ClearCast HDTV indoor antenna -- overhyped?

[DavGoodlin]

I just helped a friend nearby that bought an indoor, non-amplified antenna. It is a Terk HDTVA/HDTVI that has a UHF Yagi section like the Zenith "silver sensor" and telescoping rabbit ears for the VHF.

On the second floor, it pulled in half the channels that are really available, but really well. I put a "frankentenna"** in the attic after finding the ONE spot it worked and got the four missing channels (on 3 stations) PBS MeTV CBS and MY without an amplifier.

**I had the front part (UHF section bowtie with corner reflector) from a roof antenna that I shortened elements in attempt peak the VHF performance. This worked on a CM3679, but it was worse on this vintage RCA (green anodized elements) because the longest elements tuned at 1/2 wave for channels 2-6 actually do double duty as they are also 3/2 wavelength for channels 8-12. Clipping them to highband half wavelengths worsened performance so I cut off the VHF section, as it was a failed experiment.