Terk AF-9330 AM/FM Indoor Amplified Tower Antenna

by Terk

Product Details

Product Manual [392kb PDF]

• Item Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005T3Y9
• Item model number: AF-9330
• Average Customer Review: 1.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #28 in Electronics > Accessories & Supplies > Audio & Video Accessories > Antennas > Radio Antennas
  • #88 in Electronics > Accessories & Supplies > Audio & Video Accessories > Antennas > TV Antennas
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 8, 2002

Product Description

Increase your FM reception with the TERK FM Pro Indoor/Outdoor Antenna, which utilizes a patented horizontally polarized, half-wavelength (98MHz), folded dipole design to maximize FM signal reception of even weak and distant stations. The FM Pro's figure-

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Literally worse than nothing, December 2, 2004

By 

Brett Buck (Sunnyvale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Terk AF-9330 AM/FM Indoor Amplified Tower Antenna (Electronics)

I was hoping to improve reception on a few stations , so I decided to replace the twin lead dipole (passive) antenna that came with my new tuner with the Terk Tower. I have the AM Advantage loop and that works fairly well, so I figured this powered antenna would be a lot better.

Well, bad reasoning. On FM, it doesn't work NEARLY as well as a 32" piece of plain old wire on any of my radio recievers. In some cases, stations that could be tuned reasonably well with *nothing at all* attached to the FM inputs, and no internal antenna, could no longer be received with the Terk Tower attached.

Those that could be tuned with the antenna attached had grotesque distortion. This despite turning the gain adjustment dial in either direction. It was functioning, as at low levels of gain, the station dropped off completely, and definitely changed as you moved it. So it wasn't just broken. I could get barely acceptable reception on a few stations with micro-fine adjustments of the dial. But even at best all stations had all sorts of fuzz and dropouts. You could turn it up enough to swamp the receiver ACG circuit, but the distortion never goes away as you turn it down the point of losing lock completely.

On AM, it doesn't make it worse, but it doesn't help, either. On all the weak stations I have tried, I simply can't tell the difference in the results. Once again, fiddling with the gain control changes it, but at maximum boost, it's pretty much what I was getting with the the teeny little loop antenna that bolts to the back of the tuner. At lower gain settings you just can't hear the station at all.

For all intents and purposes, it just doesn't seem to work, I tried it on 4 different tuners/radios in 4 different places in my house, and in every case it made the FM reception MUCH worse than the stock antennas, and AM reception no better than the stock or internal antennas. I'm probably going to break it open and try attaching different lengths of wire in place of the stock antenna, and see if that helps. But I get the impression that the booster amplifer just isn't up to the task of passing 107.7 MHz., and introduces too much distortion at FM freqencies. It almost has to be - because a plain old wire that length is MUCH better.

Even though it was pretty inexpensive, I was very disappointed with this antenna. You'll get FAR better reception with a bent coat hanger. And that's free with your dry cleaning.

(addendum - I finally broke my antenna open, and now it's clear why it doesn't work on AM any better than a stock antenna. It's because inside the tower, for AM, is a small, unamplified, loop antenna! It's not even connected to the circuitry. Which begs the question of why turning the dial affects the AM performance. I speculate that the AM loop and the FM amplifier are interfering with each other - and that the AM is getting into the FM amp, causing modulation at the FM subcarrier frequency, hence, really fuzzy FM reception - and also dragging energy out of the AM loop more or less depending on the FM amp setting. BTW, the FM antenna is a piece of bare copper wire running the length of the antenna. Short answer is still the same - it's junk, don't waste your money)

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Good for ring tossing, February 17, 2005

By 

A. Designs "Buyer" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Terk AF-9330 AM/FM Indoor Amplified Tower Antenna (Electronics)

The only thing the Terk boosted was my credit card balance. It's really great if you plan to use it for a good game of ring toss or as a hat holder but as an electronic device, it's a joke

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sounds the same connected as it does disconnected...don't buy one., September 13, 2005

By 

E. Oxenberg "Just another stay-at-home comput... (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Terk AF-9330 AM/FM Indoor Amplified Tower Antenna (Electronics)

My father has one of these, and over the course of a recent move, I helped him reinstall his Bang & Olufsen stereo system. He was getting poor FM reception, so I connected his Terk antenna, but it didn't improve the signal. There was a lot of noise and distortion, and the receiver couldn't seem to get a lock on any local stations. I didn't understand the problem, and at first blamed the receiver. But I really couldn't believe a $5,000 piece of electronics could be that bad, even if it was 20 year old.

I moved the antenna, same reception. I changed the gain, same reception. I unplugged it from the wall, same reception. Finally, I disconnected the antenna entirely from the receiver, and the FM didn't get any worse. Well, that pretty much proves the thing is doing nothing aside from taking up living room space to me.

Well, it's my Dad's antenna and he got it a few years ago, so we're not getting a refund. I went and bought a simple wire dipola antenna from Radio Shack for $6 and at least it works.

If you want a noticable improvement in your FM reception, buy a good outdoor antenna from a real antenna company like ChannelMaster or Winegard, or save some money and buy a dipole indoor antenna for a few dollars. But don't get this Terk unless you want static and hiss out of your radio.