If you’re like me and have cut your cable, you need an antenna to be able to receive broadcast television signals. Local stations, both the networks and the independent stations now broadcast in HDTV over the air via a digital broadcast signal. Most new televisions have the necessary digital tuners built-in, just needing a antenna, no external digital converter box.
It all sounds so easy, unfortunately the system barely works for me. Personally, I feel the whole digital broadcast system, as it has been rolled out, is just a massive scam on consumers to force them to buy cable or satellite. The system just doesn’t work well enough to be usable. Even in the best situations, you must move the antenna to a different position for each channel, like it was 1970 and you were adjusting the rabbit ears. It’s just not watchable and also makes it impossible to record shows on a DVR, as you can’t move the antenna.
To me, it just seems like they are trying to cram too much data, and the tolerances required to receive the signal are just too tight. I also do not understand why the original analog signal was not retained as a backup, except to further force consumers to seek an alternative.
I live in an apartment building in the middle of downtown Los Angeles, but have a full wall of windows. Still I am barely able to get a signal as I’ve learned you need an unobstructed line of sight from the broadcast towers and unfortunately there is a large building directly between my loft and the transmission towers for my local stations atop Mount Wilson, just North of the city.
Now I am fortunate in that I have a direct line of sight view to the San Diego transmission towers, although they are about 120 miles away, I can receive them.
I get the Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC and PBS stations, but I must move the antenna to different positions for each. I am still trying to find a position that may allow me to receive the Los Angeles stations.
We’ve tried several inexpensive antennas from different sources, all costing between $10. and $20. and they were barely usable. After reading many reviews, the Terk was one of the HDTV antenna units recommended for difficult situations. The antenna has a large metal UHF antenna unit, for channels 14-69 and larger than normal telescoping poles for VHF, which is channels 2-13.
Although the unit is solid and stands up, the base is quite small and its easy to tip it over. There is a small box that plugs into the wall and connects into the coax cable to the TV with an on/off switch, this is the amplifier unit that amplifies the signal.
So in summary, the unit is a solid, high quality unit that would really work wonderfully if I lived in a more signal-friendly area. It performs well for me. I paid $60. from Amazon.com with free shipping and no sales tax.
