Disappointed with Silver Sensor. Other antenna suggestions?

[ghostman]

I live in NYC (11220) on the first floor of a multi-story house and AntennaWeb tells me I'm no more than 9 miles away from the source. It indicates that I need yellow (small multidirectional) and red (medium directional) antenna types pointed at more or less the same direction to receive all the standard channels.

I got a Silver Sensor, but have been disappointed by its performance. I only get 3 channels and all 3 are intermittent to non-existent, depending on weather, airplanes flying by, etc. Rarely has it held a signal for more than an hour without dropping out at least 5 times. Occasionally, I get success by pointing directly to the source. Other times, I am successful pointing more than 90 degrees away from the source. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. Needless to say, I got the wrong antenna.

So, I was wonder if the Winegard Sharpshooter SS-3000 is what I need. I'd love to put an antenna on the roof, but I have no clue how to ground it and running the line into the house will require some major drilling. So I'm stuck with indoor solutions as of now. Any other suggestions?

 

[RandallA]

Have you tried pointing the antenna exactly in the opposite direction of the antennas? I have the Silver Sensor and after playing with it for many hours, I get the best reception if I point the antenna in the opposite direction of the antennas. Might be just luck but it's worth a try.

 

[navychop]

OK, you're not in a situation where an indoor antenna will work well. Any indoor antenna. The Silver Sensor is about the best there is.

The Winegard Sharpshooter SS-3000 is a cutesy antenna. You'd be better off with a good old fashioned less expensive antenna, and roof mounted. It appears that all of your major digital stations are on about the same compass bearing from you, except for PBS, so you don't need a rotor. And they are all UHF. A Channel Master 4220 can be had for $20-$30. Or you might want to look at the CM 3010. I don't think you'll need amplification.

Without a lot of details, I could not get more specific about mounting at your home.

I suggest you call a local antenna installer. It appears you are willing to spend $80 to $100 on a Sharpshooter. Why not call and get a (probably) free estimate for them to put up a good roof mounted antenna for you? Then they do the work. I'd hazard a guess that the cost might be around $300, turnkey.

Please let us know how this works out for you.

On edit, correction: I see that a PBS station is also on the same bearing. I only noticed 1 of the 3 at first look.

 

[ghostman]

Darn. I was hoping the SharpShooter would do the trick. Considering I'm not willing (yet) to go through the trouble of installing a roof antenna, is the SharpShooter considered a good second option if the Silver Sensor isn't cutting it? I'm willing to try one more indoor antenna before I give up on the indoor option altogether, but I want to give myself a fighting chance. If it fails again, I'll probably ebay it.

The biggest problem with outdoor antennas is the grounding. But I'll keep those other antennas in mind if/when I switch the outdoor antennas.

EDIT: Would the DB2 antenna, used indoors, be better than this?

 

[digiblur]

The Winegard Sharpshooter is simply garbage in my experiences.

 

[Jim5506]

Buy a small outdoor antenna and use it indoors.

 

[brantlew]

Buy a small outdoor antenna and use it indoors.

The DB-2 is an excellent antenna and with a little ingenuity is small enough to disguise indoors.

 

[dodge]

You need a Winegard HD8200P on the top of your building!!!

 

[navychop]

 

[Rick0725]

The DB-2 is an excellent antenna and with a little ingenuity is small enough to disguise indoors.

the new cm4220 2 bay is more than 1/2 the price of the db-2, a little larger, and works better.

http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/4220.htm

you are experiencing poor reception indoors 9 miles from the towers which may be due to signal blockage, reflections common in urban areas, and/or attenuation from home construction materials (aluminum siding, brick, foil backed installation, metal wall construction, etc.).

the cm 4220 with the mount for $27.63 is a great deal and is simple to install outside. but if you are experiencing multipath from reflections, the bow ties tame multipath poorly, are not suggested, and a yagi style is preferred. In that case would go with a radio shack u75r, 43xg.

3 channels are going to vhf in 2009 so a uhf only antenna would not be best long term. In the metro area I prefer the winegard hd 7080p or hd7082p for its multipath taming qualities. I do not install rs or cm advantage series combos because they do not hold up.

if the silver sensor did not perform well for you indoors, the sharpshooter definately will not either. your results so far suggest an indoor antenna is not feasible since the silver sensor is one of the top performing indoor antennas.

 

[ghostman]

Ok, I took the advice given here and decided against buying the Winegard Sharpshooter. Instead, I bought a 50ft coax and ran it all the way to my window. The Silver Sensor still wouldn't get a decent reception indoors (most likely due to the metal security grates and the mosquito screen), so I actually put it right outside my window on top of my air conditioner. I now get anywhere from 4 to 6 channels now, depending on where I point it. Plus, the channels I already get stay above 60% now.

It's still far from perfect, since I can't get WABC (7), WPIX (11) or PBS (13), but I can live with this for now. Although I really don't understand why I can't pull in WABC, since it has the exact same direction/distance as the channels I do get and has a frequency among the rest of my channels.

 

[Hall]

I hung one of these

Radio Shack, UHF Outline Bow-Tie Antenna, $4.19,
Model: 15-234

in my front window that faces the direction of the broadcast towers. With the mini-blinds and valance, it wasn't visible from the inside and unless you were on my front porch, it wasn't visible from the outside.

You'll need to buy a matching transformer, snip the fork terminals off of the transformer, and solder or crimp the two together.

I got all the major stations except for one, which also happened to be the lowest power at the time, so I ended up with Radio Shack's U75R mounted in my attic. Now I get all the stations at 97-100% strength.

 

[ozzy1028]

I just installed a new winegard sensar III (amplified version) the other day and am having great results with it. I live in flint ,michigan. I dont even have it installed outside yet and am getting every local flint digital station and some from lansing and bad axe. i cant wait to see what i am able to get when i have it installed above my dish outside. You say you have a multi story house. You could give the winegard sensar III a try and i bet you wouldnt be disappointed. Try installing it on the roof or you could be like me and try it in the ouse first since you say you are only 9 miles from the transmitters. i am between 15 and 45 from mine but have no problems whatsoever, so you should be in the clear with this antenna. good luck.....