Home > Consumer Reviews > Terk Technology TV-55 UHF/VHF HDTV Indoor/Outdoor Amplified Antenna
Terk Technology TV-55 UHF/VHF HDTV Indoor/Outdoor Amplified Antenna
See it at Amazon.com for $49.95Average Customer Rating
(3.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
OK, but rabbit ears are better
(2 out of 5) by Steven Park on Mar 15, 2002 (Lansdowne, VA USA)Purchased this unit (mounted indoors) because I got tired of adjusting rabbit ears (I refuse to pay $50/month for cable). Unfortunately the reception quality is mediocre, if not subpar for its price. I get cleaner pictures with my old amplified rabbit ear set.
88 of 97 people found the following review helpful:
A poor performer...
(1 out of 5) by Mark Kim on Mar 23, 2002 (Brea, CA United States)I bought Terk TV55 for my RCA F38310, an HDTV. Considering the price, I thought it would be one of the best in the market, but to my surprise, the signal reception was EXTREMELY poor. So I returned the unit and purchased Winegard HD-7080, an outdoor antenna, instead. This HD-7080's been performing well so far, enabling me to receive all the "picture perfect" HD signals from local stations (*CBS, NBC, ABC, KCET, etc) in the greater Los Angeles area. If you're looking for a reliable HDTV antenna for over-the-air HD signals, pass Terk TV55 and consider either Winegard or Channel Master. (A side note: Preamps manufactured by Winegard or Channel Master will greatly improve the overall reception. I have Winegard AP8275 to compliment my HD-7080, and these units give me the clearest picture imaginable!)
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
Location is Key
(4 out of 5) by J. Geary on Oct 15, 2004 (Northborough, MA, USA)I bought this antenna to replace a Terk TV4. I wanted to get better reception on some weak UHF stations.
I was a little leery of the TV55 based on the negative reviews, but I wanted something I could mount on the back porch if necessary. I was very pleasantly surprised. True, in my living room it didn't do much better than an indoor antenna. But out on the porch it's fantastic. I'm getting VHF from about 40 miles away and UHF to 25 or so. And this is an urban neighborhood with lots of tall buildings.
Best features are the versatile mounting options and the inline amp, which greatly improves UHF signals. Drawbacks are that it's expensive, and works much better outside than inside.
Most importantly you should look for the best reception location before you buy. My living room is tough for TV but the porch is fine. It sounds like some of the negative reviewers don't understand that it varies from room to room.
I was a little leery of the TV55 based on the negative reviews, but I wanted something I could mount on the back porch if necessary. I was very pleasantly surprised. True, in my living room it didn't do much better than an indoor antenna. But out on the porch it's fantastic. I'm getting VHF from about 40 miles away and UHF to 25 or so. And this is an urban neighborhood with lots of tall buildings.
Best features are the versatile mounting options and the inline amp, which greatly improves UHF signals. Drawbacks are that it's expensive, and works much better outside than inside.
Most importantly you should look for the best reception location before you buy. My living room is tough for TV but the porch is fine. It sounds like some of the negative reviewers don't understand that it varies from room to room.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Exceptional performance
(4 out of 5) by J. Lee on Oct 15, 2005 (Ca, USA)I was really suprised by the extreme differences in experience that buyers were having. But the good reviews convinced me to give this product a try. I have spent the last 3 hours getting very frustrated with the poor performance UNTIL, I found that my problem was 2 fold, placement really matters and use all RG6 cables. Some of my patch cables (the cheap stuff that came free with my VCR completely lost the signals). Now I am picking up channels that never even registered using the Terk HDTVi. I am getting more channels than Antennaweb.org mapper said I could get with a large directional antenna.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
The Terk 55 HD Antenna
(5 out of 5) by G. M. Bean on Mar 25, 2006 (West Palm Beach, Florida)The Terk 55 is great. I had tried several outdoor antennae before I purchased the Terk 55, and none of them were satisfactory. I returned every one of them. In fact with a couple of them, my rabbit ears picked up MORE channels. I was quite pleased when I purchased the Terk 55. It has proved to be an excellent antenna for High Definition (HD) reception as well as conventional VHF and UHF, but there is one important caution: it is VERY directional.
I was able to get very clear HD reception on channels from 50 miles away (Miami) with it only 20 feet in the air. Remember,it is necessary to rotate the antenna so it is at right angles (perpendicular) to the station transmitter to get any signal.
There is a web site that will help you find where the station transmitters are located relative to your address if you need to know where the transmitters are. The web address is:
http://antennaweb.org/aw/address.aspx
Simply enter your address and you will find where all the stations are. This site is free to use.
On the negative side, it did not pick up a signal from only 2 miles away because it was precisely in line with the end pointing directly at the transmitter. Once I rotated to the perpendicular position, it worked great. Presently I am rotating it by hand, but I plan to buy an antenna rotator.
Here is the bottom line for using this antenna. If you can:
A. set it up so it is perpendicular to the channels you want to receive it will work perfectly,
or if you
B. have it installed so you can rotate it to the perpendicular position, then you will find it to be an excellent antenna.
If you cannot do either A or B above, I don't think you will be happy with the Terk.
One more thing. The Amazon price of $60 with free shipping (when I bought mine) was far and away the best price I could find. Most places were getting $99 PLUS shipping.
I was able to get very clear HD reception on channels from 50 miles away (Miami) with it only 20 feet in the air. Remember,it is necessary to rotate the antenna so it is at right angles (perpendicular) to the station transmitter to get any signal.
There is a web site that will help you find where the station transmitters are located relative to your address if you need to know where the transmitters are. The web address is:
http://antennaweb.org/aw/address.aspx
Simply enter your address and you will find where all the stations are. This site is free to use.
On the negative side, it did not pick up a signal from only 2 miles away because it was precisely in line with the end pointing directly at the transmitter. Once I rotated to the perpendicular position, it worked great. Presently I am rotating it by hand, but I plan to buy an antenna rotator.
Here is the bottom line for using this antenna. If you can:
A. set it up so it is perpendicular to the channels you want to receive it will work perfectly,
or if you
B. have it installed so you can rotate it to the perpendicular position, then you will find it to be an excellent antenna.
If you cannot do either A or B above, I don't think you will be happy with the Terk.
One more thing. The Amazon price of $60 with free shipping (when I bought mine) was far and away the best price I could find. Most places were getting $99 PLUS shipping.