Submitted for your consideration
By far, the majority of the new antenna market today is directed at the Urban/Metropolitan locale. And the fastest growing sector of the market is in the off-air reception of HDTV broadcasts. The vast majority of these HDTV unit sales will be to these markets. The only current way to receive true HDTV resolution (1080i) is with an off-air antenna. Winegard¡¯s new Square Shooter HDTV antenna system is and will be the best-built, best performing urban/metropolitan HDTV antenna on the market when launched this fall.
Winegard¡¯s Square Shooter addresses two separate and distinctly different consumer markets. The indoor version has been developed for the downtown metropolitan ¡°GEN-X¡± consumer and the outdoor version for the urban suburbia consumer. Both antenna systems are quite simply a technological break through, because they utilize non-traditional electromagnetic antenna design for superior performance and, at the same time, provide that new contemporary ¡°look and feel¡± desired by the consumer. Both Laboratory and field testing have proven this superior performance, performance that combines new Russian and American military technology to make this antenna absolutely unique and promises to dwarf nearly all traditional antenna systems on the market today.
As to their looks, the attached pictures speak for themselves.
The reasons we contend that Winegard¡¯s Square-Shooter represents a true technological break-through are found in the following 3 very important facts:
- Normal RF propagation mass dictates that the half wave length diameter of an off-air antenna for channel 2 VHF at 54 megahertz is 103 inches. The fact that we have a 15 inch square antenna design that can receive and modulate analog and digital TV signal 60 miles away from the signal source as the crow flies using a 15 inch element is an engineering marvel.
- The antenna was specifically designed with a very high 20-to-1 front to back ratio that also accommodates the reception and modulation of both analog and digital TV reflected signals. This is critical for downtown urban locations where we might find, for example, viewers living on the wrong side of a 20th floor downtown high-rise with respect to the transmit tower of the TV station they want to receive. This antenna was specifically designed to allow pointing of the antenna at another building to capture the reflected signal and still be able to modulate digital TV. This fact was proven in our Chicago beta tests.
- This antenna is capable of receiving circular polarized signals with 3 to 6 db more gain than a traditional antenna. Chicago has only one VHF Digital channel, Channel 3. They transmit from the Sears Tower and are now testing circular polarization transmission. Channel 3 Chicago is doing this for two very important reasons:
- They want to cut their transmit costs and, although they had to invest $1 to $2 Million to get their present digital capability, its cheaper to transmit using circular polarity and over they long haul, they feel they¡¯ll recoup this investment and begin to realize the savings.
- Their engineers feel that they will get better penetration of their digital signal with circular polarity off-air.
Steve Zahn, a respected television reception professional in the Chicago area, conducted our Beta Field Test on the Square Shooter. He was provided sample Proto-type antennas and pre-amplifiers in December 2002 and asked to conduct objective performance and installation testing on numerous locations 2 to 70 miles away from transmit towers, throughout the Chicago area. His conclusions were as follows:
Beta Field Test Conclusion Paragraph (Steve Zahn¡¯s Report Feb 04, 2003)
The Square Shooter antenna will find a niche among television reception products, especially among new products for receiving digital television signals. The Square Shooter antenna represents an entirely new design format in consumer television antennas that is likely to receive considerable attention. The unique appearance of the Square Shooter will find acceptance within the new generation of architectural restrictions that have eliminated traditional television antenna installations from many residential settings.
The Square Shooter compares well with performance from physically larger UHF antennas in the Winegard product line as the Winegard HD-9065P. A year ago, tests were conducted proving the HD9065P, HD9085P and HD9095 outperformed all competitive consumer UHF antennas. Perhaps it is safe to claim the Square Shooter will outperform all but the largest competitive UHF antennas. This will give the Square Shooter a definite market edge over competitive products.
The Square Shooter is easy to install. Unlike traditional antenna designs that require the installer to fold out antenna elements, the Square Shooter is enclosed in a weather-protective enclosure and requires no assembly. This feature increases the success of the antenna installation among non-technical consumers. The Square Shooter mounting assembly uses familiar DBS satellite antenna hardware and consumers with simple hand tools will install the antenna in less than 30 minutes.
The professional television service technician will also find many applications for the Square Shooter antenna. For most service technicians working in architecturally sensitive neighborhoods, installing television antennas in attics is often unsuccessful with digital television reception and disappointing for HDTV customers. The Square Shooter offers a wall mount solution to digital television reception problems and in this configuration the Square Shooter will enjoy a level of acceptance found with DBS satellite antenna installations.
By far, the majority of the antenna market is serviced by discount retailers. Consumers, to date, who purchase consumer electronics from these retailers, have not been looking for high quality and performance from their antennas, but this will all change. Our Square Shooter will be a more expensive antenna and it should be. This will not be a problem, because, contrary to TV component prices, retail prices for antennas are steadily going up and HDTV antenna customers will be more than willing to pay for quality, performance and distinctive looks.
The challenge for Winegard was to design and produce a high quality antenna, with this outstanding demonstrable performance and contemporary styling and do it at a wholesale price point which would allow dealers to price the antenna at an attractive retail price point at the upper end of the scale allowing for a very attractive margin. Those consumers who are informed and interested in maximizing the performance of their HDTV component, to whom price will not be their first consideration, will shop at consumer electronics specialty stores and pick the Square ShooterTM.
Winegard¡¯s Square ShooterTM will quickly become recognized as the Cadillac in urban/metropolitan HDTV antenna systems. |
