TERK Amplified AM/FM Stereo Indoor Antenna (TOWER)

Folks, please note the item description before you buy. It's not a magic wand and won't amplify a signal that doesn't reach it.I purchased this signal booster for use with my garage radio. Reception can be iffy here in Central New York, yet the unit does a fine job on FM. I can receive stations now that barely came through before. It's easy to tell, just reduce the gain and the signal disappears. So yes, I'm very pleased with it and feel that I got a good value for my money.That said, I didn't find an improvement with AM reception. No problem there, I don't use AM anyhow. And it may be due to poor signal strength. We are out in the boondocks. ☺Setup instructions are included. Easy to connect and use.

...there is a fatal flaw in the design of this antenna.The coaxial connector to connect the FM antenna to your receiver is just a hair too small to fit over the coaxial jack on the receiver ...at least is was on mine. This is nothing more than a usual dose of poor Chinese quality ...and failure of the overseeing corporation, AudioVox, to quality check production samples. But then AudioVox is an old name in producing low end, marginal audio products and accessories. The other aspect of the coax connector is it's made of frangible metal; if you bend the fingers of the connector outward slightly ...in an attempt to get the connector to slip onto the coax jack ...they will crack and break off unless you are exceptionally careful. While a snug fit is important for good electrical contact, the connector outer shell needs to be somewhat spring-like in how it fits; it should be able to easily expand to fully fit the grounding portion of the coax jack on the receiver ...and the connector on this antenna is not. In addition, you need to get the coax plug inserted far enough onto the receiver jack so the center pin of the plug makes contact with the center portion of the jack. And given the poor fitment and construction of the outer shell this can be very difficult. If that center pin in the coax connector does not make contact with the small inner jack on the coax antenna jack on the receiver ...you won't get any radio signals passed to the tuner section of the receiver. Which might explain the poor ratings on this antenna and the common point the antenna made no difference in reception quality.Understand, in this day and age, listening to radio is a bit antediluvian. There's not a big market out there for indoor FM antennas like this given the very limited selection on Amazon. And this is probably about the best antenna you're going to find.I managed to finagle the connector onto my coax antenna jack and far enough onto it so that the antenna does work for me ...and it works fairly good. My real rating on this antenna would be 3.5 stars; there's no excuse for the poor construction of the coax plug. I have an "ancient" Terk amplified antenna ...this one's predecessor ...that's at least a decade old and it still works and it still works great.Once I got past the the plug issue I found the antenna is very particular to where it's placed. I originally put mine near our WiFi router and reception was lousy. I moved it about 15-18 inches away from the router and it made all the difference in the world. The instructions do caution about the antenna placement near TV's and routers and other EMF generating devices ...and oddly enough the instructions are right ...so read and heed them.I also found keeping the coax FM and 2-wire AM cables away from wall warts and power transformers also helped in reception.Using the amplification setting on the antenna needs to be adjusted with care. Cranking amplification full on does *not* mean you're going to get better reception ...in fact you may get worse. You need to listen to the stations and how the antenna is picking them up ...find a fairly weak station and tweak the amplification until you get a good signal ...not a perfect one. If you try to adjust the amplification to pick up that one really very weak station you'll blow out many of the others or generate noise on them. It's a compromise. Also be aware of where the antenna is placed in conjunction to routers, converter boxes, power supplies and TV sets; a small repositioning of the antenna can make a big difference in reception quality.Overall the appearance of the antenna is minimal, the base is heavy enough to keep the antenna upright and the bottom has a soft rubber that offers some traction in keeping the antenna in place against the pull of the power, FM and AM cabling. It's also been slimmed down a lot compared to my decade old Terk. However, the big green Cylon-like power light come amplifier wheel really kills the low-key aspect of the antenna. A small power light and separate knob would've been better ...but probably cost too much to employ.I think if AudioVox ...an old name company unfortunately associated with producing cheap marginal audio products and accessories ...if AudioVox would improve the coax connector this would be a solid 4 maybe even a 5 star product ...especially at the $20 price point.

There are some cheap products out there that do not perform very well, but I have never had a product that was worse than not having anything at all like this one. I have a nice $500 Pioneer Stereo system. During a move, I lost the AM and FM antenna wires that came with it. I could still pick up local stations without them, but there was a little static, so I thought I would buy this to improve the signal. I thought WRONG! But that is not the whole story. Read on.The first unit I got was clearly a return that someone had returned to Amazon, even though I paid for a new unit. It was missing the power adaptor so I contacted Amazon.com for a replacement. I told them that they had sent me a used unit and that I wanted a new, non-opened unit. So Amazon sent me another unit. Guess what? Yep! It was also a previously opened return. But this one had the power adaptor, so I thought I would try it out.I hooked it up and turned on my stereo, BUUZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!! the was super loud static. I thought I had connected it wrong and so I turned it off and reversed the wires. BUUUZZZZZZ!!!!!!! So I left my stereo on and just unplug the wires, the buzzing stopped and the was my local station loud, with just the normal tiny bit of static. I plug the wires back in BUZZZ!!! I tried moving the antenna base to every possible position, but it was just a huge buzzing sound.WARNING! Evidently many people have bought and returned these units and Amazon.com is selling them as NEW and not Open Box. Save your money and do not buy this product. It is utterly worthless and will actually do worse then if you had no antenna at all. I have a $5 dollar store radio that can pick up stations with no problem, so I know it is not a reception issue. It is this antenna. Since I received two returned items, that tells you a lot of people are having the same problem with this product and returning it.

Got it for family member that lives inside an old hospital. The place is all concrete and steel. Bought a T shaped antenna for her table top radio and couldn’t pick up the station constantly. Got this power antenna and for over a week now it has brought in that weak station like a champ! Also I didn’t know that the power light would come on when you turn the radio on. So there must be a very small amount of voltage that will turn the power on and off at the antenna connection! That’s very cool!

Antenna looks good. Certainly better than a dipole ribbon. There is no reference in the user guide to a power supply. It is as if it were not a powered antenna. Initially, I thought the power supply had been left out of the box, or I had ordered the wrong product, but I finally found it tucked away in a fold of cardboard. I was going to contact Terk for further info, but their website is useless. Good thing I did not actually need support. I really have no idea yet whether the antenna works better than a dipole ribbon, but it looks better and does bring in local stations.