Peter Putman, CTS, ISF

Winegard’s SS-2000 follows up last years’ introduction of the basic Square Shooter VHF/UHF antenna. What’s the difference between them? The SS-2000 has a built-in preamplifier.

The original Square Shooter had a rather unique design, one that could be best described as a ‘flattened’ helical dipole antenna with a log periodic element shaping. (Completely befuddled yet?) The benefit of the ‘flattening’ was a more compact design, while the log periodic construction provided greater bandwidth.

In my original tests of the SS-1000 (http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages/squareshot.htm), I found out that its unique design and ability to not only change azimuth but also its polarization did enhance reception of both VHF and UHF signals to some degree.

Actually, the SS-1000 was much better at pulling in UHF stations, given that its comparatively short electrical length resonates at much higher frequencies than a pair of rabbit ears or a conventional dipole antenna. My tests with competitive antennas – all of which sold for much less – showed the SS-1000 to be an average performer in most cases.

The SS-2000 sent here for review is basically the same antenna, but equipped with an internal VHF/UHF preamplifier system. You could expect the antenna to perform pretty much the same as the SS-1000 version, except that weaker signals should be stronger, with less noise seen on analog stations and more reliable reception of digital stations.

TEST PROCEDURE

For that reason, I decided for my ‘second look’ to forego outdoor tests – the first review has plenty of examples of how the SS-2000 behaves in elevated and tilt-polarization modes – and simply test for indoor signal quality. The indoor environment is prone to multipath by nature and the SS-1000 did a pretty good job with indoor reception the first time around.

 

Figure 1

 

The test was simple: The SS-2000 and each antenna I compared it were placed on a counter in the center of my office, next to a wall. This location has low-to-moderate signal levels and moderate multipath, which makes it a great place to try out indoor antennas. And it’s likely that many purchasers of this antenna will mount it in an attic, perhaps in a similar environment full of signal echoes.

For my comparison antennas, I dug up Radio Shack’s 15-1880 amplified combo VHF/UHF set-top antenna, Zenith’s ZHDTV1 Silver Sensor UHF-only log periodic tabletop / set-top antenna, and one of my prototype 5-element UHF-only yagis I made about 5 years ago.

 

Figure 2

 

Figure 3

 

Figure 4

 

For kicks, I also hooked up a $3.99 Radio Shack UHF bow-tie antenna, taping it to a small box. Since this antenna, the ZHDTV1, and my ‘junk box’ UHF yagi don’t have internal amplifiers, I hooked up a Channel Master Titan 2 #7775 UHF preamplifier system to each of them when tested.

For reception, I hooked each antenna up to an LG LST-4200A 4th-generation digital TV tuner (it also receives analog NTSC signals), performed a channel scan, and looked to see how many of the available local DTV stations were captured into memory. I also kept track of the number of analog stations that were usable.

Digital TV waveforms were checked with a Sencore SA1501 spectrum analyzer for strength and quality on each channel. Accordingly, I positioned and oriented each antenna for the best-looking 8VSB waveforms across the band before performing a channel scan.

RESULTS

The SS-2000 performed pretty much as expected. It locked up a total of 22 total stations (13 analog and 9 digital) with the antenna, including all of the major networks. Most of the received waveforms were clean and any multipath that resulted was in the range of the 4200’s equalizers.

But the SS-2000 didn’t always produce the strongest signal on a given channel. Radio Shack’s 15-1880, which did very well against the SS-1000 indoors, once again trumped the field of contenders by pulling in 26 total stations and did much better with VHF signals than the SS-2000.

 

Figures 5a-b: Winegard’s SS-2000 did a good job with digital signals from KYW-26
and WGTW-27 (top), but not much better than Radio Shack’s RS-1880 (bottom).

 

Zenith’s version of the Silver Sensor also flexed its muscles; grabbing the #2 position with a total of 24 stations (14 analog, 10 digital) once it was hooked up to the Channel Master preamp. That’s pretty good performance for a UHF-only antenna!

 

Figures 6a-b: The $190 SS-2000 received WPPX-31, WPSG-32,
and WYBE-34 quite well (top), but the $3.99 UHF bow tie,
feeding a Channel Master Titan 2 preamp, did almost as well! (bottom)

 

Surprisingly, Radio Shack’s modest little bow tie antenna became a real tiger with the Channel Master preamp behind it, coming in right behind the SS-2000 with a total of 21 stations (12 analog and 9 digital). My ‘plumber’s special’ 5-element UHF yagi, mated with the Channel Master preamp, was good for fifth place with 20 total stations (12 analog and 8 digital).

 

Figures 7a-b: Although the 15-1880 provided a strong signal from
WTXF-42, a cleaner 8VSB waveform was seen from the SS-2000.

 

Of all the antennas in this test, only the SS-2000 and my prototype UHF yagi could reasonably be considered for outdoor use. Although the latter can’t be rotated to change its polarity, I have found it’s not necessary in an outdoor installation – just aim the antenna for best signal strength, and lock it down.

 

Figures 8a-b: Zenith’s Silver Sensor (also feeding the Titan 2 preamp)
was about equal to the SS-2000 with the signal from WPVI-64,
but it bested the Winegard product with reception of WUVP-66 and WCAU-67.

 

THE VERDICT

The SS-2000 works much like its non-powered cousin and is most effective at UHF frequencies. Its performance in the high VHF band (channels 7-13) is average to below average, and I would not recommend it for low band VHF (channels 2-6) service as it just doesn’t have enough gain (unless you live within 10 miles or so of the TV transmitter).

The ability to change polarization is a mixed blessing. You can solve one multipath problem, but create others by turning the SS-2000. VHF TV stations use circular polarization to overcome multipath, but UHF stations use horizontal signal polarization. The rule of thumb has always been to match the polarization of your receiving antenna for best results.

If you are going to mount the antenna in an attic, it pretty much doesn’t matter what kind of antenna you use – no one will spot it and say ‘hey, that thing is UG-LY!” In that case, a conventional yagi antenna is always the best choice. But for outdoor use, you may prefer the more compact, boxy look of the SS-2000 – it’s about as obtrusive as a DirecTV satellite dish.

Copyright © 2005 Peter H. Putman / Roam Consulting Inc.
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