Winegard SS-3000 Amplified Indoor UHF/VHF Antenna

I live in downtown Toronto, in a high rise apartment building, on the 3rd floor, facing east and looking into large office building across the street. (Which means, I don't face or view the CN Tower, from which all Toronto TV stations broadcast.) I don't have a balcony and satellite dishes are prohibited in this building (I don't face the right way anyway.)

I have tried several antennas myself and experimented with other friends have purchased, this is by far the best I've tried. I can pick up at least 10 stations, all the Toronto ones and several Buffalo ones (although I definitely get a stronger signal from Buffalo at night, something to do with cloud cover at night I've been told.)

Oddly, this antenna seems to work best when it's NOT positioned right in front of my window. If I move it away from the window a couple of feet, the strength of the signal is usually better. I also need to rotate it 15 to 30 degrees to improve the reception of some signals. That's a bit awkward, but not a big deal for me. I plan to rearrange my furniture and put an uncluttered table near the window for the antenna. Also the antenna is bigger than I anticipated, about 27" long, 6" high and 6" deep. Unlike some small flat panel antennas, it doesn't exactly disappear into the background. But the excellent signal reception is well worth it for me.

It is easy to assemble. The flat gridded plastic panel is lightweight but seems to be fairly strong. (I've accidentally dropped it with no damage.)

Finally, some reviews here complain about Import and Duty Fees from Amazon. I suspect that these people actually purchased their antenna from [...] (from the US) before [...] started selling electronic products in Canada. I had no additional charges or fees.

***Note: this review is probably most helpful to those who are NOT in an optimal location to receive over-the-air broadcasts, due to angles or obstructions.***

I live on the 5th floor in North York (northern part of Toronto) and my place does not allow outdoor antennas. Also, every OTA signal is coming from the south (downtown Toronto and Buffalo) but this apartment faces the opposite direction. Not just that, but there is also a lot of "stuff" to cause interference in this place... so with any indoor antenna, I did not expect miracles. I purchased a USB TV Tuner and tested 4 antennas. Here are my findings:

1. Mini omni-directional antenna that came with my TV Tuner

This thing was so small that it is more like a gumball machine accessory than anything else. It's basically included so that the TV Tuner is considered "complete out-of-the-box". If placed just right, I picked up 2 channels perfectly. I'm sure if you live really close to the broadcast (like downtown Toronto), it could do an effective job.... but with poor range and no amplification, it's not great.

= 2.5 / 5

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2. RCA ANT1450B Multi-Directional Digital Flat Amplified Home Theater Antenna

I borrowed this from a friend, and it was my first test with a high-rated antenna. Despite being multi-directional, I am dealing with some harsh angles for the signal to pull from, which makes anything and everything very difficult for this antenna. It does great if you have a relatively clean line-of-sight downtown, as my friend who owns it does and gets close to 30 channels. I got about 5 or 6 channels and it was extremely fussy about where I placed it, requiring a lot of fidgeting and adjusting to pick up those channels consistently. Some channels only worked with the unit flat on its back, and others only worked with it propped up at an angle. Definitely not ideal in this situation.

= 3 / 5

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3. Nexxtech 150-1880 Amplified Antenna

I borrowed this from another friend, and it worked relatively well. However, it still required being angled very delicately in one position. It was very directional, and if I repositioned it to get one choppy channel to come in cleanly, I would lose a different channel. Like the RCA unit, it works best with a direct line of sight, or at least something close. If you have that, this thing also does a solid job.

= 3 / 5

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4. Winegard SS-3000 Amplified Indoor UHF/VHF Antenna

I am impressed. While I get around the same number of channels that I got with the RCA and Nexxtech units, I don't have to adjust its placement to pick up those feeds. As other reviewers have stated around the web, the wide reflector on this antenna makes it very forgiving of placement and angle -- what Winegard calls "Scatter Plane Technology". I can't stress enough that I live in a spot that doesn't do well with OTA, but at least now I have a "set it and forget it" atmosphere. Overall, I think this is a great unit. It does what I need it to do, and it should work for you even if your line-of-sight is WAY off. I don't get the 30+ channels like others, but the SS-3000 makes the best out of a bad situation. Also, given how strong it picks up my feeds in my cursed location, I am sure this unit does an extraordinary job if your placement is more optimal. If I move to a better place someday, I feel confident that I have an antenna that does a very respectable job in a variety of situations.

The unit itself was relatively easy to assemble. It doesn't feel like it would break if dropped, but I still wouldn't suggest doing so. I'm not going to comment on the width like others -- the dimensions are in the description, so just make sure you have the space it needs.

= 4.5 / 5

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I'd also like to note that the other antennas mentioned above are by no means terrible. The scores given are determined on how they performed in my given scenario. If you are located somewhere where OTA signals are easier to grab, I'm sure they'll do great by you. However, if you're in an unfortunate spot like me, Winegard's wide-winged solution has its advantages.

Here's hoping my next home will allow a fancy outdoor antenna rig. If it doesn't, no worries: the SS-3000 is a winner.

My niece recently moved to Ottawa to go to college and her old rabbit ears were not picking up most of the local Ottawa stations. I purchased the Winegard SS-3000 for her and she gets all 14 of the local Ottawa channels, including the difficult to receive Global on channel 6. She is on the third floor of an apartment building with other 10-12 story apartment buildings around her resulting in lots of reflected signals from he Camp Fortune and Herbert's Corners towers and the Winegard is doing a great job of picking up those signals.

I also tested it from outside the city with very poor results but then I am also 50km away from the Camp fortune tower so not a great surprise that it didn't work that well from here but I was very pleasantly surprised how well it works in the city.