ChannelMaster Stealthtenna Channel Master has added a new low-cost Stealthtenna to its line of “Everyday Series” antennas targeted at customers in urban and suburban areas. The $29 Stealthtenna 50 is a UHF/VHF antenna with a driven element, a reflector and four directors. Joe Bingochea, executive vice president of product development at Channel Master said, “Stealthtenna rounds out our low-cost Everyday Series antenna line, which we developed to reduce the overall investment needed to get up and running with DVR+. Stealthtenna is an outdoor option that's going to give you fantastic HD reception from about 90 degrees, which is a very common configuration.” DVR+ is Channel Master's subscription-free digital video recorder. Channel Master announced that in November it will include YouTube in its programming guide. An enhanced DVR feature will allow DVR+ to record only new episodes, avoiding duplicate recordings.
Channel Master's specifications for the Stealthtenna 50 list VHF gain at 1.5 to 2 dB and UHF gain at 5 to 7 dB with a 16 dB return loss. The maximum element length is 22.6” so I'd expect a loss (less gain than a dipole antenna) on low VHF channels. With the Stealthtenna 50 Channel Master competing with Winegard's slightly higher priced Freevision FV-HD30/FV-30BB bat-wing style antenna. The two designs are quite different in design so it will be interesting to see how they compare in performance.
