The Square Shooter has a gain of 4.5 dB over a hunk of wire. Does that do it for you?

I prefer to use a Terk in such a case, because while neither one of them will work, the Terk will look better.

Or, as I said in a post about UHF/VHF Craziness a few minutes ago,


My approach is, don't mess around with crap. The new fancy-ass approaches to antennas will start to work when the radio waves start radiating in the shape of the Terk 44. Until then, the antenna theory and designs that have worked for 50 years are probably a pretty good place to stay.

Terk antennas have been promoted from day one as looking good. Well, they do. From the first FM Terk I ever saw, through to this email, look good is what Terk does. Kind of like Prince: his music is occasionally good, mostly uneven, sometimes totally boring, but man can he pose for a photo!

I used to be in charge of engineering for a small southern California audio/video chain. We grew to the point where I did not have to do all the work myself, and I hired a grizzled old guy named Howard, who was his own antenna installation company, to handle things. I learned from him:

I, with my corporate salary, where money comes in no matter what, can choose and try whatever antenna I want to, because I will still have an income if the first one or two tank on me.

He, in business for himself, had to have it WORK the first time, and he had little time to bother with the latest greatest variation on antennas.

His choice for most situations that were not in fringe areas became mine, the Winegard HD-7210.

Yes, it is a "clothesline." BUT it does UHF and VHF, and it does not have any sections that poke up or down from its main plane, so I have actually put one inside a flat roof, where there was only about 22" of height.

It is very directional, which works here in Los Angeles.

It has a higher front-to-back rejection ratio, so it picks up fewer ghosts than most antennas (it is nicknamed the GhostKiller; few of us realize that many ghosts come as reflections from BEHIND the antenna).

It is not too huge, either.

The only problem I have had is that the suppliers who used to stock it and sell it at a pretty good price have quit carrying antennas. The expensive guys still have it. And to get Winegard at a discount, you basically have to buy a truckload (which even kept those distributors from having stock sometimes).