HDTv Antenna LabsAll About HD Antennas
HDTv Antenna Labs
Winegard GS-2200 antenna reviews: 4
Winegard GS-2200 average rating: 4.3
| Excellent | 2 reviews | |||||||||
| Good | 1 reviews | |||||||||
| Average | 1 reviews | |||||||||
| Poor | 0 reviews | |||||||||
| Very Poor | 0 reviews | |||||||||
| Band: | VHF/UHF |
| Placement: | Outdoor |
| Amplifier: | Yes |
| Amplifier Gain: | 15 dB |
| Range: | 45 miles |
| Color area: | Green |
| Compare prices on Winegard GS-2200 | |
| Write a review | |
Lately we have been dealing with an increasing number of attempts to manipulate antennas ranking. Note: each person is allowed to post one and only one review for each antenna model. Exceptions can be made only under special circumstances when the reviewer feels that his earlier review must be corrected.
We have a sophisticated manipulation detection system in place and we will not tolerate any attempt to game the system and mislead consumers and our visitors. We reserve the right to delete any review that we feel is misleading or inappropriate and do that at our sole discretion. Thanks for understanding.
Also, from now on we require all reviews to be at least 100 words long. Short reviews, such as "a piece of junk" or "works as advertised" are not very helpful. Consider specifying more details. Elaborate on your location, the equipment you are using, reception quality of specific channels in your area. Check the word counter at the bottom when writing.
Winegard GS-2200 reviews to 4:
| Winegard GS-2200 Review #0 | ||
| Rating: 3 (average) | Nickname: Big Picture | Date: 2010-06-02 |
| Summary: Can\t handle weather problems | ||
| I am 18 miles WSW of downtown Chicago. All of the channels I\m trying to watch originate from either the Sears Tower or John Hancock Building and there are no taller buildings in the city or suburbs. My Winegard GS2200 is mast-mounted to my chimney on my rooftop. I used a compass to set the heading. On sunny, calm days my reception is excellent. But if there is ANY kind of weather, including rain, snow, or even high winds, my picture breaks up and I can\t watch TV. I\d have to say that the 20-40 mile range quoted for this antenna is exaggerated. Over the flat terrain in IL, I can\t even get consistent reception at 18 miles. I expect I\ll have to replace the Winegard GS2200 with something better if I want to have consistently good reception. | ||
| Winegard GS-2200 Review #1 | ||
| Rating: 5 (excellent) | Nickname: fred | Date: 2009-12-20 |
| Summary: Follow-up on GS-1000 with Wingman Accessory | ||
| This is a follow up of a review I did on the unamplified version of this antenna (with which I am using a standalone amplifier) I added the Wingman with remarkable results. Since the amplified and unamplified batwing antennas are identical. I thought reader\s of these reviews might also benefit from my findings. I put the Wingman accessory on my Batwing and got more than the \up to\ 100% improvement advertised. The Wingman also helped me for the VHF channel 13 wavelength [5.1 in my area] - I had a combined antenna with another GS-1000 to help out. But with the Wingman, I got the better results only after I removed the second antenna and just used one antenna. The combiner for the dual antennas reduces the signal at a critical point before it gets to the amplifier. I do not have a built-in amplifier. I do have a standalone amplifier that I move down the coax to inside the house. After I removed the other antenna and combiner, and put on the Wingman I moved the amplifier indoors with no reduction in signal. In fact, it actually improved slightly. Before the Wingman installed, I had serious trouble with three out of six network station groups. The others three could have used inprovements also. Afterwards, I am getting 100% or very near 100% power and quality signal in all my station groups, 14 channels in all. I did have to slightly readjust the position of the antenna afterward installing the Wingman. There are no wiring connections or moving parts, just scientifically spaced and sized metal bars, which deflect radio waves of the right amplitude to the batwing. This is a very mountainous area. Three of the stations are 40-50 miles away. One tower is 13 miles away in almost the opposite direction. So this is no small feat for such a small simple-looking antenna. I live in an apartment complex with only six feet of a \front garden.\ It is aesthetically acceptable to the landlord, and blends in nicely (on a six foot pole) with the other tenant\s satellite tripods. I get all the aforementioned stations with having to move the antenna at all. There are two GS-1000 models (I think the one I am using is the Sensar II.) I am using is the one that is 8 inches wide in the middle at the pole mount. I believe the Wingman will only fit this model, but can also be used on the built-in amplified version of it. My metal batwings are almost 5 inches wide, and has a middle body that is football shaped looking from the side. Not to be confuse with the newer model that has narrower batwing and is teardrop-shaped center from the side (I think that is the Sensar III.) | ||
| Winegard GS-2200 Review #2 | ||
| Rating: 5 (excellent) | Nickname: fred | Date: 2009-10-04 |
| Summary: Started with this and ended up with a pair of the non-amplified version | ||
| This is review is mostly a repeat of the review I did for the GS-1000 - not to be confused with the GS-1100 - which is basically the same design - exept teardrop-shaped, looking from the side - and slightly slimmer, (seeming to be more directional to one side than the other.) The reason I am doing this review for this GS-2200 is because I used it before I used the GS-1000 and had very much the same result, but I went with the GS-1000 and a more powerful external amplifier, because I have many TV and coverters for recording, but the GS-1000 and GS-2200 seemed to perform the same way for my situation, not withstanding the addition of more TVs. I am also doing this review because I thought the combining of two bidirectional antennas is something people with the GS-2200 could also benefit from, if they could make it work...I live in a moderate-income apartment complex in very mountainous country on the northwest side of town in ashland, oregon. The landlord is cool but does like aesthetics, and we only get a few feet of garden outside our door, so for that reason this worked perfectly on the side of the apartment facing the towers. It did not look much different from the satellite dishes on tripods, which were allowed. To build it, I used a square 2 feet x 2 feet, three-quarter inch piece of plywood for a base - with patio blocks to hold it steady - screwed a 1 inch pipe flange to the center of it, screwed a thread adapter to that, for an electrical conduit pipe as an antenna pole, about six feet high off the ground. I made the pole in two pieces, with a conduit set-screw coupling in the middle to more easy to rotate the antenna for fine-tune aiming it. We live about twenty miles from the area where the towers are, but they actually range from 8 to 45 miles away in that direction. There is one about 150 degree in the other direction about 10 miles. Back about a year ago, I first tried the GS-2200 it was pretty good, but I decided to get the unamplified GS-1000 model for reasons mentioned above, with a bigger amplifier. That worked good but by the time we had full digital, there was one station I had problems with. Every time I moved the antenna to get that one good (it was about 45 miles away, in VERY mountainous country) I would lose something else. So I got another GS-1000 antenna and hooked it up on the same pole, three feet below, at a slight directional angle - about 5 or 10 degrees - to the first antenna to get the one hard-to-get station. It worked well and also stabilized and strengthened the other channels. Some things I should note: 1. When combining two antennas they should be at least three feet from each other (just as all antenna should be three feet from large metal objects). 2. The length of coaxial from each antenna to the splitter/combiner should be equal. In this case about 26 inches, which happened to be about the same length of coax cable I made from the splitter/combiner to the outdoor amplifier. 3) I used a splitter/combiner which is made for combining AND splitting, and is stated as such, right on the unit. Not all splitters are created equal. I used a Channel Vision Part No. HS-2, 2-way splitter-combiner 5MHz-1GHz - All port DC passing. That means it allows the DC power to reach the antenna, which was not necessary in this case, since the splitter was on the input-signal side of the amplifier (but with two power antennas you would need that feature.) I adjusted the top antenna to the maximum power direction for most of the stations. Then I adjusted the second antenna, three feet down the pole, for the problem station. I used Quad sheild RG-6 cable on all these sections and on all the outdoor cables. For most of the rest of the system, I used plain RG-6. You can probably use two amplified antennas, but I don\t know if you would have to use a combiner with the two power PS-1503 Winegard power-signal splitters suppied with the antennas to get enough current for both. There might be enough current from one for both antennas. IOW, If you are using two power antenna (two GS-2200) you might be able to use one power-signal splitter and get enough current. If plan on using two GS-2200 power antennas, call Winegard customer support to see if one power supply-splitter would be enough power, or how would have to combine two power supplies for enough current. | ||
| Winegard GS-2200 Review #3 | ||
| Rating: 4 (good) | Nickname: anonymous | Date: 2009-06-30 |
| Summary: Decent reception from Chicago, Milwaukee and Rockford | ||
| I had the standard Sensar on an RV in my driveway at the start of the whole digital conversion and picked up quite a number of stations. So I thought I\d try the amplified GS-2200 Sensar III on the roof. With rotor and amplified splitter for multiple sets and the DTV Wingman from Winegard. After going to antenna web.com, I find that I can recieve all the stations in all of the markets specified. CBS-2, WBBM and ABC-7 WLS are probably the weakest. Signal strength on the meter is generally 2-4 bars. Best reception is out of Milwaukee. Not all HD LCD digital tvs are the same in their ability to scan and hold the stations from multiple directions areas. Weather and wind seem to have an effect as is proported with a dish. What it does for it\s compact size and profile is neat. | ||
Check other HDTV antenna reviews...