Has anyone got any practical experience with this antenna? My customer is looking to pick up a VHF station about 28 miles away. Of course the wife doesn't want a 10' Yagi on the roof, and no attic space available.Thanks in advance for any help.

Here is a link to the specifications. The Square shooter 2000 does well for me but I use it for Digital TV receptions with a station 30 miles away.

[Link: winegard.com]

Dave

Thanks, Dave. I appreciate the response, but I've actually checked out the specs since I posted, and it doesn't look good for the station I'm looking for at that distance. Only 2 db gain, and a bit on the fringe. I've actually decided to purchase 2 ChannelMaster antennas to try out- the #3010 Stealthtenna and the #5646 supervee.
I'm also getting a #7777 pre-amp for good measure. He's getting everything but ABC right now with an amplified indoor (RS), but he wants to watch the Superbowl in HD (go figure!). I'm not taking an chances- wish me luck!

Mike

If you look again at the specs for the Square Shooter, you will see that it matters a bit whether the desired channel is in the range 2 - 6 or 7 - 13.

Which one is it?

I didn't see 2 dB gain anywhere in those specs.

My favorite antenna, for years, has been the Winegard GhostKiller. Yes, it is one of those biggish antennas, about six feet wide at the back and six or seven feet long. But it has no pieces that fold up or down, so it is FLAT: I have gotten it into a roof space of 18" between ceiling joists and roof joists, and it is less likely to pick up ghosts because it has a much better front-to-back ratio than other antennas.

All I can say about the Square Shooter and I own one, is it picks up the stations better with the Plastic cover on the front of it removed.

It is suppose to be good at removing multisignal paths.

I am using it specifically to pick up UNC-TV the local PBS station which is in the opposite direction from the majority of the other broadcast stations here in Raleigh, NC.

I guess it would look pretty next to your dish and that is what I think it is intended for. But they sure don't give it away.

-Don

Don..i just purchased a squareshooter..non-amplified...couldnt find a indoor one good enough to pull in a constant signal..and most outdoor are just way to ugly..i assume that under the plastic cover it looks like some sort of bowtie..since im only 5 miles direct line of sight to my local towers with few buildings or trees in the way i hope to leave it as is and still get good reception..my question is how directional is it?..2 other towers are at a right angle to the main ones and 25 mles away..do you have any issues like this and is yours amplified? Thanks..Rich G

RICHNWB,

It does not look like a bow tie on the inside at least the 2000 does not. It is a printed circuit board with the elements of the antenna shaped in a swirley 1 dimensional pattern in order to best get as much realestate in the confines of the area as possible. At least that is the way I would describe the 2000.

Kind of a clever design. And you are correct that it does not look ugly.

I would say the 2000 is pretty directional. You may have to swing it in the direction of those right angle stations to get best reception. Or you may get lucky and those stations "transmit signals" are bouncing off some surface and the bounced signal will be directed into the front of your SS.

I think that a signal at 180 degrees may get picked up okay. But at right angles it would be hit and miss.

What I have read about it, is that people in a city apartment building can use it to get a reflected bounced signal off a building behind them when their apartment window is facing 180 from xmit tower.

The other big plus to the SS is that it looks real good sitting outside next to your dish. Of course mine is in the attic.

I believe my amp is partially built into the antenna and than there is a factory PreAMP that comes with it that can go inside the house.

You can hook up an external amp to yours if you need to.

Good Luck.

-Don

Thanks Don..and i dont think its a great idea to take the cover off if its going to be outside.seems i remember circut boards not needing to be watered..lol..ill try moving it around and see..even if i cant get the other towers id like to not have it not amplified if possible..

I agree I would not take the cover off if I used it outside, mine is in the attic. However I can't say as it had a water tight seal....... with the cover on but would have to look at it again to be sure.

-Don

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'm trying to pick up channel 10 in New Haven, Ct. from Glastonbury- about 30 miles, but some hills in the way. I ended up buying 2 Channel Master antennas to experiment with- the 3010 Stealthtenna and the 5646 Super-Vee.
As I said, hidden is the word pf the day, so I'm going to try the attic first. If that doesn't work, I'm hoping I can tuck the 3010 behind the garage roof with the D*tv dish.
Wish me luck! I'll post my results as soon as the weather permits me to do the job.

Well..60 degrees on jan 20th here in nepa gave me the chance to get wineguard 1100 up on the house..works pretty good..not amplified im pulling 80 to 90 percent on 4 out of 5 channels..the other , even though on the same mountain is fluctuating between 40 and 70...would a amp help?..or would it degrade the other channels?..

Now that's a poser.

Those numbers are "quality," not signal level, so it is just plain hard to tell.

If the signals are screaming hot wonderful, but have some multipath therefore making them less than, say, 95, amplifying those could introduce distortion and make them worse.

If they are not great because of signal level, amplifying them could make them better or leave them as they are while improving the other one.

Or the other one could be adequate in signal level but have loads of multipath, so re-aiming would be a thing to try first.

I would take advantage of someone's liberal return policy (Radio Shack?) and get a 10 dB UHF antenna, after checking at www.antennaweb.org to be sure the signals I want are all UHFers. And if not, then get an appropriate amp. 10 dB of signal increase should definitely fix or mess up what you have, and there is always that return policy.

Thanks for the advice Ernie..its strange..last week while waiting for the squareshooter to arrive, i wanted to watch the steelers in hd. I went to BB and bought this cheesey RCA indoor antenna with amp..put it near the outside wall facing the tower..only 5 miles away, and it worked great..strong and locked in..when the SS arrived i took back the RCA and since it was warm put up the SS on the house..20 ft up and clear shot to all the towers..4 out of 5 are great..that 5th one..CBS..wont stay locked on ..it goes to 75 and then drops to the 40s and i loose picture..all 5 towers are within 3 degrees of each other..i tried a amp..it increased the top end but the drop outs continue..is it that sensitive that if im off a degree or so this will happen?..i have to get up and adjust it again i suppose..

Ok..watched the game OFA on CBS..everything was fine until halftime..then drop outs started and i had to switch to cable to watch the remainder of the game..some of the other channels OFA also were dropping..the SS is aimed directly at the towers..between 2 houses..and their roofs arent much higher than the antenna is..could it be something in one of the homes thats interfering ?.

You may be getting ghosts. I am plagued with them with my attic mounted 4228. Especially on one channel although it basically is located in the same direction and distance as the other stations. I will get a steady 80 signal for a period of time and than it will drop down to 40 freezing audio and picture than up it goes again to 80 and picture is good again. I have to agree with Ernie that it is a quality issue as in you are getting multipath and that it is not a level issue. You can use the Square shooter to your advantage to hopefully get rid of the extra ghosts. Maybe even directing the SS in the opposite direction from the station will help by cutting down on the number of multipaths.

I know there is not a lot of coorelation and the transmitters are different as well as the exact locations. So it is just coincidental that the NTSC version of that channel comes in with ghosts on my tv and the ATSC version experiences drop out.

Hey Ernie, if some genious could build a STB ATSC receiver that could mask out the multipaths leaving the stronger of the multipaths to feed to the TV would it help???

-Don B