Winegard Introduces the SharpShooter, The Best All-Band DTV/HDTV Digital/Analog Directional/Bi-Directional Indoor Antenna on the Market for Metropolitan/Suburban Consumers

Business Wire, Jan 5, 2005

BURLINGTON, Iowa -- The Next Innovation in Winegard's GET DTV/HDTV(TM) Antenna Series for Indoor Reception of DTV/HDTV Broadcasts

The right Off-Air DTV/HDTV Antenna is now a Necessity, not an Accessory. Getting the best Off-Air picture starts with the choice of the best antenna for today's reception challenges. The SharpShooter(TM) SS-3000 is Winegard's newest Off-Air Antenna adding to its series of innovative new digital Antenna Platforms. This is a continuation of Winegard's GET DTV/HDTV(TM) Series and will be introduced at CES 2005, along with the introduction of Winegard's new SquareShooter(TM) SS-2000, a more powerful amplified version of the outdoor SquareShooter(TM) SS-1000.

Bob Howell, Director, Distribution Systems/Off-Air Antenna Business Group at Winegard, said, "The single largest contributing factor to successful digital antenna installation and DTV/HDTV reception today is the ability of the metropolitan/suburban consumer to buy an antenna that deals with multi-path or reflected signal. This is a major issue and significant challenge for digital antenna manufacturers and installers, anticipated and addressed last year with the introduction of our SquareShooter(TM) SS-1000 outdoor High-Band VHF/UHF Digital/Analog/HDTV Antenna System, specifically designed for digital reception of reflected signals. The SS-1000 was selected as an Honoree in the 2004 Innovations Design and Engineering Showcase."

It is imperative that any new digital antenna platform design specifically deals with this multi-path issue. The SharpShooter(TM) does this by selectively looking at each multi-path signal one at a time and by design tends to reject all other multi-paths, allowing the customer or installer to properly select the cleanest digital signal possible and best digital data sources for the ATSC chip set to decode. It then delivers them in a format that the chip set in the receiver prefers and can resonate and process effectively, delivering the best DTV/HDTV picture possible, while rejecting other multi-path signals so critical for downtown urban locations.

The metropolitan/urban market is the largest segment of the HDTV market and was not being served well by existing digital antennas until the release of Winegard's GET DTV/HDTV(TM) Series, starting with the SquareShooter(TM). This new addition, the SharpShooter(TM), incorporates a specialized "E-Field" design, a significant new innovation by Dotcast(TM), combined with Winegard's "Scatter Plane" technology.

"Pre-amplifiers today typically deliver a noise figure of 4.0 dB or more. In contrast, the new technology found in the SharpShooter(TM) uses a truly unique non-traditional electromagnetic design for superior performance. This allowed Winegard to totally integrate our patent-pending Dotcast(TM) Ultra-Low Noise Amplifier design into Winegard's SharpShooter antenna platform. With a demonstrably high carrier to noise ratio of less than 1dB, our Ultra-Low Noise Amplifier design significantly improves the carrier-to-noise ratio," said Leo Hoarty, Dotcast's Chief Technical Officer. This new technology, together with Winegard's "Scatter-Plane" design, delivers an average beam-width of 65 degrees and a front-to-back ratio of 6.5dB, providing the SharpShooter(TM) its muscle to reject multi-path signals and to deliver a low-noise digital signal as no other antenna can, in today's market.

The unique reception characteristics of this 26.75" wide SharpShooter(TM) allow it to receive and resonate indoor analog and outstanding DTV signals up to 30 plus miles from the transmit source. This fact is unheard of in an antenna package of this size, making it a true engineering marvel. The SharpShooter's(TM) technical performance, esthetic design and installation options, absolutely make this new antenna more unique and better suited for the metropolitan/urban segment than any other antenna platform on the market today and will be available just in time to meet the proliferation of the HDTV industry and subsequent exploding HDTV consumer market.

Half-wave length propagation theorem for channel 2 at 54 mega-hertz is about 104 inches. The resonate characteristics of this "E-Field" antenna design breakthrough also provides for a much smaller antenna that resonates throughout the entire VHF/UHF band-pass channels 2 through 69 in a platform that is 26.75" inches or less in size. Specifically designed to receive and resonate DTV/HDTV transmissions from reflected broadcast signals, the SharpShooter(TM) is uniquely suited for urban/metropolitan locations where line-of-sight to the transmit source is blocked, allowing apartment/condominium dwellers to now receive digital broadcasts.

Howell went on to say, "There is a huge need in this market for an indoor antenna that successfully addresses these issues. Outperforming all, all-band indoor digital antenna systems, there is no other indoor digital antenna platform on the market today that can do what the SharpShooter(TM) can do. It solves problems no other indoor antenna can solve. If you want the best DTV/HDTV picture, you start by selecting the best antenna. As a true testament to the acceptance of this unique and innovative new antenna platform design, this is only the second time in Winegard's 50-year history that a product has been pre-sold before it was available, the SquareShooter(TM) being first. This is why I feel that Off-Air antennas can no longer be classified as an accessory."