Terk Indoor Antenna (TV20)

I purchased the Terk 20 TV antenna when I decided cut off our cable and strangely enough purchase a new TV. One of the reasons for cutting off the cable was to reduce our family's tv watching time.I purchased this antenna because we wanted to get the local channels (cbs, nbc. pbs. cbs and fox) and I didn't have any other souce of television. New TV's used to come with a rabbit ear antenna, but now-a-days this is usually not needed as most people will hook up to cable, satellite or other sources of television.Out of the box, this antenna was a bit weird to put together, there are two rectangles that you hook to the base, making the antenna more horizontal than vertical. It takes up quite a bit of space on the top of the tv or table as it is much wider than tall.The antenna has a cable with two wires attached together to a small adapter which pushes onto the television antenna receptor. I am told these push on devices do not get as good reception as the screw on types.Well it's fairly easy to put together and hook to the tv. Flip the tv on and what happens is a lot of snowy channels. I moved the antenna round, (the rectangles hook onto the the base which swivels around) and still not much better reception.I finally fiddled with moving the antenna placement on the top of the tv around and I can now get two channels in clearly and three snowy. Not very good for 30.00 worth of antenna.I decided to try an old set of rabbit ears even though they were from an old set and didn't have a base to set it in, and one of the wires was exposed and almost broken in half... well to my suprise it got as good if not slightly better reception than the Terk.Unbelieving that a company would charge 30.00 for a antenna and it not work, I took the antenna upstairs to our second television. It gets better reception anyway since it's upstairs. I hooked it up and still the reception was lousy.My conclusions, it's better than no antenna but I'd suggest getting a cheap rabbit ear set as it gets in just as good reception. I will next try to put the "old college" antenna on, which consists of a wire hanger and some aluminum foil and see if that works better.I'll probably give in and pay for satelite tv before long :-) until then it's snowy here.

This funky little antenna has saved me a lot of money. Where I live, in Edmond, Oklahoma, I had terrible reception. I don't know if it was because of the way my building is wired or not, but one channel in particular would not clear up no matter how I turned the Philips rabbit-ear antenna I had before. (When I did manage a clear picture, it was devoid of color!) Friends were saying my only solution was to sign up for basic cable -- it was the route they had chosen and felt it was the only way I'd be able to pick up a clear signal.I hated that idea! First of all, it's ridiculous to pay a large amount of money per month for the privilege of watching TV, and second of all, I hated the idea of spending hundreds of dollars a year just to watch one or two favorite programs. Since my favorite programs are on PBS, a channel I can still access without cable, I wanted to find out if there were some solution that didn't involve cable or satellite.Then one day, I received a direct mail ad for a device that plugs into the wall, into which you plugged the coax cable from your TV. It claimed to use the house's wiring to boost the existing signal. Ah! This may be what I need! Unfortunately, I didn't find the device locally, but providentially I had gone to an electronics store chain to ask about it, and was led to the "powered antennas". These were different--they were actual antennas but with a built-in amplifier. Of the two brands I was shown, I chose the Terk TV-20.I have to say that I'm very happy with the choice. It's a handsome little unit that you never have to worry about as far as putting your eyes out (or those of your kids)with or walking around the extended rods, plus with only a slight turn of the wings even my most difficult channel comes in full color and crystal clear. Best of all, this is done for the price of only ONE month of cable -- no recurring monthly bill for my great reception. I'm very happy with the TV20.