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Terk introduces HD specific antennas...indoor AND outdoor

M

Mike Walker

Guest
Apparently condeding that their analog FM antennas are too damn noisy for HD, Terk is "making lemonade" by turning this negative into a positive...introducing two HD Radio specific antennas. One is for outdoor use, the other for indoor. Both are for AM as well as FM.

Of course if their noise performance is really better, it should benefit analog as well as digital reception. Here's a story, but there's more in the March 1 Radio World http://www.twice.com/article/CA6404872.html
 
I had to laugh when I saw this one - what could be lower noise than a Terk AM advantage? There are no active components in it. Put it near an HD radio it will help with IBOC AM the same as it does with analog AM. There is no way you can make an antenna with so much selectivity that it would attenuate the HD sidebands. And if you could you would notice it on analog audio, too.

For FM- the best bet is still an outdoor antenna aimed at the HD station. It will have plenty of bandwidth - and being passive have no noise.

The trendy little amplified indoor antennas didn't work for analog, and they won't work for HD. PERIOD. Extensive tests by people over on fmtunerinfo.com have repeatedly shown that these little amplified antennas are junk that only make the situation WORSE. Go down to the antennas section if you want REAL information from RF experts about what works and what doesn't.

DX'ers may be outmoded in some eyes, but if you are 100 miles out and want HD radio - you better listen to us!
 
Mike Walker said:
Apparently condeding that their analog FM antennas are too damn noisy for HD, Terk is "making lemonade" by turning this negative into a positive...introducing two HD Radio specific antennas. One is for outdoor use, the other for indoor. Both are for AM as well as FM.

Of course if their noise performance is really better, it should benefit analog as well as digital reception. Here's a story, but there's more in the March 1 Radio World http://www.twice.com/article/CA6404872.html
Click to expand...

I also remember when antenna manufacturers were selling special "Color TV" antennas. Some were improvements over earlier designs, but most were just the same thing in a new box that said “Color” on the side of it. The good news is the "new" antenna usually did give better results than the old rusted, corroded and broken antenna that it replaced, simply because the old antenna no longer worked the way it did when it was new..

Hopefully, this is simply a better antenna, regardless of what they call it. Otherwise it is just marketing puffery, just like "Digital Ready Headphones."

People will buy anything....
 
"Digital ready headphones". They're still out there. My favorite was "digital ready cassettes". Hell, in the 80s a couple of manufacturers were offering "digital ready reel to reel recorders"...remember the "EE" tapes? (I think it was called?) Basically the high energy tapes used for cassettes were finally applied to the Open Reel format, which allowed much higher quality audio, and even decent quality at 3 3/4ips. Of course it was introduced at a time when nobody gave a crap about reel to reel, but anyhow....

Think Nakamichi would sell many cassette recorders today if they came out with an exciting new model?

Back to antennas. A better antenna is a better antenna. I'll probably buy the thing when it's available. It'll be worth trying!
 
In my very limited experience with about 20 Terk antennas over the past 20 years, they're all pretty much junk. It's the Monster Cable disease. Proclaim your superiority, charge a lot of money for voodoo, and lead the market in sucking people in to their desires of quality. I am clearly a victim of their clever marketing.

I live a shamed life.
 
RadeoEngineer said:
It's the Monster Cable disease. Proclaim your superiority, charge a lot of money for voodoo, and lead the market in sucking people in to their desires of quality. I am clearly a victim of their clever marketing.

I live a shamed life.
Click to expand...
My favorites are the "directional" RCA cables market by Monster cables. They have little arrows printed on them, and I've heard salesmen tell the gullible that the audio can only flow one direction through these cables. Yeah, sure.

To be fair, they have telescoped shields, so there is some logic to the design, but that's not how they are usually sold. What’s worse, the plugs are so large in diameter that they frequently don't fit side by side on standard Female RCA jacks, resulting in breaking the female jack on the piece of equipment they are plugged into. A real swell design, but people buy them anyway....

They also buy strange and exotic indoor antennas from Terk and others. My local Best Buy almost always has several in their "Open Box" sale area. Obviously they are returned by their customers on a regular basis. You'd think some people would figure that out.

That said, I hope it helps your reception, but be sure to save the receipt.
 
That's funny Supercaster, but you know what's sad? My SECOND thought (after "that's funny") on seeing that picture was "man, I'd really love to hook my radio up to that!". It doesn't look like an HD antenna, however. It DOES look like a fandamntabulous AM and Shortwave antenna! I'll take two of those...one for north/south, one for east/west. Oh, and an a/b antenna switch too, please. Let me give you the address to ship that to...
 
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