ANTOP “Big Boy” 85 Mile (136.79 kilometers) Antenna

With the Long-range ANTOP "Big Boy" Antenna Pull In FREE HD TV Channels From Up to 85 Miles (136.79 kilometers) Away

With the cost of cable and satellite TV increasing each year, and an average cable TV bill costing $90 a month a FREE TV antenna can be a wonderful investment that will only grow more valuable over time

ANTOP makes some really nice antennas and the ANTOP "Big Boy" is one of their top of the line models. When they offered to let us test their flagship 85 Mile (136.79 kilometers) antenna, we thought why not.

Even though this meant climbing back into to our dusty attic to test it out against our current Antennas Direct Clearstream 4MAX we had installed up there now.

Disclaimer: mkvXstream is not paid for product reviews. Unused media streaming sample equipment received for testing is donated to our local Humane Society Thrift Shop to benefit homeless shelter pets.

We chose to place an antenna in the attic because it still received a decent signal inside our two-story home, and it did not require grounding.

Placing an antenna outdoors will give you an even stronger signal but it must be grounded. Because this will help protect your expensive television and other electronic equipment from lightning strikes entering your home.

Placing an antenna indoors preferably in the attic at the highest point in your home also offers protection from the elements like the sun, wind and rain. All of these can shorten the lifespan of your TV antenna. Although higher quality outdoor antennas are built with this in mind, the elements still can take a toll.

Join the Cord Cutting Movement

Watching FREE local TV is something cable TV and satellite providers would rather you did not know about. They would much rather charge you for one of their expensive TV bundles and have you pay month after month the rest of your life.

A high quality TV antenna is truly the best tool to receive 100% Free HD TV. The right antenna along with a media streamer like Roku, Apple TV, or Nvidia SHIELD can help cord cutters easily achieve a cable TV free life. Using an antenna you can still receive LIVE local news, weather, sports and broadcast TV shows from popular stations like CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, Fox, CW and more.

TV Antennas Can Pull in More Than Just TV Stations

Antennas can be run through a cable splitter to spit the signal between multiple TVs and also a radio receiver. Besides receiving a crystal 4K UHD and 1080P picture on your TV, there may also be many radio stations also available in your area. And even some HD Radio channels as well.

ANTOP Indoor/Outdoor Antenna Company

Headquartered in Ontario Canada, ANTOP has been in business building high quality antennas since 1980. They are a company at the cutting edge for technical innovation and antenna design.

Some of their Innovative Technology Includes:

Smart Pass Amplifier - This signal amplifier automatically turns OFF for close local reception and turns ON to help boost those distant hard to pull in stations.

4G LTE Filter - Blocks the 4G Signals from phones and tablets which can introduce noise into your picture through your antenna.

Wide Range of Indoor and Outdoor Antennas and Accessories - With antennas to fit every application depending on how close or how far you live from the transmission towers.

Tips to Get The Most From Your Antenna Install

1. Minimize the use of connectors and splitters. Each connector and splitter will weaken the signal coming from an antenna. Before adding an amp, first try one direct wire connection from your antenna to your TV. With just two connectors this will give you a baseline of the best quality picture you can expect to receive.

2. If you need to split your connection to multiple devices use an amplifier. ANTOP builds a rather ingenious Smart Boost Amplifier. Because a signal that is over amplified can be just as detrimental to picture quality than one that is too weak. Their amp boosts the signal only when needed.

Their Smart Boost Amplifier unlike others which offer All or None signal amplification lets you dial in the signal strength. So instead of overloading the picture with too much boost. You can fine tune it to maximize your picture quality on your weakest channels. Yet tone it down on your more powerful channels.

This will work with any brand antenna, and can help make a big difference if you use splitters to run your antenna to multiple TVs.

3. Use high quality RG6 cable connectors, compression tool and splitters. It's important to use quality components when installing your antenna. ANTOP also sells these on their website so you will have everything you need to achieve the best picture possible from your antenna install.

ANTOP “Big Boy” AT-400BV Outdoor/Indoor(Attic) HDTV Antenna | Smartpass Amplified VHF Enhanced Specs

This antenna is perfect if you are distance or barrier challenged. Long distances, hills, tall buildings, metal roofs, and even trees can all cause the TV signal to quickly weaken or not make it to small indoor antennas at all.

To help overcome this, buying a longer range larger antenna is your best bet. Most small flat indoor antennas even if amplified will do little to help.

By placing an antenna as high as possible either in an attic or outdoors can help overcome some of these limitations.

The "Big Boy" can either be installed outside on a pole, flat on a wall or mounted to the trusses in an attic. While they make several outdoor/attic models the AT-400BV comes with both the Smartpass Amplifier to help dial in the signal, and the VHF bars to do a better job of pulling in VHF signals.

Not all ANTOP antennas come with the enhanced VHF bars. So if most of your channels are on UHF and VHF channels are not available in your area, you can save a little money by choosing a model without the additional VHF bars.

Use this Federal Communications Online Tool to determine which channels you can expect to receive in your area. While there are several of these kind of tools online, this is one by far the best. It will give you a good ideal which channels are available on which band. Hi VHF, Low VHF, and UHF.

This website will also show you which channels come in the strongest. Green for Strong, Yellow for Moderate and Red for the Weakest signals. Clicking on the callsign, brings up more details on each TV station.

Click the button below and on the FCC website enter your address and Zip code in the blue outlined box to find local TV channels. This site shows the best case scenario for an antenna installed from an antenna mounted outside 30 feet high up in the air.

Local TV Channel Finder

An antenna installed indoors will decrease the signal. But we have had fantastic results mounting our antenna as high as possible on the trusses in our attic. This is with an asphalt singled roof. If you have a metal roof, we recommend installing your antenna outside. Just be sure to ground it using a copper ground rod and RG6 cable with a solid copper ground wire.

Grounding an antenna is fairly simple. But it is best to check with your local building department for any specific rules for your area.

1. Attach one wire to the unpainted antenna mast clamp or grounding screw. Scrape away paint to make sure it touches bare metal where it attaches to your mast.

2. The other end is attached to the copper ground rod that is driven into the ground. Avoid making any sharp turns or bends with your ground wire. A straight path to ground is best.

ANTOP AT400BV Antenna Features

New enhanced digital technology design which matches the performance of larger mechanical antennas
Size: 22 X 10 X 4.7 inches
Reception Range: 70-85 miles (136.79 kilometers)
Whole House Solution: Feed Multiple TVs from one Antenna
Smartpass Amplified: Balanced Reception Range
4G LTE Filter Block: Filters and Blocks unwanted 4G and LTE Cellular Signals
Multi-Directional Reception
Enhancer Rods: For strengthening VHF signals
Sleek Low Profile Design with Weather Resistant UV Coating
Easy Mount: Roof, Attic, Balcony, Wall
12 Month Warranty: Along with On-line Customer Support, Installation videos and assistance
For RV and In-Home Use

Here Is What's Included In The Box

AT400BV Antenna
40 Feet High Quality Removable Coaxial Cable
Smartpass Amplifier
Power Supply
All Mounting Accessories
Table Stand

Quality of this antenna looks top-notch, the "Big Boy" low profile design does not look the least bit offensive. So it would blend in without being an eyesore like some other metal antenna designs.

While this antenna is also nice for RVs, ANTOP makes a UFO antenna that looks even better installed on an RV or boat.

Performance ANTOP "Big Boy" Vs Antennas Direct 4Max

Now that we have some antenna basics out of the way, let's cover the most important aspect of any antenna. How it performs on pulling in some great FREE HD TV channels out of thin air.

The ANTOP "Big Boy" compared admirably to the Antennas Direct ClearStream 4MAX which is a larger antenna. While we do not have expensive test tools to compare the signals on each antenna, they both did an excellent job of pulling in even weaker channels. And we did not notice any signal degradation between the two.

TIP: When hooking up an antenna be sure to do a channel scan to receive all channels available. Rescan occasionally and any time an antenna is moved to another location.

To be fair we did have the 4MAX antenna hooked to an expensive Motorola HD TV Amplifier. The included Smartpass Amplifier did an equally good job with the added benefit of being able to dial down the amount of amplification required on stronger stations.

What ANTOP does offer, is a much sleeker antenna design. While this really does not matter if installing your antenna in an attic. But if installed inside/outside your home or on a RV, the "Big Boy" flat low profile antenna design looks much nicer.

Overall the performance, design and build quality of this "Big Boy" antenna is excellent. And if you are looking for a way to dump cable, be sure to visit the ANTOP website and have a look at their large selection of antennas, accessories, and helpful videos.

Enter your email in the small window that pops up, and receive 10% Off!

ANTOP is another great company helping cord cutters save money each month by cutting their expensive cable TV bill.

Should you have any antenna questions, you can contact ANTOP Support directly: