The tv55 terk antennas and those things that look like stealth bombers(dont know dont care) seem to be useless for DTV and ive even heard of them to ruin analog tuners when the power supply is connected. OLD FASHIONED UHF BOWTIE ANTENNA Winegard pr 4400 for example. Its too bad the satellite companies promote HD boxes with "HD antenne install" when the installers are sent out to use piece of s*** antennas that are no good. Customers are let down by the entire industry when they can only pick up one or two DTV stations when they live near major cities when 6 or 7 network affiliates are available.
Bad knowledge and information on "HD antennas" gives the whole industry a bad name. Sad.
UHF BOWTIE ANTENNAS - AS HIGH OFF THE GROUND AS POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This message was edited by Dan Creasey on 04/18/04 00:09.

You have got to be kidding..............

Its Bad installers that dont know how to spec the proper antenna for the application that gives YOU a bad name. I'll be the first to agree that the Terk in house and TV55 Stick antenna are less than spectacular, but their old fashioned arials work great.(TV36 and TV38) We have a VHF HD Station here in Chicago so I havent tried the TV32 yet, but I would assume that it is also a quality antenna.

Between this post and that goofy rant on the labor prices thread I dont know what to think right now....

Dan, my experience is the same as yours. Most of Terks products are non performers. It is embarassing for installers to attempt to get reception on any of their indoor antennas. The accent at Terk is obviously marketing and not performance. Any $10 rabbit ears antenna will outperform all of their FM antennas every time. I once made a remark that Belkin is the Terk of computers for obvious reasons. Two well marketed lines that basically follow form over function. I'm sure you can do better from any other antenna company. Just blindfold yourself, do a Google search and point. :)

like Bose, golf, and f*&k, Terk is a four letter word.. hehe

Terk, the Yugo of our profession...but that insults Yugo.


Just exactly which Terks? They make a pretty good satellite dish, and those are Terks. Any of the indoor AM/FM Terks do exactly what they have been designed to do since they came out in the early 1980s: they look bitchen'. They get awards for how good they look. They even ADVERTISE that they win awards, but they don't really push that the awards are for looks, not performance.


When installers are sent out with such product, the installer's boss or salesperson is at fault, not Terk.




Well, maybe. My boss of several years ago spoke of trying to help a customer receive KSL TV (it's a low VHF station, so I am not sure this is an exact parallel) from Salt Lake City. The client was about 80 miles from the transmitter. No matter how high my boss cranked the tower in the station's test van, he could hardly get the station. But he accidentally left the TV on as he cranked the antenna down, and it came in like gangbusters when the antenna was about twelve feet off the ground. Who'd a thunk?

For the crazy message, sorry again for having a bad day-no excuse for the bad taste anyway.And sorry to terk for the generalization, I WAS talking about the 55 and no doubt their conventional antennas are fine. However,they ask for criticism when they advertise the thing as being "for HDTV "(or whatever that big red sticker says on the box).
Couldn't they come off just as well by advertising it as an outdoor antenna that is "easy to install and hide on your house" for example.
The terk company is obviously marketing their overstock by targeting new HDTV owners. At whose expense? The retailers (never seen one in the store where the box hadnt been open), and dish installers with little or no antenna experience.
My point is that new tv owners in my area are angry because they think they cant get all of their HDTV stations. We need more HD programming. We wont get it if people cant receive good signal. Easy thing to fix- $20 bowtie, fine use a terk if they make one:)

Who makes that antenna that looks like a boomerang or an airplane?, and they look kind of expensive to not work any better.

We've seen all kinds of outrageous looking indoor antennas over the years -- the ones with the seven inch dishes crack me up the most -- and I have seen an indoor one like that.

But more often, I have seen them on RVs. Check with an RV accessory company for that.

....then don't be surprised when it doesn't work.

Im just a little surprised more of us dont know not to use em. Digital reception may be one of our biggest priorities in the next ten years.

reckon cause it was VHF HD channel it wants to stick to the earths curvature lower on the extreme outer fringes of the viewing area? Ive heard somewhere that UHF "drops off" faster.

The KSL thing happened in the late fifties or early sixties, so it was definitely low frequency VHF.

freddy, you commented that the signal wanted to stick to the earth's curvature. Well, it wants to stick to the earth and it is our good luck that this tendency gives us added ground wave reception despite the curvature of the earth (not because of it). This would also work for KSL digital today, if I read the list correctly at antennaweb.org, which says KSL analog is channel 5 and KSL digital is channel 5.1. It's just that I have never seen 5.1 as a designation on antennaweb-- all I have seen have been UHF channels that are used for the digital versions of stations' "5.1" is a designation in receivers just to help us get out heads around what the heck we are seeing, not actually telling us a real channel number.

Can anybody out there confirm that KSL DT is on VHF? Or?