EV's Recommended & Top Rated DTV Indoor UHF/VHF Set Top Antenna Review Round-Up Guide - Page 3

North facing window, but pointing a UHF loop east or south-east seems to get strong signals. Only a few trees in the way in that direction, apart from the window moulding (due east) and our own walls (south east).

Right now, for digital, we receive WILX, WLNS, WSYM, WKAR, and WLAJ. Including subchannels, that's actually 11 channels.

But, WLNS is the only station that has no dropouts. WILX, WLAJ, and WSYM come in tolerably, but I wish we could shore them up a little to lessen the stuttering effect. WKAR comes in at 50% or so and is hardly watchable, which hurts, because they have 4 subchannels.

Generally, I'd just like to give everything a boost. Optimially, I'd LOVE to be able to pull in WKAR PBS strongly.

After the transition, WILX is moving to VHF 10 and greatly lowering their signal strength, so a UHF/VHF combo would be preferred.

Okay, after tweaking the CM4221, here's my thoughts. I basically placed the antenna away from my electronics on the other side of my living room in a coat closet. Previously from the RCA powered antenna I had a strength of around 65% - 70% for most channels with intermittent jitter.

Now the main channels with the CM4221 provide a solid 92% signal and the other stations around 85%. I am quite please with the performance and I can get the 8-1 (PBS) channel even though I believe it is a VHF channel. I am pretty amazed I can get that signal strength considering I probably am firing the signal through 5 apartment buildings.

Why a switch rather than a UVSJ? I have a DB2 + rabbit ears hooked to a PICO UVSJ and it has worked pretty well for analog. Will it not work for digital (when FOX returns to VHF 7)? Really don't want yet another wrench thrown into my setup. Thanks.

Most instructions that I've seen tell you to extend the rabbit ears all the way and adjust them so that they are horizontal for low VHF. For high VHF, I think they say to shorten them by 1/3 and place them in a V shape. However, like everything when it comes to indoor antennas, it depends on your location. For both low and high VHF, mine seems to work best fully extended in a standard V shape.

In my opinion, the most important factor when it comes to rabbit ears is the length of the dipoles. I have both a Terk HDTVa and a Terk TV1 which have about 40" dipoles. Many of the older and/or cheaper rabbit ears that I've either seen or tried only have about 30" dipoles. I have one digital station on channel 11 that is impossible to get with the shorter dipoles. It could be a fluke, but when it comes to antennas, bigger is usually better.

I'm still kind of on the fence about the HDTVa. If you had asked me a couple of months ago, I would have recommended it without hesitation. The reception is VERY good under the right circumstances. It is designed to pull in distance and/or weak signals, and thus, it is very directional.

Many people have been unimpressed with this antenna primarily, I think, because it is so directional. In many areas, people have signals coming from more than one direction; in which case, this is not necessarily the right antenna.

I do have a major complaint about the HDTVa. The VHF dipoles are severely restricted in their range of motion. In my area, most of the UHF stations are in one general direction, but I have one VHF station in a slightly different direction. Because the VHF dipoles do not have 360 degree movement, it is impossible to position the antenna to pull in all of the stations at the same time, so I ended up buying a second HDTVa and combined the two signals. This works but is not acceptable for most people.

Recently, I purchased a Terk TV1 and a Radio Shack double bowtie and combined them for use in my bedroom. The reception with this setup is almost as good as the two HDTVa's but not quite primarily because I don't have an amplifier attached. However, I think I like this setup better because I can focus the antennas completely independently. I might try adding an amplifier later if I have problems with signal strength.

Based on my observations, the TV1 and HDTVa (powered off) perform pretty much equally for VHF reception. The HDTVa edges out the Radio Shack because of it's more directional nature. However, both of them perform well.

All of this information is subjective since it is based on visual observation of both analog and digital reception. Unfortunately, I don't have any equipment at the moment with a signal meter, so I don't have any concrete numbers to validate those observations. I'm hoping to pickup a couple of digital converters soon and do some experimenting to see how the signal strengths compare between these two setups. I'll get back to you later on that.

It comes with a separate UHF loop. The kind you would attached to an older TV with two screws. I've never been a big fan of loop antennas. They are incredibly difficult to adjust. My experience has been that you adjust it, take your hand away, and the picture goes to pot. The TV1 also comes with a 300ohm to 75ohm adapter so that you can connect it to a TV that only has a 75ohm (RF) input.

Absolutely! In my opinion, both the TV1 and the HDTVa are extremely well built. I've seen some complaints on Amazon about the HDTVa, but I think that's mainly because it has a tendency to tip over very easily which could cause it to fall and break.

I've also tried the TV3 just for kicks but was not very impressed with its performance. I'm just not fond of that style of antenna. As I said before, loops are difficult to adjust and the dipoles on that one are more difficult to adjust. I think it has to do with how far apart they are. It just takes more space (which I didn't have) and patience to get them adjusted.

I have one difficult to get VHF station that I had no problem getting with the HDTVa or the TV1 that I just couldn't get with the TV3. If I had played with it longer, I might have gotten it to work, but I just didn't have the patience at the time. Maybe I'll give it another try when I get my converter boxes.

EV: Thanks for the advice... I actually picked up a Philips PHDTV3 "Silver Sensor" at Target today on a whim (while returing another antenna to a store and giving my bud back the antennas he loaned us). Haven't had any time to mess with it, but just sitting on the window sill with the amp on I'm getting better reception of WLNS, WLAJ, and WKAR, slightly worse reception of WILX, and equal reception of WSYM. Also pulls in WZPX in Battle Creek that the rabbit ears / loop couldn't. It isn't watchable, but it's still impressive.

I guess that's another endorsement for the Silver Sensor line.

I'm going to fuss with it and see if I can situate it up higher... I'm optimistic. I'm tempted to order an HD-1080 or DB2 anyway, just to see if I can lock in WZPX... this antenna trial-and-error stuff is a weird sort of addition.

Just an observation on rabbit ears you guys try V for victory take your fingers and do a V for victory now tilt them out at about a forty five degree angle upward.. Try your rabbit ears in a similar position aimed toward the station. A widish V as well maybe about 90 degrees wide.
Good luck.

John

Don't be scared thats a normal power level for a VHF Hi Channel. :P

A kilowatt gets you a lot more bang for the buck when the frequency is so much lower.

Just thought I'd mention, too, that for un-amped, traditional-style VHF rabbit ears/UHF loop models, Radio Shack's have always been very good.

Usually better than the Walmart RCA/Philips ones.

Do I understand correctly that the supplied UHF loop is completely separate from the Terk TV1? It seemed as though some amazon.com reviewers used the TV1 rabbit ears for UHF DTV with some success, which would be counterintuitive to say the least.

I closely compared the RCA ANT110 and Terk TV1 at Fry's, my impression was the Terk's supplied UHF loop is completely separate. Could someone clarify?

Yes, the UHF loop included with the TV1 is a completely separate antenna. It's the old style loop that would have attached to the back of older analog TV's via UHF screws on the back of the set. Picture a silver wire in the shape of a circle with hooks on the ends.

I believe the reviews that you're seeing on Amazon are from people just connecting the TV1 directly to their HDTV without using the UHF loop. It is possible to receive UHF signals this way. Heck, I've heard that if you have a strong enough signal, you can just use a coaxial cable and get reception. It just isn't the ideal method for most of us.

6 phone books later and I gotta say, I'm really impressed with the Philips PHDTV3 Silver Sensor. So far, it has been the only amped antenna to pull in stronger signals than our old RCA ANT120b loop/dipole.

Set in the same spot, the PHDTV3 was a slight improvement. After lifting it 2-feet higher thanks to the phone books, I'm getting 80-90% strength on every local channel. WILX NBC still has dropouts... the signal is erratic... but I'm not going to worry about it since a) they're less frequent than before, and b) that station is moving to VHF in 2009 and I'll be rockin' the rabbit ears for it.

It's even pulling in distant stations, albeit with too many dropouts, that I never thought we could get. WZPX Ion in Battle Creek Ion is 25 miles away. WAQP is 44 miles away! They stutter too much to be useful, but there they are.

I can only imagine lustily how good this thing would be if we lived on the 1st floor and not the basement level.

I've been looking at the teaser for this antenna on their site for months. It's still just UHF, right?