.
I can find the BV model at $143 or $109 refurbished. If you don’t need the VHF bars, you can save over $50. Hard to beat the price!
I’ve seen some refurbs on Newegg and a few on ebay. This is one product category where a refurbed product is completely acceptable, and particularly for those who are mounting on the roof, where it won’t be seen anyway.
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100%. At Amazon the refurb product is always basically equal to the new one, save for the price. Those listed “Used - Like New” and sometimes “Used - Very Good” are forced into these categories because Amazon refuses to let 3rd party sellers have a “New - Open Box” category or anything other than fresh never touched / opened product listed as simply “New”, they just can’t because they don’t allow it. Refurbs NOW are tightly controlled because 3rd party sellers abused this, for the same reasons.
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I should have waited a week or two :. Amazon has them “Used - Like New” (Open box) for $49 ($60 less 20% at checkout).
Awesome price!
The Antop 215B (or 215BB if you prefer black) are awfully good, too. For about $40 you can get an Open Box or Refurb off eBay and I got one “open box” for $39. Usually they are about $43 or so either way. It’s the same antenna as the 500SBS without the SmartBoost amplifier (actually almost always with the Smartpass amp instead), just like the 800SBS is a redux of the 400.
Not exactly the same, but unless you truly need FM or 4G trap / filtering, you can save a few bucks and end up with essentially the same thing. Same with the AT-800SBS which goes for $160-ish new. Buy an AT-400B for under $50 “open box” or Refurb and smile.
What’s NOT the same relative to the 400/800 is the Wife Acceptance Factor. The WAF for these “clearbar” models is much better. Ask my wife… ;^)
Who’s to say that the ones made lately don’t have the new features? Most likely they do, but they don’t advertise that.
I thought 4G Trap was standard on 215 and 500 series Antops. Before buying my antenna (a year & a half ago), I was motivated mostly by the appearance itself, and the fact it was great whether indoor or out. I did happen to ask (and learn) that the AT-400 series did, but I probably would have bought it anyway.
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Yep, sorry. The OG promotional stuff for the AT-215 didn’t talk about FM nor 3G/4G trapping, but just like the 400, 500 & 800 models, the 215 has both. Only the 800 (AFAIK) comes with the little pair of widgets for hooking up FM.
Their website states that all of their current models feature the blocking of 3g/4g/LTE signals.
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Just wanted to follow up previous notes: the combination of an Antop AT-400B on my Tablo Quad and Antop AT215Bb on my primary 4K display is the best case for both devices. I get 34 channels using the 400 and 20 are enabled (2 more currently offline while one station completes the commissioning of new transmitter after repack) and I only had 12 (6 stations with 6 additional subchannels) with all previous antennas.
Truly outstanding performance, since I never even received one station which has 8 subchannels.
I’ve been very pleased with the Antop. Previously had a Clearstream 4 and while it was a really good antenna, it didn’t have the wide beam that the Antop has so I kinda had to aim it between tower locations and… things would get “iffy” from time to time and I’d have to go out there and turn it just a little. The Antop covers the spread easily and has no issues with the fact that some towers are only 8 miles away while others are out 35 miles. AND… I have trees between me and any of them. And that would only be resolved by a 75ft tower… which ain’t gonna happen. 
Almost identical scenario here: I live inside the boundaries of the Francis Marion National Forest and the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge with plenty of trees blocking what was formerly a clear LOS view of the Charleston area “tall towers”, a pair of 2000’ broadcast towers not 10 miles away “as the crow flies” in Awendaw, where I live. The area was much more open when I built this house on the waterway the year after Hurricane Hugo devastated the area from coast inland for miles. It is not nearly as open any more, and I have to contend with a third tower in precisely the same direction (the first two are on 243 & 246 bearings from me) beyond the first pair nearly 25 miles, almost back in Charleston harbor. Without signal boosters I don’t get 7 & 12 (which for now are still actually on channels 7 & 12) well. Actually I didn’t get 12.1 to 12.12 at all (yes, 12 subchannels, most I have ever seen). Complicating things is that 7 moves to actual 24 in about 4 months, so no VHF left besides the low power 12, which is partly religious channels but has several useful signals. Right now 7 is the weakest signal I have, but I don’t have any VHF bars on the AT-400B so, to be expected - after June, it won’t matter. Curious for those of us who grew up here in Charleston with stations at 2, 4 & 5 and later 7 when PBS/ETV came on and then 24 with Fox. We used to be 100% VHF-Lo side, then VHF-Hi 7 came along, later 24 (and later still 36). 12, 18 & 20 are all LP stations with limited visibility and range.
I was using a Clearstream Eclipse here in the Great Room. It, along with two flat antennas, a Murka Curve and 1byOne “2019 upgrade” version everyone seems to swear by - I swear at it, it’s totally useless except for easy stations and VHF? Not so much.
I have one of the RCA antennas with signal meter LEDs for aiming and preliminary placement, which along with a cheap, $12 Cimple digital signal meter works really well for letting me know what works best. If you have spent time aiming antennas, you know that 6 inches or 15° can make all the difference.
The Antop antennas are worth the money, and if you can find them refurb or open box, you won’t pay that much more than a decent “flattenna”, if such a thing exists.
In case it helps…
I actually found that LOWERING my antenna improved signal. I had to find out why so off I went exploring TV signal information. I found that the signal is actually layered. The layers corresponding to wave length or something I’ve forgotten. The layers aren’t real thick. I had my Antop at the very top limit of the mast it was mounted on. Signal was… ok, but not great. I remembered the layers diagram I had seen. I lowered it 1 foot. Signal improved greatly. So while getting them up as high as you can is still valid, once you’re there, they can still be fine tuned VERTICALLY as well as horizontally.
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This is something that would not have occurred to me. When I climbed up to install my antenna, my primary motivation was “the higher, the better”.
Good information.
I was a little skeptical honestly, when I first read about it. I’ve always lived under the “higher is better” umbrella myself. My older brother and my dad did a lot of radio work. Ham and CB and some other stuff. Antenna height was always what they were after. Having seen the effects of this in 3 different locations on 3 different antennas though, I have to say I’ve learned.
Get it up as high as you can and then be prepared to tweak it a little to dial in your signals.
The amount of difference a small amount of aiming can give is very much underrated and largely ignored, but the last 10% of signal availability is always due to trying every little thing. This includes left / right, up / down, east / west & north / south, those last four being relative. As little as 0,1m up or down and 5° move of the angle can make a huge difference.
Even a slight angle up or down can add (or subtract) signal strength because of multipath interference, for example. I always use common sense first, followed by using the LED signal strength cheap RCA antenna followed by using the Cimple signal strength meter to tune that, and then try everything - even those contrary to common sense - to wreak that last 5-10%
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Is anybody else using the AT-215B (or 500SBS, pretty sure they are basically the same except for the packaging and SmartBoost vs Smartpass external signal boosters)??
I assumed that it would be very capable like my AT-400B but much more compact, but I am having some odd issues with reception or tuning to be specific.
A girl I work with has a 215, she uses it mostly for RV travel. When at home, she mounts it in the attic. Lives in Bellevue WA and pulls in forty or fifty stations.
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