Established Feb 2008... updated 14 March 2008
If you are reading this page it is probably because you have heard of the Channel Master 4251. The Channel Master 4251 is a 7 foot diameter parabolic UHF TV antenna that is widely accepted as the most powerful production UHF TV antenna ever manufactured. Several other companies did make competing models and there are some UHF antennas available today that can come close to the 4251, however the 4251 pretty much remains as the unofficial "king" of UHF TV antennas. The 4251 is no longer available. This is unfortunate because now that HDTV is upon us there is a renewed market for over the air TV reception (and hence the need for powerful antennas). The 4251 is also highly sought after by those who do DX work (DXing is a hobby where people try to receive stations from far away places). This page is dedicated to the Channel Master 4251 and it will contain photos, technical data and historical items!
A Vintage Channel Master 4251 installed Jan 2008 for HDTV reception!
I got my Channel Master 4251 in 1986. I had wanted one for many years prior to that, but I lived at home and my father said "no" to an antenna that big being on the roof (we did have 6 other antennas on the roof at that time so in retrospect I can understand his decision). In 1986 I moved to an apartment (actually it was a 3 family house) and the landlord said "do what you want" with regard to antennas (hooray)! The downside was that the place I lived in was in deep narrow ravine and I knew reception to the west (where most of the stations were) would be nil even with the 4251 (even from the top of the roof it would be pointing into solid rock). Undetered, I bought my 4251 from JAN Electronics in New London, CT. At the time the cost was around $155. I had a Chevy Cavalier so I had to do a lot of preparation beforehand to get the antenna back to my house (around 20 miles away). What a site having that 4251 box strapped to the side of the car, it was almost as long as the car itself!
I installed the 4251 on the roof (the house had a roof with a small watch tower on it so access was as simple as it could be). As expected my reception was limited due to the valley I was in. Nonetheless I was able to get a watchable picture on a Long Island station (channel 55) that would only put a "change in snow" on the TV with a Radio Shack U-100 UHF antenna! I did not live in that house for too long (other people that moved in were slobs, brought cockroaches in, etc) so I moved to another about 1/2 mile away. This house was in a much better location for receiving channels, but the problem was that the landlord did not want any antennas on the roof. So, I set up the 4251 in the attic (see picture below). Not the best situation, but I was able to get stations I wanted to see (the downside was that I had to go up to the attic to rotate the antenna manually). In the summer of 1988 I had the opportunity to buy my first house. Once I moved in one of the first things to be installed was the 4251! This time I had a great shot to the west, north and south but a marginal shot to the east. It was in this location that I logged the most reception. I could get at least a dozen stations with perfect signal and about another dozen or so that were clear enough to watch. I lived in this house from 1988 to very early 2002. The 4251 was a fantastic asset. I had it mounted on an extremely strong mast with a rotor bearing and extra heavy duty guy wire mounts. I also had a preamp on the 4251 to overcome any signal loss (I used RG-6 cable). I had another UHF-VHF combo antenna mounted below the 4251 and I had it rigged so that I could switch between antennas using a switch (to compare reception). The 4251 could bring in watchable reception on stations that the combo antenna would only barely show! What a fantastic antenna this was. There was one TV tower (Channel 26) that went in only about 5 miles from me. With the 4251 the signal was so strong that it overloaded the TV (I had to use the smaller antenna to watch this station)! In early 2002 I moved to a new house. This new house was nicer with a lot of land, however once again it was down in a valley. I took the 4251 with me when I moved. The new house did have a UHF-VHF combo antenna on the roof and due to the bad location I could only barely get channels that I used to have perfectly clear. I did not install the 4251 on this new house but instead put it in storage in a barn at my parent's house. Something told me "do not toss this item out, you waited too long to get it and you might want to use it again someday....". That voice in my head was very wise.
Enter 2008. HDTV is now here and soon to be the only broadcast available. My brother was gaining interest in buying an HDTV. He did not know that HDTV broadcasts were available for free (networks anyway) over the air. He asked about the TV antenna we had on the roof at that time (it was a suburban UHF-VHF combo unit). I said "I have the perfect antenna for that!" Long story short, the 4251 was taken down out of the storage in the loft, refurbished and installed once more on the roof (the picture at the top of the page shows this installation). The 4251 lives on! A neighbor even called to ask "What's that big antenna for?" Most people don't notice the average TV antenna, but when they see a 4251 they know it's not a common site. Those who DO know what a 4251 is say to themselves "there is a serious TV entusiast living there" when they drive by and spot a 4251!
In reading other sites on the web it appears that the tooling equipment for the 4251 was tossed out when Channel Master was bought out. Not having ever worked for Channel Master and never having been at their facility I am unable to say of this is true or not. However, it is clear that Channel Master no longer offers the 4251 (or the smaller 4250 for that matter). I know of no company that offers a parabolic UHF TV antenna (at least one aimed at the consumer market) today. More than likely this is due to revenue, there probably was not enough of a market to keep production going on these units. Unfortunate, but this appears to be the reality of the situation. Most people today have cable or satelite TV, and few want a large outdoor antenna these days. Many people identify rooftop antennas with "ugliness". I showed my girlfriend a photo of the 4251 and she said "I'd NEVER have that thing on MY roof!" (Women just don't understand the bueaty of the 4251!). I'd say it is doubtful that we'll ever see another commerically available consumer UHF parabolic antenna become available.
This section contains brochures and technical information regarding the 4251.
Channel Master UHF Antenna Brochure This is the front page of a 4 page Channel Master brochure covering their line of UHF antennas. This is from around 1986 (when I bought my 4251).
Channel Master 4251 Catalog Page Here's the page from the Channel Master catalog that shows the 4251 (and its smaller brother the 4250). This catalog is from 1986. Notes that appear in the margin were written by me.
Data Sheet for Stacking Two 4251 Parabolics Direct from Channel Master, here's how to stack a pair of 4251s vertically!
Data Sheet for Stacking Four 4251 Parabolics This array would be the the ultimate DREAM of all DXers and serious TV enthusiats! One 4251 is a formidable antenna, imagine the power of FOUR of these units working in tandem! The rotor needed for this array would need to be massive (as would the mast members). I doubt anyone could find 4 new 4251s to stack like this today. The fact that Channel Master had this information indicates that someone somewhere had an array like this at one time!
Gain Plot for the Channel Master 4251 Parabolic I got this from Channel Master in 1988.
Beam Width Characteristics for the Channel Master 4251 Parabolic I got this from Channel Master in 1988.
This section contains photos of the 4251 and related items. Click on the small images and a large format image will open in a new window!
4251 at Norwich CT Here is my first installation for the 4251. I lived in one part of a 3 family house. Access to the roof was incredibly simple... go up some attic stairs, into the lookout tower, open a window and climb out. The roof pitch was very shallow (you could sleep up there with little risk of rolling off at night). THis made working on the 4251 very easy.
4251 at Norwich CT Another view of the Norwich CT 4251 installation. I did not have a preamp on the antenna at this time.
Snow Covered 4251! An early (and heavy, wet snow) fell in November 1986. The 4251 was pretty well coated with snow (this shot obviously taken at night with a flash). As access to the roof was so easy here I shook some of the excess snow off the antenna.
4251 Box I know this picture makes it look like I lived in a "dump", but the old refrigerator gives some scale here. The 4251 box goes almost to the ceiling! I had this box strapped to a Chevy Cavalier on the 4251's ride to its new home!.
4251 in the Attic I had to move out of the 3 family house and the new placed I lived in did not allow outdoor antennas. So, I hooked it up in the attic. Not the best situation but better than nothing. That's me behind the antenna for scale (I'm 6'1").
4251 at Oakdale, CT Here's my first installation of the 4251 at my new place in Oakdale, CT during the fall of 1988. The physical installation left a bit to be desired (it was later heavily fortified). Reception at this location was excellent to the south, west and north. East was blocked fairly well by a hill. Note in this installation I have added a rotor bearing. This accessory greatly minimizes torque and stress on the rotor. Also I now have a Channel Master preamp on the 4251. In the foreground is my smaller VHF-FM-UHF combo antenna and below that is a 10 element FM Yagi from Radio Shack.
4251 at Oakdale, CT A more distant shot of the 4251 antenna shows how high up I had it. No one ever complained to me about the looks (a few neighbors were more "curious" about what it was for).
4251 at Oakdale, CT Another shot of the antenna farm at Oakdale CT. THis photo shows the new VHF-FM-UHF combo antenna I installed (it replaced the smaller one shown before). This was a great all-around antenna but the UHF section was "no match" for the 4251.
4251 at Oakdale, CT This shot shows my later installation (after 1993 when I put a new roof on). The guy wire anchors are now incredibly strong (steel plates with large eye bolts secured to the 2x6 beams for the roof).
Antennas at Oakdale The 4251 is not in this photo, this one shows the new VHF-FM-UHF combo antenna I installed (it replaced the smaller one shown before).
Robert Eder's 4251/3617B "Dream" outfit Roberet Eder of Iowa has what many would consider to be a dream setup. A Channel Master 4251 Parabolic UHF and a Channel Master 3617B VHF antenna on a tower! The 3617B is the largest all channel VHF antenna made by Channel Master. Below a list of the gear in Robert's installation:
(Photo by Robert Eder)
Several other companies offered parabolic UHF antennas in the past. If you look at electronics catalogs from the 1960s there were a lot more available (this was due to the fact that there were a lot fewer Cable TV companies, there were fewer TV channels; people had to get larger antennas to try and pick up more distant stations and TV sets of the day had not very good sensitivity). Here are some of the companies that offered competing parabolic antennas in days gone by:
Below is some information I was able to locate on some of the other competing parabolic UHF antennas that were available at one time.
Lafayette Parabolic UHF Antennas Here's a portion of the 1969 Lafayette Radio catalog that features their two UHF models. Look at those prices! Of course, $26.50 was quite a bit of $$ back then...
Antennacraft Parabolic UHF Antennas Here are AntennaCraft's entries for the UHF Parabolic market. These look very much like the ones Lafayette used to sell. Note: this image was acquired from this web address: http://akn-media.com/Zap/hdtv/uhf/uhf.jpeg.
Delhi/Jerrold Parabolic UHF Antenna Here is the UHF Parabolic contender from Delhi/Jerrold (along with some of their other UHF antennas). It looks very similar to the AntennaCraft and Lafayette units. This is from a 1986 catalog.
I havemore goodies on the 4251. Items I have that will be posted:
I have these items, I just have to locate and scan all of them.