Winegard SquareShooter
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I have a buddy that wasted good money on one; great for looks, but high dollar, over-hyped specs. Great if you live within 15 miles of all your towers. He switched to a $35 antenna with far better results.
$45 doesn't seem to bad for one, unless it doesn't work of course!!!
I just didn't want to put a 8-10 foot long boom on top of the house!!!
Sigh........
I just didn't want to put a 8-10 foot long boom on top of the house!!!
Sigh........
I have been using the non amplified square shooter for over 6 months now with great results. There is only one OTA channel that I have a difficult time pulling in. Before the square shooter I had the D* installed OTA antenna and it was terrible. I also tried the silver sensor and it worked okay.
I'd recommend it!:up
I'd recommend it!:up
I have been using a S.S. for about 3 years now and have no complaints.I get all locals without any problems.Now if you need a long range antenna this is not what you want.But if all your local towers are within 35-40 miles it works quite well.
I have the SS-2000 (powered version). Does a great job pulling off every single channel broadcast from the ESB (antenna is pointed directly towards it). I'm about 35 miles away from the Empire State Building where a majority of the NY locals are broadcast from and I get 90% signal or better on every single channel. I also bought a mount for it that attaches to my dish. The antenna style blends in very nicely with it.
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I had the amplified square shooter. I had to replace it with a Channel Master STEALTHtenna. I could not get the lower VHF channels (2-5) without a lot of snow. I'm very happy with the CM.
charper1 said:
I'm in 32305. I'm exactly two miles due east of the airport. Straight as an arrow. I'm 2.5 due south of the capitol building.
My brother has it in Cincinnati and works great for UHF. He has one VHF and the SS does not grab it. I highly recommend this if you like the looks, within 15-20 miles and dont need VHF. If you need VHF, you might not to reconsider its use or add a VHF antenna to the feed to compensate.
As a follow up, if that Wineguard may or may not work, how about the Channel Master CM 4228? I have two station that would be in the 2-13 range, but one is very strong and the other is very close. The rest are UHF.
UHF is a funny signal. You really have to find the "sweet spot" when deciding where to put your antenna. Even moving the antenna 12 inches affects it. I have a DB2 antenna and am under 15 miles from the towers here in Detroit. I had it on the roof mounted to my old D* mast. I had many multipath issues. So, I moved it down about chest high and mouted it on the side of the deck rail. It worked much better. Then, for kicks I moved it over one foot. Bingo. Everything comes in great. Due to the flaky MPEG4 Detroit feeds (especially with the CBS feed which stutters), I still use the antenna for my HD locals.
WOW!!! Unfortunately the UHF feeds are the ones I want most. The VHF are CBS and PBS and I just don't care that much.
This is becoming a pita.
This is becoming a pita.
The CM-4228 has probably the best reputation of all antennas used for HD. It also (as I have read) is capable of picking up signals in the higher VHF range (7-13) You may also need a pre-amp depending on distance from towers.
I didnt have much luck with the CM4228 but then my friend is 40 miles from the towers so it was really a stretch. I use Yagis which I absolutely love for UHF (20 miles from towers). They are very one directional and if you dont mind the size, they are a great option.
Yagi???? Though I don't think anything that is very directional would work. The broadcasters here are like Dr. Pepper.....at 10 2 and 4 on the clock!!!!
Just thought I'd add my $.02: I live in NW Washington, DC, 3 miles or so from most of the towers. From that distance it would seem that I could get away with just about any antenna, but I've tried a few of them and couldn't get a reliable signal from any of them but the non-amplified Square Shooter -- likely due to interference from the 300 or so DC, US and international agencies using the airwaves around here.
I know that the antenna is kind of gimmicky, but this was the only one I could find that would blend in enough to escape detection from the historic preservation folks while at the same time give me decent performance. My only gripe is that I can't get the WB network, as it's in the opposite direction from the towers -- no great loss, though.
I know that the antenna is kind of gimmicky, but this was the only one I could find that would blend in enough to escape detection from the historic preservation folks while at the same time give me decent performance. My only gripe is that I can't get the WB network, as it's in the opposite direction from the towers -- no great loss, though.
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PoitNarf said:
I also use the amplified version in my attic. I am about 40 miles from the towers & I pick up everything except PBS. I like it, it may work for you but nothing is guaranteed.
Have you checked the "Frequency Assignments" for the channels you get at http://www.antennaweb.org ?scotsmanron said:
Some channels that display as 2-1, 5-1, etc. are actually broadcasting in the upper VHF or UHF band, but the station "remaps" the channel to the station's old analog channel number. Very confusing.
If the Frequency Assignment is in the 7 thru 69 range, you should be able to use a UHF-only antenna. But if any of the frequency assignments are channels 2 thru 6, you'll probably need a big honkin' lowband VHF antenna to get those. The Square Shooter will not work well for lowband VHF.
You were right. One of the stations I want most is at freq 2. I know that this doesn't paste well but here is what I'm after. The Pelham station isn't live yet. I get the CBS and PBS with the D* OTA, but CBS is pixilated about every ten seconds. I don't know how in the heck antennaweb gets that I'm 19.7 miles from the WFSU tower. I can almost see it from my house.
* red - uhf WFSU-DT 11.1 PBS TALLAHASSEE FL 265° 19.7 32
* red - uhf WTLF-DT 24.1 IND TALLAHASSEE FL 313° 10.6 24
* blue - uhf WCTV-DT 6.1 CBS THOMASVILLE GA 49° 27.9 46
* blue - vhf WABW-DT 5 PBS PELHAM GA 07-08 49° 27.9 5
* blue - vhf WTWC-DT 40.1 NBC TALLAHASSEE FL 46° 27.0 2
* red - uhf WFSU-DT 11.1 PBS TALLAHASSEE FL 265° 19.7 32
* red - uhf WTLF-DT 24.1 IND TALLAHASSEE FL 313° 10.6 24
* blue - uhf WCTV-DT 6.1 CBS THOMASVILLE GA 49° 27.9 46
* blue - vhf WABW-DT 5 PBS PELHAM GA 07-08 49° 27.9 5
* blue - vhf WTWC-DT 40.1 NBC TALLAHASSEE FL 46° 27.0 2
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