12 HD Days of Christmas: Day 4

"On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...." an antenna for my HDTV. Actually, that works if you sing it; I'll let you do it. My family is sitting nearby and the cats still haven't come home since the last time I sang.

You know I'm big on over-the-air high definition; you can probably tell from my prior posts. Guess what: you can't get any OTA programming without a gi-moungous wire coat-hanger or better yet: a decent amplified antenna. There are plenty of choices out there and we pointed you in the right direction earlier in the year, but I want to share my great experiences with the Terk TV5 antenna.


I did a bunch of research before I settled on the TV5, and I couldn't be happier with it. I'm about 25 miles away from my local DTV towers as the crow flies, and the miniscule TV5 picks up every single channel possible. Terk designed this antenna to be simple, effective and almost elegant.

I keep the TV5 on top of my entertainment center, so it's at the highest possible point on the first floor of my home. The unit plugs in to an electrical outlet for amplification and there's a coax cable built in to attach to an ATSC tuner. You can adjust the gain with a slider bar on the side of the TV5, but I generally leave it at the highest possible gain due to my distance from the signal towers.

The TV has a futuristic "figure-8" design to pick up the signal and you can manually rotate the metal element roughly 540-degrees to help pull in distant signals if required. One the best features is the low profile. This unobtrusive antenna stands less than five-inches high and about two-feet wide!

How can something so small be so powerful? Honestly, we just don't care because it works; I even use it to capture HDTV on my Windows Media Center PC for recording and viewing programs later. You can pick up the amplified Terk TV5 for around $50 at most electronics retailers. If you have an OTA tuner that's lonely, this antenna is just the gift for it!

Previous HD Days of Christmas:

• Day 1: Dish-player 942 HD Receiver and PVR
• Day 2: ATI All-in-Wonder X1800 XL
• Day 3: Logitech Harmony Remotes

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 14th 2005 9:21PM]

This is a decent antenna. I tested it, against a silver sensor (a great solution for many, and real cheap) and a Radio Shack 15-1880 (discontinued, but widely available in stores as the sell off the inventory). In the end, the 15-1880 edged it out by a nose in the indoor antenna battle. I am a similar 12-25 miles away from the towers.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103917&cp=&kw=15-1880&parentPage=search

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 14th 2005 9:28PM]

been using the TV5 for a year or so now. gets the job done! :)

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 14th 2005 10:30PM]

They dont seem to publicize the TV5 as receiving HD signals - does it work well? I dont get all the channels available in HD on my cable box.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 15th 2005 12:35PM]

I am about 35-40 miles away from the locla stations towers... will this antenna catch HDTV signals from this distance? Any recommendations, ie without me having to install something on the roof in lovely, snowy Michigan?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 15th 2005 12:40PM]

I tried this antenna in a semi-urban setting and it could barely pickup 2 HD channels. I had to adjust it to get different channels. Reminded me of pre-cable rabbit ear days.

I'm less than 10 miles from the towers, so this was weak at best. Swtiched to the Terk HDTVa directional and it is light years ahead of the TV5. I get all 10 of my locals crystal clear. The HDTVa is an extra $10, worth every penny.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 15th 2005 1:31PM]

I've been using the Zenith Silver Sensor for OTA for a while. However, my equipment is in a closet, and whenever I wanted to watch HD OTA (with directv HD receiver), I'd take the antenna out of the closet and point it out the window. Worked sporadically. A few months ago, when I upgraded my bedroom to the DirecTV HD Tivo, I put it outside, on my roof, and just used a C-clamp to clamp it to the gutter, and it works fantastic. (goes to a 5X8 multiswitch and from there to my two HD receivers). This is in the SF bay area, around 30 miles from the main towers.

I tried another highly recommended outdoor antenna, from antennasdirect, and it did not work as well for me as the good ol' silver sensor.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 15th 2005 2:32PM]

This antenna is also available from online retailers such as newegg, for $35. I have heard good things about it, but haven't had a chance to actually try it yet. I'll be getting an HDTV tuner card this christmas, so i'll get a TV5 and try it.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 16th 2005 2:56PM]

Dean, how is the silver sensor holding up outdoors? I have one that came with my ATI HDTV Wonder card and it works pretty well, but I still get the occasional dropout. Considering that I'm less than 3 mi from Sutro Tower, I figure if I get it on the roof, I won't have any problems.

Also, does anyone know if the Terk does UHF and VHF? Here in the Bay Area, every network except NBC broadcasts in UHF from Sutro Tower. Unfortunately, NBC broadcasts in VHF from Mt. San Bruno, about 90 degrees off Sutro. The silver sensor, while optimized for UHF, does pull in NBC, but it's spotty.