Customer Reviews

Terk Technology TV-42 Clip On Dish Mount Amplified Antenna

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Too far away to get local chanels on your dish? Too close to get a waiver? Tired of rabbit ears? I was all three and this antenna proved to be a good solution. It clips right on the dish and uses the dishes power and wiring to pipe the antenna signal into your home. It doesn't take the "seconds" listed on the box but I was up and running in about 15 minutes and getting near perfect reception on stations that were snowy with every other method I tried. If your dish is on your roof you might need to set aside an hour or two.

One word of warning. When we used the TV/Video button (per our sat manual) to access the antenna signal we got nothing but snow. We were getting ready to disconect the antenna to return it but when I turned the power off on the reciever our local chanels suddenly cleared right up.

I picked up this antenna to receive digital broadcasts from one of my local stations. I used an old indoor antenna to pick up a different station that was VHF (channel 9). It worked just fine. But now that the newer digital channel is UHF (channel 23), the old antenna did not pick it up. I bought other indoor antennas to see if they would pick it up, but they did not work either. The other indoor antennas I tried were the Jensen 940 and the Radio Shack 15-1890 (don't bother with either of these). I finally bought the terk42. I didn't want an outdoor antenna, but I thought this would be a quick test to see if I could get the uhf channels. The installation took a little longer than "seconds" like the box says, but really, it wasn't that difficult. Plus since it just mounts over your dish, it's not as noticable as a huge outdoor antenna would be. This antenna instantly picked up the new UHF digital channel. I have basic cable so the analog local channels weren't a big deal to me. However, even if you are looking to receive local analog stations without having to pay for cable, this antenna did pretty good. Usually I have snow on at least 2 of 5 local analog channels with just an indoor antenna, but with the terk 42, all 5 local channels came in quite nicely. There was a little bit of snow occassionally, but not a big deal if you don't care about that. Honestly, I haven't seen any antenna bring in all local channels without a little snow. Anyway, I was so glad I bought this antenna and had to write a review about it so others like myself will feel a little bit more at ease in looking for an antenna. remember, don't trust the idiots that sell you an antenna, they think you can't pick up digital channels with an old antenna. They say that it has to say 'HDTV' or 'digital ready'. Whatever, like I said before: I was using a 10-year old antenna for one of my local digital channels and it was coming in great. I gave this 5 stars, because it definitely served its purpose for me.

I really enjoy our new Dish service but in our area Dish does not yet offer local channels. The cost savings over digital cable was quite substantial so getting decent reception on local channels was important. This antenna worked like a charm. It was very easy to install and gets great reception. The price offerd on Amazon is the best I have seen, I paid more I forgot to check amazon first, my bad. One bit of advice is to check with your local Radio Shack and ask the more experienced salesman there what should work best in your area. Antenna reception is totally dependant upon your location, terrain around you and the distance between you and the towers that broadcast. for example my house is about 6 blocks from the CBS affiliate and less than 2 miles from the ABC and NBC but I am 30 miles from the brodcast tower. That is very, typical most radio shacks have the maps of were the broadcast tower is and what antenna you should have to get decent reception based upon your location. Using an antenna is a great way to get what you should get for free and not pay for it, like the cable companies charge for.

I bought the Terk TV-42 not expecting much if any improvement over my amplified set of rabbit ears considering my house is about 30 miles away from the local broadcast towers. I however was pleasantly surprised to discover the reception was much better than I had expected. All of my local channels are watchable with several being crystal clear. The UHF reception could be a little better but overall it is not bad. It sure beats an ugly antenna on the roof and since it is outside it works better than set top antennas.

I bought this mainly because it can mount on my dish and use diplexers so I don't have to run any extra cables. I didn't expect much from it because of its small size and omni-directional signal pickup. Outside installation took about an hour, which could have been shorter if I had a good ladder. Inside installation is a snap.

The reception is actually much better than I expected. It got decent signals for all the major channels in the San Jose and San Francisco area, except for KTVU, which is probably too far and in the wrong direction.

In general, it's a good buy for dish owners who want free local channels. Installation is simpler than other outdoor antennas and you don't have to run extra wires. ...this antenna shouldn't have any problems picking up all the local HDTV broadcasts. So once you have a HDTV decoder, expect crystal-clear pictures. :)

this antenna is amazing! although it takes more than a few minutes or seconds to install, everything you need is included. there is no need to crawl around in you attic looking for your splitters or daisy chains. all you need to get to is the dish and back of your tv. reception is amazing and better than local cable! this will pay for itself in less than 3 months! plus i even get stations from other cities. i cant say enough about this product, i cant imagine ANY other antenna working better than this and ive tried them all! this is much better than the omni directional antenna that can be mounted next to your dish. save the money and the eyesore, buy this!

I bought this so that I could pick up my local stations since they are currently STILL not available on satellite. It takes about 30 minutes to install completely, but I was amazed at how well it worked. I have tried 9 different indoor antennas to pick up channels with no luck. With this, I picked up 12 channels on regular television, 6 of them being crystal clear (all of the big stations like NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX).

I paid more than this price for mine, but I bought it from [local store] instead of Amazon.com (my mistake). All of the parts you need are included and it's very easy to hook up.

I highly recommend it!

I purchased this antenna and installed it on the satellite dish as directed. It only picked up the local station that transmits from the town where I live. There are about five other stations within 30 miles. It doesn't pick up any of them good enough to watch. I did as good with bunny ears. In my case, it was a waste of money.

This is an Update...
If I had it my way I would rate this a minus 5
Previous Review: This is the absolute worse piece of junk I have ever purchased. It ranks in the category of snake oil. I installed this and had a loss of 75% of my digital signal. What was worse the reception was totally useless. I would never recommend this product to anyone! If you are considering this go to your closet and get out a wire hanger, connect it to your TV and you will have a better signal than this piece junk.

Update: The Vendor sent out another TV-42 to replace the supposedly defective one. My opinion has not changed! This one did work but reception was terrible. I can get a better signal from rabbit ears. If you're using this on a dish with FTA this device will eventually fry your FTA Receiver. I don't know how the feed back occurs but after removing the TV-42 Antenna my other box worked fine. To receive a signal you do have to have your receiver ON. You will not get a signal if your receiver is off. This is the biggest piece of junk I have ever purchased and it has now cost me the price of two FTA receivers ($400+).

Easy to install but doesn't work very well. The stations I could pick up with rabbit ears were snowy with this and one station I couldn't pick up at all. I picked up one other station, so still had to use the rabbit ears for 3 stations. I have taken the Antenna down as it was causing problems with the dish network signal. The connections on the antenna had rubber coverings that have all split, and this since the end of August, 2006. I suspect water was getting in the connections and causing the signnal problem with dish network. It would loose the satelite signal and try to get it back. Find some other antenna and don't buy this one!!!