| | |  | AM/FM Antennas | Home » » » » Terk FM-50 Indoor/Outdoor Dual-Drive Amplified FM Antenna (Terk FM50) | | | | | | | Description: | | FM STEREOHORIZONTALLY POLARIZED HALF-WAVELENGTH FOLDED DIPOLE DESIGN FOR MAXIMUM RECEPTIONBUILT-IN AMPLIFIER WITH SWITCHABLE GAIN OF +11 DBFM BANDWIDTH: 88 MHZ 108 MHZWEATHER RESISTANT FOR RELIABLE LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE75_ GOLD-PLATED COAXIAL CONNECTIONS UL LISTEDINTERNAL VOLTAGE REGULATORINCLUDES 12V DC 200 MAH POWER SUPPLYDIM: 57"L X 1.25"W X 2.5"HUPC : 034405500001Shipping Dimensions : 58.50in X 3.80in X 3.30inEstimated Shipping Weight : 4.4192 | | | Features: | |
• Audiovox Terk FM-50 Indoor/Outdoor Amplified FM Audio Antenna
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 58.5 inches | | Product Width:
| 4.0 inches | | Product Height:
| 3.5 inches | | Product Weight:
| 1.0 pounds | | Package Length:
| 58.5 inches | | Package Width:
| 4.0 inches | | Package Height:
| 3.5 inches | | Package Weight:
| 3.3 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 54 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 54 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
85 of 86 found the following review helpful:
 TERK FM-50 - Performance as advertised.Mar 03, 2007
By Thomas R. Butler
"Toma9"
I have a Yamaha HTR-5750 receiver which I was using with a Radio Shack FM amplified antenna. I had tried various ways of improving my FM reception including the classic 300 ohm twin lead folded dipole antenna. The rabbit ear setup helped but still did not yield satisfactory results. I still had difficulties receiving some nearby FM stations that were considered moderate strength stations.
I installed the TERK FM-50 inside my home hiding it behind a curtain valance. I did use the amplifier mode and was able to receive all of the FM radio sources listed on the web at the "radio-locator" service, some as far away as 30 miles. I was able to receive all of the radio stations in stereo mode with no evidence of noise. Previously I was unable to receive some of the stations even in non-stereo mode and several of the stations had objectionable noise content in the stereo mode. The stations range from very strong to very weak. I was able to pull one station rated as very weak from 22 miles.
Given my experience, I would highly recommend the TERK FM-50. It was a very simple installation. Since the actual antenna is protected by an outside casing, I was able to use the assembly in contact with drapery material with no significant degradation in performance. I appreciated the technical performance of the antenna and my wife appreciated the fact that I was able to completely hide it.
44 of 44 found the following review helpful:
Terk FM ProJan 17, 2007
By Eric
"Eric"
This antenna works very well for weak FM reception. I find that for best performance you must move the antenna to its "sweet spot" to pinpoint the best location for optimal reception. All of the stations that used to be filled with static are now recieved without hiss or static. There is one weak FM station about 45 miles south of me that I wanted to recieve without static. This antenna fits the bill. Prior to using it the station had so much interference that my new Onkyo reciever (HT-R540) wouldn't even pick it up. Now the reception isn't quite perfect, but it's very good. I find the amplifier to not be so helpful in my location. This is fine as simply using it as a passive (i.e. non-amplified) antenna yields very good results.
As a side note: Remember that you'll have to procure your own antenna lead in cable. I got a gold plated twelve foot cable from the local dollar store. (To make sure you have a good, shielded lead in cable simply connect the cable to your reciever without the antenna. If your lead in cable is okay it won't aid in the reception of signals at all on its own. This is because if it is a proper shielded cable the signals won't penetrate the shielding around the actual antenna lead in.) When you connect the new antenna your reciever should now seemingly jump to life with signals jumping dramatically in signal strength and quality.
33 of 34 found the following review helpful:
Finally, an FM antenna that works for me!Jan 27, 2007
By Clinton
Radio reception in my apartment is terrible. I have purchased a few indoor antennas, even a different Terk model, but none of them helped very much. I had to move the antenna around to different areas for different stations, and my digital FM radio only received one digital channel.
This unit, however, works great. I get every station I want, and the digital FM works great. The only thing I would mention is that the antenna casing is bulky, so if you're concerned about asthetics you'll have to figure out where you can conceal it. Also, I didn't get any additional benefit from the amplifier, but the antenna worked so well that I didn't need it.
21 of 22 found the following review helpful:
 Amplifier Can DieApr 03, 2008
By Technology Guy
The first unit I received worked exactly the same with the internal high-gain amplifier turned on or off. Checked the connections, power supply, etc. but it appeared that the amplifier just wasn't working. I returned the unit to the vendor and received a new unit. This one showed a noticeable improvement in reception of weaker stations when the amplifier was switched on. One odd thing about the antenna was that it appeared to work much better (at least with my receiver) when using the supplied coax-to-twin-lead adapter instead of connecting directly to the coax.
After some time (> 1 year), I installed a new receiver and connected the antenna to it. I setup the radio station presets and then noticed I'd forgotten to connect the antenna amplifier power supply. When I plugged it in and turned on the amplifier, no difference at all. After testing and checking the connections, still no difference. The antenna does work but does NOT add any active amplification of weak signals so, essentially, it is now a $70 dipole antenna (which can be built or bought for under $10).
52 of 61 found the following review helpful:
To test an antenna properly ...Dec 18, 2008
By Kaiser Soze
In the interest of full disclosure, I have never used this antenna, and I am writing this because none of the other people who have written a review have bothered to properly test it against a standard folded dipole antenna. To do such a test properly, you would need to place both antennae in the exact same location and orientation, not at the same time of course. Terk makes a lot of antennae that include built-in amplifiers, and on the packaging they quote the antenna gain, not the gain of the antenna itself. This is wrong and misleading. Common sense should tell you that if an amplifier could make up for a poor signal coming from the antenna itself, you could turn any crummy antenna into an excellent antenna simply by adding amplification. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. What matters to the receiver is not the absolute strength of the signal, but rather the signal-to-noise ratio. The only way that it is possible for an amplifier located at the antenna to improve the result is if the amount of noise that is being picked up in the transmission line between the antenna and the receiver is greater than the amount of noised added to the signal within that same amplifier. When the transmission line is long, the signal will experience attenuation, and in this case it can make sense to boost the signal at the antenna, the effect of which will be to keep the absolute strength of the signal high relative to the level of noise picked up along the transmission line. Thus, if the amplifier is doing anything at all in a typical home setup, it is only compensating for a transmission line that does not do a good job of shielding the signal from noise. It is therefore no surprise that several people who have experimented with turning off the amplifier have reported that the amplifier does not seem to do anything. The common folded dipole that you buy at Radio Snack or elsewhere uses 300-ohm flat lead transmission wire, which is not particularly good at protecting the signal from noise. Coaxial wire is inordinately superior. People who are reporting good results with this antenna might well get equivalent results with a $5 folded dipole but using two 300-Ohm / 75-Ohm adapters, one located right at the antenna and the other at the receiver so that shielded coax can be used over the distance that separates the antenna from the receiver. In all likelihood, the true reason that this antenna is giving many people better results than a cheap folded dipole, has nothing to do with the built-in amplifier, but is due to the use of coaxial transmission line.
See all 54 customer reviews on Amazon.com
| | |
|
