Channel Master CM-7777HD TV Antenna Amplifier with Adjustable Gain

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.

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.

Works very well with Channel Master’s EXTREMEtenna 80. I am very happy with my purchase. I decided to put up an antenna after Direct TV decided to stop carrying the local Fox and NBC stations due to a contract dispute. I first purchased an antenna advertised to receive signals from 150 miles away. I used my umbrella stand and placed it on a pole on my deck. It didn’t work very well but I was happy it received the local Fox station so I could watch most of the Seahawks games again. I also received Telemundo and ION. However, I couldn’t get any other major networks. Hoping to get a few more channels, I purchased a Clearstream 2Max that I hooked up a Winegard LNA-200 Boost XT HDTV Preamp. Unfortunately, it didn’t do any better than my cheap 150 mile antenna. I then tried out a small RCA Yagi and connected it to the wine guard preamp. I ended up getting a total of 7 stations including 4 additional PBS stations. It would occasionally pull in another 9 stations including ABC and/or CBS, but not often. NBC was also impossible to get with the yagi setup. Determined to get more stations, I began researching how to get better reception. I learned a lot from watching You Tube videos by a guy named Danny Hodges. He has a You Tube Channel called Southern Ideas and it has a lot of good information about antennas including how to make your own. I did what he said and made an an antenna out of wood with copper whiskers. When I first tried it out with the Wineguard Preamp, I got 16 stations including CBS and ABC. I still couldn’t get NBC. It performed about the same as the RCA yagi except it did a better job maintaining the signal for CBS (i.e. the signal for CBS was much stronger and didn’t constantly disappear). While testing alternative antennas, I wasn’t paying enough attention and I connected the wire that was supposed to be going to the transformer on the antenna to the connector on the Wineguard preamp that’s was going to the tv. I also connected the wire that was supposed to be going to the TV to the other connector on the preamp. Unfortunately, I fried the Wineguard preamp. Because my homemade copper whisker antenna performed the best of all the antennas I tested, I decided to buy the Channel Master EXTREMEtenna 80 which was bigger but similar in design to my homemade antenna. I also bought the channel master preamp because of its variable db gain feature and It appeared to be fairly durable based on the reviews I read. Anyhow, I am so glad I bought Channel Master’s antenna and preamp. I live in a somewhat low lying area with hills around me and tv towers that are approximately 40 miles away. I now get 18 channels including all the major networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, etc. I now almost never lose reception of any of my stations other than occasionally losing NBC (channel 25.1 and its other station 25.3). Still NBC come in well most of the time. The antenna is still attached to the pole on my deck and I am no longer paying Direct TV $130.00 a month.

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.

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.