Customer Reviews

Terk HDTVO Amplified HDTV Antenna

5 star:		(123)
4 star:		(50)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

I wasn't sure if I need a big antenna or not...the most distant station is 35 miles away...but one of the stations I wanted to receive shows in the Blue (on the antenna wheel) on [...]. The Terk HDTVo shows it can handle signals out to the Blue area...so I bought it. Took me all of 30 minutes to attach it to my Dish Satellite mast (mounted it just a bit lower than the actual dish on my roof) and run the RG6 to my old Cable TV hook up outside the house. I let my Dish 811 receiver do a channel scan and every local station that is available in my area was captured. I clicked to each station and all but one of them comes in at 89-92 on the scale of 100. I have one weak channel which hovers between 69 and 72...but the picture is perfect. I can now watch HD channels for free with this great little antenna. I had considered the Wingard Square shooter and the Sensor 2200...but neither of those claimed to get a signal from the mid/far range (blue on the little antenna wheel on the box). The Terk delivered on it's range..in fact..the station that is the weakest is actually closer than the channel that I was worried about (I think the issue may be one channel is using less broadcasting wattage and it may be a bit off axis from the dead-center of the antenna). The only caution I can give with this antenna is, it is very directional. That means...all your TV station transmitters have to be in a very narrow corridor for this antenna to grab them all. I'd guess if they were spread more than 20 degrees you may have trouble getting a strong signal on all the stations. I'm not done tinkering with the antenna yet. I may try and put a short extension on my dish mast and boost this antenna above the actual Dish to see if I can't increase the signal strength on the weakest channel.
Terk claims..the higher you go with this antenna..the better the signal.

Had my doubts on this antenna (due to it's size)as my home shows to to be 40 miles from the transmitter on www.antennaweb.org. I received this unit and mounted it on my existing dish network mast in about 15-20 min no problems. The antenna comes with it's own mast simuliar to that of a dish so I simply clamped it underneath my dish. This antenna is a directional antenna so using the coordinates of the transmitters provided on antennaweb.org I proceded to point the antenna to the proper direction using a compass I picked up at Wal-Mart. I used diplexors to combine the antenna and satellite signal into one cable that runs to my living room dishnetwork receiver. I was suprised to find that the antenna received great signal strength! I had a signal strength of high 80's on most channels with one channel at 72. Due to the fact that I used diplexors I also bought a Terk inline amplifer that doesn't plug into the wall to help boost signal strenth. The amp made no difference in signal strength so I would advise to invest in a powered amp if you need more signal. I am satisfied and happy with this antenna which again is mounted outsided on my dish mast which is on my roof (not in the attic), using diplexors (which actually inhibit signal strenth) and pointed to the exact coordinates which are found on antennaweb.org (transmitter distance 40 miles and all in the same direction). The dish is discreet on the roof so it keeps the neighbors and home owners association happy.

This antenna was easy to set up. Had it up in about 20 minutes. I live about 50 miles from the tower antennas and the range on this antenna is excellent! HD channels come in very clear.

Getting great HD signals isn't rocket science, but it does require the right equipment and proper setup.

The Terk HDtvO antenna is perfect for my situation. It's an amplified directional antenna which works great because virtually all of the local broadcasts come from the same place in the Twin Cities. Use antennaweb.org as a guide for your location.

When I first set it up, I could barely pick-up any HD signals. I thought I just wasted a bunch of money. Getting it right required a little patience and a couple of phone calls to Terk's technical support. Here are some tips:

1.) Use antennaweb.org to determine where you need to point the antenna. The farther away you get from the TV towers, the more important it is to point it just right. If you have a compass, use it. Changing the direction the antenna points a few millimeters one way or the other can make a difference. My TV lets me monitor signal strength so I can see the difference.
2.) The length of cable between the antenna and TV should be as short as possible. I'm running about 70 ft. with the power injector installed, which works great. When I first tried 100 ft. the signal was too degraded, yet when I added a booster it overpowered the signal which made the picture even worse.
3.) Put the antenna as high as you can go and positioned so that it has little to no obstructions (trees, buildings, etc.) in the direction it needs to point. I mounted my antenna in the attic.
4.) The power injector must be placed in line as close to the TV as possible and *prior* to any splitter, if applicable.
5.) If you plan to run the signal to other TVs (either HD or analog), call tech support for advise on where to put the splitter(s), cable run length and whether you'll need a booster

This product performs as advertised.Very simple to install; put mine in the attic and patched the coax directly into an input jack of my DirecTV HDDVR. It tripled the number of HD channels I can receive now, and reception is outstsnding!!

Let me start by noting that antennas are finnicky devices. What works in one location may not work at all in another location.

I am located in a Baltimore suburb 9.2 miles from most of my local broadcasters' transmitters, and most of these transmitters are within one mile of one another, except for the PBS station which is 180 degrees from the other antennas (behind me as opposed to in front of me) but only about 1 mile away. I have been using a Terk HDTVS which has been giving me adequate, though not perfect, results (still get some dropping out once in a while). I also have tried a Terk HDTVLP (Sharpshooter) indoor antenna which has given me surprising results: it has difficulty picking up the Baltimore broadcasts but easily picks up the Washington, DC, broadcasts some 50 miles away.

Unfortunately, this Terk HDTVO antenna has been the poorest performer of the bunch. I have been able to pick up a few of the Baltimore stations, but not the PBS station that is in the opposite direction but only a mile away, and none of the DC stations when pointed in that direction.

All of my DTV channels are broadcast UHF, so I expect my next attempt will be a classic bay antenna such as the Channel Master 4228. In fact, having experimented with several of these modern style Terk antennas, I'm not exactly satisfied with any of their results, and I'd recommend purchasing a classic wire antenna. Do a little research because one size does not fit all when it comes to antennas. There are alot of resources on the web, and here are a couple I recommend: http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/types.html
http://www.antennaweb.org/

Easy to install and works extremely well! I live nearly 50 miles from New Orleans and am able to pick up 13 channels in HD!!

I put this antenna up on Friday using the coordinates of the broadcasting towers in my area from antennaweb.org (A MUST!). I then connected it to my HR10-250 HD DirecTV Tivo box and programmed it the receiver using the antenna setup feature and I am amazed at how good the signal is! I am twenty to twenty-five miles from the towers and have always gotten terrible reception from antennas. I am getting signal strengths in the 90's for all the major network. The antenna looks like something from Flash Gordon but its not really any bigger than my dish. It is well made and I expect to get years of great service. This is a directional antenna so it has a more focused reception area than some other choices. I would definitely recommend this to anyone far away from a major city with a concentration of broadcasting towers.

I have had one of these great antennas up on my house for several months and it works great. I have read where people have had problems and my suggestion is to mouut the antenna as high as possible. My didn't work well at all after my first try at installing it and I was frustrated as you can imagine. I then borrowed a longer ladder and it instantly worked perfectly. I don't know if it needed to be higher than the power lines across the street but whatever it was by simply moving it up four feet it worked perfectly. I have it mounted on the side of my house, at the tallest point, with the element just a few inches abpove the roof line. Bottom line you need to get it up there and it's not going to work if you mount it with a step ladder.

I had read the great reviews about this HD antenna, so I gave it a try. I mounted it in my attic, well, more like a small area in my rafters. After letting my new HD tv search for all available channels, it found about 40 channels! After weeding through the channels in other languages, I found that it was giving me 5 HD channels. They look amazing! I cannot believe how good over the air HD is! Most people don't even know it exists, as all the friends I have been telling about it are confused as to how you could get free HD!

This is a definite recommended buy. You will not be disappointed!