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| John Winegard
accidentally founded Winegard Company in 1954. What is now CBS (owned &
operated) WBBM TV in Chicago provided the motivation for John. You see, John
was located in Burlington, Iowa and WBBM TV is located in Chicago, Illinois
- 200 miles northeast of Burlington. That's quite a haul for a tv signal!
...and he built the antenna that did it! John's interest in communications
coincided with his initial interest in Amateur Radio - where he built his
own 14-tube, five band communications receiver as a ham radio operator.
During World War II, he furthered his education in communications technology
- after the war, he opened his own radio repair shop as commercial
television began to unfold in earnest. But back to the tv antenna. Windgard
installed the first antenna on top of an appliance store - and soon friends
started requesting him to build aerials for them as well.
Winegard has come a long way since then - but it still builds most of its antennas in Iowa, with plants in Colorado and one in Pennsylvania, plus a plant in Mexico. Unlike most manufacturers, his factory stayed on this continent. This means the company is providing good jobs for Americans as it sells to Americans and the rest of the world - MALL 727 likes that! What it comes down to is Winegard builds antennas and related equipment, most of it in the United States. Even then, you'll find it hard to purchase a Winegard product at a big box store - you'll have to go to independent tv repair shops to purchase their equipment. Again, supporting American retail! No, this is not a commercial for Winegard, just some information background. John passed-away in 2002, and the torch was passed-along to his son, Randy - this is one of the few cases where nepotism worked - his son who grew-up in the business, continues to innovate in his father's footsteps. Recently, Winegard developed a new indoor antenna called the Square Shooter 3000, otherwise known as the SS-3000. So popular is the antenna, that Winegard was courted by the Terk people for a license in manufacturing the Winegard SS-3000 as the Terk HDTVlp. If you look at the Terk version, there is very little design difference from the SS-3000. Comparing the two, many users have commented that the Winegard SS-3000 is the better antenna. We'll let you decide for yourself. Interesting is that the Winegard version costs a little over $20 less than Terk's in some cases. With that, MALL 727 purchased the Winegard SS-3000 to give its own evaluation, ordering it from Solid Signal in Livonia, Michigan. I went up to the Solid Signal site at www.SolidSignal.com after reading antenna reviews. There, I was able to download technical information in an Adobe PDF file format. After reading more information at Winegard's site, it was time to order. Solid Signal takes many of the usual credit cards - and it takes checks and money orders. While a little more effort, I prefer a money order - any savings offered at Solid Signal will be eaten up by interest rates on the credit card. With a money order or check, Solid Signal usually requests (slightly unusual) calling them first at an "800" number. Its possible they want to make sure they have the product in stock. They will also request your e/mail address - this is a good thing! By having your e/mail address, they can let you know when your purchase has shipped. Of course, if you don't live in Michigan, there's usually no state sales tax! In my case, the SS-3000 cost me $76.99 + $7.95 for standard shipping, at a total cost of $84.94, minus the cost for the money order, stamp and envelope - not bad! Solid Signal wants to know the usual stuff in letter form
...and then you send all that to; The Signal Group (Solid Signal) 36955 Amrhein Road Attention: Mail Order Department Livonia, Michigan 48150 ...and then you wait... If you do send a check, a money order, or better yet, a US Postal Money Order will get your order to you much sooner - consider a personal check usually takes up to seven days to clear - or an extra week for your shipment to arrive! My order arrived at Solid Signal, two days after I sent it. The next day it was shipped UPS and I received a tracking number via e/mail from Solid Signal - now that's class and fast! And the antenna arrived five days after I mailed the order. The box itself is not heavy or all that large. Inside you will find the antenna, antenna base, reflector, four clips, a mini 6' coax, 6' standard, 2' standard coax, AC adapter and a power injector along with an eight page set of assembly instructions. The antenna comes with a 90-day warrantee. One thing we should point out, while the antenna is made in the USA, the cables, power injector and AC adapter are made in China. Putting the antenna together (if you read the instructions) is relatively easy, and if you make a mistake, correcting it shouldn't be a problem as long as you take a little care in handling it. To me, the cables looked lossy - and with an amplified or passive antenna - a weak link will take away from the performance. And as I found out, this is the case with the cable that came with the antenna. They were not defective as cables go, just not effective when limiting signal loss. And loss was the problem in my initial tests. Signals had a hard time locking in, especially concerning digital. Even with the antenna at a window, all the stations didn't come in. Again, keep in mind, stations broadcast at different power levels and this does affect antenna performance. Other factors include objects between the transmitting antenna (other buildings) and receiving antenna, the make-up of your building, where the antenna is set up and the sensitivity of your HD and Analog tuner. In any case, a trip to Radio Shack netted me three high quality Monster THX cables, and work ensued in assembling the SS-3000. With aluminum screens (half of window) and frame around it, I knew there would be some challenges finding a "sweet spot" where the antenna would be at its optimum - and for me, that was two feet above the metal sill. The preamp is built inside the antenna, and its only exposure is the coax connector itself. The set I attached it to was an Element FLX-1510 15" widescreen LCD HDTV receiver. Make sure the set is off before attempting to set up the antenna. The first thing you need to do is flex the reflector as you attach the four bracket clips. You'll notice indentations or notches on the flexible reflector encased in the plastic sheeting. Once attached to the reflector, the brackets can be slightly adjusted to align them properly. The reflector is then attached to the antenna via the brackets. Next, you thread the coax through the base via an access hole in which to attach the cable to the coax connector on the antenna - once attached, a holding bracket is attached via screw holes (you'll need a Philips screwdriver for this) in the center of the reflector. Taking the power injector, you attach the antenna cable to the antenna port of the power injector, and attach the cable that goes between it and the tv set. One final cable is attached between the power adaptor and the injector. Then its just a matter of plugging in the ac power adapter. Incidentally, there are three rubber feet for the base that are "stick-on's" inside the box. If your set is already programmed for the digital and analog signals - you can run the antenna thru the basics to see how it works with the new antenna. Most digital sets will automatically set up the channels for you - in some cases allowing you to add or delete channels manually. With the Element FLX-1510, it has an automatic channel programmer, but does not offer the ability to add channels manually. Next, you might want to check the signal strength on the individual channels in attempting to find the antenna's sweet spot for best reception. Some sets don't have an antenna signal strength display within the menu, however, with HDTV, you either get a signal, or you don't!. Now here is a VERY IMPORTANT TIP if you want to make the antenna work well for you! The Antenna Must Be Pointed Towards The Antenna Towers with The Reflector Sheet BEHIND IT! The wrong way and the signal is actually being blocked by the reflector - you won't believe how many people make this error! Some of the customer reviews which are negative towards the antenna have most likely made this mistake! In a few words, I really like this antenna - it works better than any other indoor antenna I have tested so far. Again, let me point out that an outdoor "Yagi" antenna is always best for analog and digital reception. The "Yagi" will even work well from an attic, and sometimes even in a basement (although performance will suffer somewhat) if hung from the ceiling and properly grounded and aligned! IN THE KITCHEN Hooked-up via Monster THX coax replacing the standard cable the SS-3000 came with, proved a winning combination, although it did bring the cost of the antenna up an extra forty-five dollars in the process! However, with an indoor antenna, you need the best of the signal you can get to make the antenna perform! First, I picked out a weak analog signal and found the best spot of strengthening the signal, and ran the automatic channel setup program. Both the analog signals improved and the digital signals became very stable. The lower VHF assigned digital frequencies didn't pull in as well, however, the analog signal improved enough on those channels to make it workable. As the channel numbers went up, digital had no problems and worked even when some of the analog didn't. Fringe area reception came in on digital just fine, while analog signals showed some snow. Its important to know two things here - in February 2009, analog dies, and second, stations transmitting in digital will be increasing their power, clearing up many signal problems encountered today. A slight area
of concern is a noticeable band bar on the lower VHF analog signals,
however, none of the digital signals showed this trait. This may be caused
by a little leakage caused by the unregulated AC power wall wart. I know
I've said it before, but it bares repeating, use a surge protected outlet
between the AC power outlet and anything used to power the devices -
including the antenna with a preamp aboard! I know, how many times am I
going to bring this up! Well if you ignore this advice and something
happens...you can't say I didn't warn you! THE LIVING ROOM The projection HDTV system test proved a little disappointing - while it beat two previously tested antennas - one cheaper and one expensive - the SS-3000 did not add any new channels - it only stabilized the existing ones. Still, that is an achievement in itself - without any windows in a brick edifice, facing in another direction, it simply did'nt have enough to work with - not the fault of the antenna. However, channels that did come in, didn't pixelate and remained stable. Even with a weaker signal, closed-caption functioned fine. WAYS TO IMPROVE SIGNAL The low noise preamp can be improved by a high quality amplifier like the Motorola 484095-001-00 Signal Booster which can be found at Amazon and thru Circuit City from $45 to $75 - in other words, shop around! Stay away from the signal boosters at both electronics chains and big box stores, as they will generally disappoint. You get what you pay for! As mentioned earlier, Monster THX RF Coaxial cables are a good investment as well. You can even take the shiny side of a large piece of aluminum foil, placing it behind the current reflector element and curving it slightly to capture more of the signal - granted, it may look a little strange - but its worth a shot to improve a weaker signal. OVERALL IMPRESSIONS This is a quality-made American product which should perform very well in wood-framed structures, and improve signals in apartments, provided there is a window facing in the direction of the transmitting towers of the stations you wish to receive. Keep in mind, an outdoor antenna will usually beat an indoor antenna. The "scatter-plane" design works well in urban environments, and in a majority of cases will eliminate ghosting and multi-path signals. The SS-3000 will prove a crucial investment in the future when "analog" signals are eliminated in February 2009. Overall, we give it a thumbs-up! |
USA-built Winegard SS-3000 HDTV Antenna FEATURES
SPECIFICATIONS
SIGNAL CAPTURE CHART
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