| 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. |
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