Radio Shack says no to Bowtie Antenna? (1 Viewer)

[Brian Hakey]

I just called the local Radio Shack to inquire about the $17 Bowtie Antenna....the guy said that antenna wont work (UHF only) and that the $80 antenna is the one for HDTV.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=15%2D1890
Thats the link to that antenna, anyone know anything about this one???
Brian in Tacoma, WA

 

[Bill Slack]

HDTV is broadcast in the UHF spectrum. I've personally had better luck with an amplified unidirectional indoor Terk UHF (not the special HD one or anything) than the RS bowtie.

I am very close to the transmitters (~4mi), and the bowtie one ended up being too directional for me.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Most HDTV is broadcast in the UHF spectrum.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Brian,
The website www.titantv.com will list the channel numbers for the stations broadcasting digitally in your area. Any channel number 14 and higher is in the UHF spectrum. As Michael indicated, most but not all DTV channels are in the UHF spectrum (here in Detroit they are all UHF). I am not surprised that the Radio Shack employee did not know this. When I purchased my antennas, the manager of the store was curious why I wanted such a device. He was completely unaware of how DTV works, but he did appear interested as I explained.
I also had better luck with a direction indoor amplified antenna than with the double bowtie. I am using a Radio Shack brand, and am about 20 miles from the tranmitters.

 

[Mark_HD]

i'm new to this HDTV topic, but have made some killer progress over the last 3 weeks.

i bought a Mits 55859, integrated HDTV, and tested the Radio Shack HD set top antenna. i had to drag the antenna w/ 50 feet of coax to the second story closest wall facing Chicago (40miles away) to pick up a HD signal. it looked great on the set, small amount of artifacts over an hour show, but wasn't going to live w/ the 50 feet of coax drapped through the stairs of my house, so i returned it.

i decided to go overkill on the antenna, plus Radio Shack is having a 50% off their two roof-top / attic 'traditional antenna'. i bought the VU-190 XR - long range ($50.00) and installed it in my attic, used in-line signal amplifier ($30.00) to connect 2 50 foot coax cable and ran it to the tv.

presto, excellent resolution on all 5 of the major networks broadcasting in Chicago. both HD and SD broadcasts look great. the super bowl was awsome ... not a single artifact throughout the broadcast.

lookin forward to the Olympics...

btw, i'm very happy w/ my Mits WS-55859 ... i picked this up from a local retailer for the same price as crazyeddie.com and for less than the discontinued 55908, floor model.

i'm a believer in HDTV ... there's no going back!

 

[Steven Harris]

I have the Radio Shack antenna you're inquiring about (Model 15-1890). Mind you, I'm not using it for HDTV, only UHF and VHF (even though my TV, a Tosh. 34HF81, could work with HDTV). I've bought seven antenna now (including the Terk TV25) trying to avoid having to sign up for basic cable just to receive broadcast TV. This Radio Shack antenna is the only one that fits the bill. Unlike the six candidates before this one, I will probably keep it.

One of its unique traits is that it doesn't require adjusting to tune a variety of channels. Every other antenna I've tried required me to get up and fiddle with it every time I changed the channel. This one pretty much either picks up the channel or it doesn't.

There are two telescoping antennae that you can attach to it; they don't show those in the photo, perhaps to make it look more ominous or mysterious. I have found that extending the dipole antennae help the reception a bit, but moving them around isn't necessary. A more significant adjustment is a switch that toggles favoring the dipole and helical antennae. Channel 6 is the only one that encourages flipping that switch (but I can't remember which way).

My only complaints are the lack of a power switch (I pull the adaptor plug when I'm not using the TV) and the relatively high price. Radio Shack offers a 30-day return period, so I recommend you give this model a try.