OTA Clone, Coat Hanger, and Junk Antennas

OTA Clone Antennas - Avoid Most Of Them

Unfortunately only in Canada will you find such problems with people taking a popular design that works then they go clone it. You will find retailers selling these clones and promoting clones side by side next to originals with the view to only sell a cloned antenna. I have introduced many people to OTA and told them to buy a channel master when going to a store they come back with a cheap clone from ******** or alike. They dont always do as well as a genuine product. Clone sellers copy everything to gain more publicity. From the Antennas to the hours and hours of intellectual work from even theses forums that someone very knowledgable has spent hours weeks months and years to build. They will go copy all there work. This is very disrespectful and dirty. For this reason i have become very anti clone. It is not good news and it only seems to be here in Canada. This is a really sad state of affairs. I think people should be educated about clone sellers who have nothing good to offer except for stealing peoples designs making them cheaply with not the same results, then stealing peoples intellictual property! Buyers please be weary of clones in my experience they are not as good as genuine products. Also supporting clones does nothing for the industry as companies that have been in the business for decades will reinvest their money to bring us preamps, distribution amps, mounting hardware and better antennas in the future. Clone manufacturers will not invest in R&D they will only make cheap knock offs of other peoples hard work. Bringing more support to genuine products makes these manufacturers reinvest in bringing us better products for this great hobby. Clone sellers dont have premaps, and other products only cheap stuff that inflate the nosie as well as the signal. Maybe this post should go in a seperate section on clones. I firmly believe if you want a clone you will do better with a self built antenna! what is really bad is when i recommend to someone to buy a genuine product and they go search for an OTA supplier they end up buying a clone and if they are in a tougher spot for OTA they end up buying a genuine antenna and do better.

The biggest difference

The biggest difference comes from those that have issues! If you are not in the best of OTA areas as OTA is very funny someone 5 doors away can get a different result from their neighbours! This is when a genuine product shines in my experience! When we know a coat hanger works and even some coax shown in places like utube then we know a clone will work too. But there is a difference between a genuine one and a clone one and supporting companies that have been helping this great hobby for decades is better as they truely will reinvest to make better products for the average person that wants to get into OTA! Copying or cloning using cheaper materials only hurts the industry and does not help companies that spend their money not copying but engineering designs and better products overall not just antennas but products that work in conjuction with antennas. I have heard of people buying a clone antenna then buying a preamp for over $90 to get more gain, not saying you dont need the preamp but makes no sense to save a few bucks on a clone then spend so much on a preamp after?

clones

Unfortunately in my experience they perform ok when in a good area for OTA, some areas do extremely well, its areas where signals are harder to lock in where i have noticed a difference between original to clones, also the construction i will take some pictures when i visit some of my friends on the clones are cheap screws not rivited like an original. I have seen so far the ******** and eaglestar and both have the same pictures on the box on the side even same font if i remember correctly of the descriptions those are for sure made in the same factory! My experience comes from 2 people one having issues with NBC/Fox and another with city for some odd reason they had issues locking on to these channels. when i swapped it with an original i was able to get a better stable lock on them.

I myself agree i would rather see everything made in the country of origin for that company so if in USA keep the jobs in the US and in canada keep it here! I hate it when jobs are being threatened but unfortunately it seems this is a trend. Its unfortunate i completely agree with that point!

As it stands Apple ipod is made in China so is the kingston USB stick ive seen it on the packaging and so are apple ipod clones and kingston usb stick clones i am sure apple would not allow clone ipods to be created in the same factory! I would also expect apple to stand up for their name. I would buy an apple ipod for my daughter any day then a clone apple ipod as i know apple have been in business for decades and are inventors of newer ideas. People that clone apple ipods will only copy it for cheaper and once a fad dies will disappear and clone something else. Also apple will invest in other accessories for their ipods to enhance the ipod experience! clone sellers have no desire to reinvest anything back in they are here for a fad and not for the future! here today gone tommorow!