Strengths:easy installation, light weight, and good reception
Weaknesses:Nothing, but it's be nice if a small compass is added to help with pointing the antenna to the right direction.
Posted Feb 16, 2006 - I live in a suburb near SF. My apartment is about 28 miles away (according to antennaweb.org) from the major radio tower that carries signals of local NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and PBS stations. I tried one Radioshack indoor/outdoor amplified atenna, one RCA indoor atenna, one Terk indoor (HDTVa), and one Terk outdoor (HDTVs). The Radioshack one always had some stations missing; the RCA and Terk HDTVa didn't really work; and Terk HDTVs looks nice but didn't pick up every station I wanted. Finally I got this HDTVo and installed it on the wall facing the radio tower. The height is just over 6'. In order to orient the antenna to the correction direction, I bought a 10-dollar compass from Big5 sporting goods.
For the first time, I got all stations from that radio tower! Where I live has many many trees, plus several tall buildings around, so I'm happy that I can get all stations without climbing up to the roof (and in fact it's not allowed to do so in my apartment building). With HDTV programmings for free, I'm seriously considering canceling my cable service that does not provide HDTV signals. Currently I can get HDTV programming from about 8 network and independent stations. I'm thrilled to watch the Winter Olympics, Jay Leno show, and American Idol in HD!
On the other hand, I think the Radioshack indoor/outdoor model ($49.95, white, plactic, amplified, not shown on their website yet) and Terk HDTVs ($149.99) are also good, as long as your residence is not too far from the tower and surrounded by tall trees, and you take your time to fine-tune the orientation of these compatc antennae. The Terk HDTVs is actually very good-looking in my opinion.
In sum, I'm very happy with this purchase ($119 from Bestbuy). If you don't want to waste time orienting a small indoor antenna in your living room, Terk HDTVo could be a quick fix.
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