Friday, March 05, 2010

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Winegard SS-3000

Winegard SS-3000 Amplified Indoor UHF/VHF Antenna

Winegard SS-3000 Amplified Indoor UHF/VHF Antenna

I've been frustrated for quite a while with the TV reception in our master bedroom.  For the last year or so, I've had a Philips MANT-510 antenna in there. It produced decent results, however it was necessary to reposition the UHF portion of the antenna depending on which channel I wanted to receive (even though all the antennas are in roughly the same direction. (Here's a link to my TV Fool results, I live in the Keller, TX area).  Also, WFAA, channel 8, was always difficult to receive.  I did quite a lot of research, mainly on AVS Forum, and finally decided on the Winegard SS-3000.  The antenna comes disassembled, however it is not that hard to put together, some other reviews have complained that it's easy to get the three coax cables mixed up.  If you take a minute to read the directions, you can easily differentiate which cable goes where.  I was more concerned with snapping the plastic reflector grid, as you have to bend it to fit in the vertical brackets.

Once put together, I hooked the antenna up to my TV and power, and pointed it in the direction of the antenna farm, which is about 29 miles away, with hills and building in between.  Initially the reception was not as good as I had hoped for, with many channels not coming in.  I then pointed it at one of our bedroom windows (as was mentioned in the instructions), and got much better results.  The only channel that I am not getting is 52 (which broadcasts on the old channel 9).  WFAA, on channel 8 is no problem (unless I'm standing in front of the antenna).  All the other majors (4, 5, 11, 13, 21, 27, 33) come in fine, without having to change the antennas position.  68 and 58 both come in well too, which is good since my kids like to watch Qubo and Smile of a Child.

The direction that the SS-3000 is facing (out the window) is more of a south-southwest position, so the antenna must be picking up reflected signals, and ability of which I had seen written about in other articles.

The antenna is kind of big (the reflector screen makes it seem larger than it really is), but for us it's doing a good job, and I am happy with my purchase. I plan to make a stand for it so it doesn't have to perch precariously on my LCD tv.

Winegard SS-3000 Amplified Indoor UHF/VHF Antenna