Joel,
We are in the same situation here at our location. We have Flint east about 55 miles, Lansing south about 50 miles, Grand Rapids Southwest about 70 miles and Cadillac/Traverse city Northwest about 80 miles. Without exaggeration nearly every O.T.A. antenna within 30 miles of our location is a Winegard MS 2000 omnidirectional TV antenna.
Denny
Denny,
I tried plugging in each antennas one at a time, and I got the reception I expected. I've been talking with Ken at hdtvprimer.com, and we've come up with a couple things to try. I'll let you know how it works out.
Sounds great!
Denny,
I finally got a good compromise by trying different combinations of antenna direction and different ways to connect twin lead. It's not perfect, and I couldn't recommend it to anyone else simple because of the time I spent on it. I learned a lot, and I found some interesting things, like the lowest of the 3 antennas I have pointed towards Indy, the farthest stations. I found flat wire still performed the best, and I never did try a combiner because I didn't want the signal loss, and I'm pretty well burnt out on the project. I did try a 4th TV antenna to see if I could get it to match better, but it didn't help much. Supposedly reflections will only be canceled if the antennas are in the same RF field, and if they are pointed in different directions they'll be in different fields, and that's what I found. If I ever have to use multiple antennas, I'll try a combiner first because it provided antenna separation, and hope there isn't too much signal loss.
I was also looking around on your website, and by the UHF only antennas you have a section talking about the final destination of digital channels. The second round elections have been published. You have a link to the first round. There's some channels going back to VHF for the first time in my area, so it wouldn't hurt to update that link. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
Thanks again for your help.
Joel
Joel,
Thanks for letting me know your results. I glad you found a compromise to the situation. Working with multiple TV antennas in different direction can be a real pain in the butt. I guess that's why they invented the TV antenna rotor. What works at one location with particular antennas doesn't necessarily work at another.
I appreciate the new link I will put it in when I publish the site next.
Denny
SharpShooter indoor TV antenna for Chicago
Hi,
I'm wondering if your customers have had any experience with the SS-3300 TV antenna in the Chicago area. I live in Oak Park, between 8 and 9 miles from the transmitter locations (2 at 88 and 98 degrees) for all of the city's stations. I'm currently using an amplified RCA loop+rabbit ears, effectively only the loop, to get all the UHF DT stations. I'm unable to get a consistent usable signal from WBBM, SD 2, DT 3. I've tried the Terk TV5, TV55, and HDTV antennas and they all behave pretty much the same. With the HDTVa and the RCA I was able to get channel 3 by spreading the rabbit ears fully horizontally on the floor in the middle of the room, but even that only worked for a couple of nights, probably a function of atmospheric conditions, or perhaps some local interference. The Terk TV5 gave nothing, and the TV55 was almost as bad. By walking around the room I was able to get a weak signal, but
nothing I could really use. And there's no way an TV antenna could stay in the middle of the room anyway. All of the antennas have given pretty much the same performance on UHF although the TV5 did pick up an additional station in Indiana (I know it's the only 'almost
omni-directional' one in the bunch). I get occasional pixelation and dropout, but it's basically usable.
My question: What are the chances the SS-3300 will do the job for me? I know that in 2 1/2 years things will change, but that's a long time! At that time stations will be in the VHF band, but on channels 7 and 11, so if the antenna works for channel 3, it will certainly be OK in the long run as well. I know you offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and I'm willing to take you up on it if you think there's any realistic chance of success. I know the guarantee excludes shipping, but I can't tell from your "Final Price" what that would be.
Thanks for any information you might have,
Howard
Greetings Howard,
We have had one customer purchase theWinegard SS 3000 indoor TV antenna (new stock # same antenna) for use at a location approximately 20 miles south of Chicago. Unfortunately we have had no feedback on his purchase. The order was placed nearly 4 months ago so I would assume it's doing alright. Out of dozens sold we have had one return from near Washington DC. The TV antenna was being used for analog reception in a brick constructed condominium complex. What makes the SS 3000 outperform other antennas is its ability to reduce or eliminate multipath interference, which many times, but not always is the cause of pixelation and dropout. I wish I could help you further with you decision. In the event you would need to take advantage of our guarantee the shipping cost to return the antenna is less than $10.00 by U.S. mail.
If you should decide to try the antenna please inform us of the results so we may help others in your area.
Best Regards,
Denny
Denny,
Thanks for the reply. I'm going to order one shortly using your website.
Howard
Tripod TV antenna mount
Hi Denny,
I would like to use a tripod for my tv antenna mount but I'm a little skeptical about putting anything on my roof. Do you have any advice, what's your experience?
I understand your concern, tripod TV antenna mounts have received a bad reputation because of improper installation procedures. See installing a TV antenna tripod. Have you considered an eave mount?
Denny
