Perhaps it's defective...

while out xmas browsing today,i popped into the source,where i saw the terk hdtva on sale.figuring,what the heck,i'll grab one and give it a try.i am using a rca cant 1650 (without the rca amp,as it is garbage) and a leviton amp,which yields great results.i have no problems picking up Toronto and Buffalo stations with my setup.im in an apt which faces north in south oshawa,so,my reception with this setup is quite good considering.anyways,i brought the terk home,put it together,hooked it into my leviton amp,and tried it out.absolutely nothing.no channels at all.tried everything,different locations throughout the apt,tried the terk amp,still nothing.tried without any amp,nothing.what a disappointment.after reading lots of positive reviews,it was quite the letdown.the only thing positive about it is the looks.i might hang some ornaments off it for the hell of it.by the way,the terk amp is Not inside the stand,it is seperate.

Unless you have taken apart an HDTVa antenna as I have, you're shooting in the dark. The external part is the power supply/inserter.

i stand corrected:)

I've had this antenna since Nov. 2008 and it has worked perfectly for local digital channels. I tried three other indoor antennas, but the Terk had the best reception.

There is an "on"/"off" switch that I think is for the amplifier. But even when it is "off", the antenna always needs to be plugged in to get good reception.

Also, the fins have to be securely snapped into the base. I've got them horizontal, which seems to work better than vertical.

And it is a directional antenna, so I guess from Oshawa you'd want to point it west to the cn tower.

Those are all my suggestions... maybe you just got a lemon :)

Wow not much action in here for a while.

I have the amplified clone from the Source. I managed to get one extra bar of reception using the Terk in my location over the included wire whip ANT that came with my Hauppauage 950q USB tuner. One think I wanted to ask, It says that the amplifier has to be plugged in even though it is in the off position. I was wondering if it is recommended to include the signal amp in the hookup or if it was ok to leave it out. Currently I have a long cable run so I have it in, but there are times I use it just hooked up to the laptop and less than 15 feet of cable. so should I still use the AMP in that short cable run?

Thx
I have the Terk from teh Source, got it 20$ off. One thing you'll notice is that the antenna can be removed from the base with the rabbit ears. You can then plug your coax straight in to the UHF element. That gives me the best reception by far.

Perhaps it's defective...
That is my guess....

I will try to hook the power supply/insert-er up again and see what results I get.

Thanks for the tip about just using the element by itself that never occurred to me.

this morning after work,i decided to try again to see if i can make this antenna function properly.i figured out that the problem was the power inserter,the switch was on even when it was showing it off.the "inserter" destroys the signal so bad that nothing is received.i got the switch to the off postion(took some delicate work) without breaking it.then i did a scan,voila,2 channels during this mornings crappy weather.so,it does work,just have to play around with different locations in my place.

Well mine was working properly until all of a sudden one day it started acting up. The signal strength is not what it used to be when it was working but at least it is working.

Hopefully you guys are eligible for refunds/replacements. If there is a known problem with reliability happening these days with Terk HDTVa indoor ZSS-clone antennas we should call a spade a spade.

Anyone else having the same problems with the amplifier and/or the switch?

Anyone else having the same problems with the amplifier and/or the switch?

I certainly did have a problem with my Terk HDTVo's internal amplifier! But the important part is that it was MY OWN FAULT.

I have a CM-7777 amplifer connected to another set of antennas. One night in haste, I accidentally connected the 18 VDC power injector from the Channel Master device to the HDTVo's downlead instead of the proper Terk 9 VDC power injector. Well, that extra voltage was sufficient to fry the preamp.

The good news is that I called AudioVox and explained what I did. What surprised me is that, in spite of my own boneheaded negligence, they asked that I return the HDTVo and upon receipt, they shipped me a brand new one.

Since then, I've been much more careful when I change connections.

I'll also add that contrary to many, I've been pleased with the HDTVo which I use as an alternate to the 91XG/C5 combo. While it certainly doesn't match the performance of that AntennasDirect duo, the little HDTVo does astonishingly hold its own given its small size. But I'm a mere ~65 km from the Dallas-Ft. Worth tower farm so reception isn't much of a challenge here.

thats great that they replaced your terk.its funny,when i was unpackaging the antenna,there was a slip that said that the antenna was inspected and tested before it was shipped.makes you wonder about who's doing the quality control.:confused:

This Antenna issue was really ticking me off so I purchased a second HDTVa this week. I can confirm by doing nothing but changing out the Power injector that my original antenna is now working as expected. (SNR 22 on one channel and SNR 27 on the other) As it was a few months back. Now I just need to find my original bill of sale to see if it is still under warranty etc. I may keep the new Antenna and try the ganging / stacking thing, we shal see.

Oh Also, the new one has a model number of CHDTVa but it is identical to the previously purchased HDTVa except the packaging and included booklet is bilingual. ;-)


To recap the symptoms:

Power Injector hooked up, only one channel would come through with a weaker than expected signal. (SNR 18) Second channel was completely blocked (SNR was 11). Power on or off did not help. Leaving it unplugged for a day or two also did not help.

Hooked it up without power injector both channels would come through but SNR was low for both and I don't recall the numbers.

Leaving the Antenna where it was, I swapped out the power injector and the numbers returned to what was expected.

good job on the diagnostics.the amps that come with most indoor antennas are garbage from my experiences.i use a leviton amp with mine,with the terk power injector just plugged in.im wondering how you would stack these antennas,as i'd like to experiment with mine at my location.

the amps that come with most indoor antennas are garbage from my experiences.

Agreed. The reality is for an indoor antenna an amp is almost always useless. What people don't realize is your TV has an amp built in. When you use an antenna with an amp all you are doing is disabling the TV's amp. This is only useful when:

you have long cable runs,
you are splitting the signal for multiple TVs, or
the amp you use is better than the one in your TV.

For indoor antennas, 1 and 2 are almost never the case and 3 is rarely the case.

I don't think it is recommend to operate this unit without the power injector. I have tried, with horrible results. With a working injector in the chain, the results are really good. I'm using a Hauppauge 950q USB stick with the Terk and about 75 feet of cable.

As far as stacking / ganging there is a link in the stacking / ganging thread that talks about doing it with SS clones. I may try it in the near future.

I don't think it is recommend to operate this unit without the power injector.

I don't know about this particular antenna, but most amps will block the signal when underpowered and anything you receive is signal leakage from imperfect shielding.

I've found that most unpowered amplifiers turn into 25-30 dB attenuators...

The HDTVa's amplifier can be turned off. However, in order for signals to travel passively through, the unit needs to remain plugged in.

i guess the best thing to do to avoid the power injector problem is to get the passive version and use a seperate amp.