Header banner
Revain logoHome Page
Sam Bell photo
Germany, Berlin
1 Level
728 Review
50 Karma

Review on Winegard FreeVision FV-30BB - Indoor/Outdoor Digital HDTV Antenna (4K Ultra-HD & ATSC 3.0 Ready) - 30 Mile Range High Performance HD TV Antenna by Sam Bell

Revainrating 5 out of 5

All installations are not similar

My problem is that all local VHF stations have a strong signal and two VHF stations are physically weaker channel 8 and 10 with 10 being on the limit. The VHF stations are about 20 miles away, but there are hills between my antenna and the radio towers. UHF and VHF stations are about 45 degrees apart. I took a second Winegard FreeVision and installed both with the VHF/UHF Antennas Direct antenna combiner, resulting in one antenna getting UHF only and the other only VHF. See photo. There is one thing I found strange. The instructions say to throw away the rubber boot that came with the antenna. I wouldn't do it outdoors, maybe indoors. The instructions also say to mount the balun in the antenna hole. I would only do this for internal use. See photos. My antenna is installed outside. Throwing the rubber boot and placing the balun in the antenna hole allows moisture/rain to seep into the F connector. For outdoor installation I kept the rubber boot and attached the balun to the antenna body. See photo. When you're done, place the cover over the connector. Also, attaching the balun to the antenna body minimizes stress on the coaxial cable. The balun is cheaply made like other brands and the clips snap off the balun with little effort. See photos. FreeVision does its job with VHF stations. With OTA TV, no two locations are the same due to location, obstacles, terrain, etc. Your nearest neighbor may get different results with the same antenna. Sometimes it comes down to trial and error. I tried an RCA ANT751E Yagi designed for VHF with poor results despite being a highly rated antenna with over 6000 reviews and a Revain's Choice.

Pros
  • Complete set
Cons
  • Appearance