# When did Radio Shack stop selling outdoor antennas?



## gbranch

I currently have a vintage 1995 RS VU-190 for OTA. The UHF reception isn't too good, so, since all of my local DT stations are UHF, I was looking at trying out a RS U-120 yagi to try to get some of my problem channels. The Radio Shack website no longer offers any directional outdoor antennas. They only seem to now carry the same Terk crap that you can get at Best Buy.

I liked buying antennas at Radio Shack. They weren't the best, but they were inexpensive and you could pick one up at the store without having to wait for it to be shipped.

I had a U-120 that I sold in a garage sale about a 18 months ago. Now, I wish I had that sucker back.


----------



## Mike500

Antennacraft, the company that made Radio Shack antennas was a subsity called Antennacraft Tandy Distribution Products.

I believe that they have been purchased by Winegard and has been relocated to Burlington, Iowa.

Terk has an agreement with Winegard to manufacture a lot of the outdoor OTA antennas.

That is why you are seeing Terk antennas in Radio Shacks. Radio Shack has also started to replace its line of satellite components with those made by Terk. I've seen DirecTV dual lnb's in Radio Shack stores.

Check out www.antennacraft.net


----------



## MikeSoltis

A while ago (2003 or so) I got me a Winegard HD-9095 from Stark Electronics

That, along with a Channel Master amp (4228?) did amazing things for my reception...


----------



## Jeff McClellan

One of the best uhf antennas for roof mounted was the 15-2160 yagi. It was small and around 25 bucks. You can still find them if you look hard enough.


----------



## boylehome

Get a Winegard or Channel master antenna. They are superior to rat shack' and are much more tolerant to the elements.


----------



## gbranch

Jeff McClellan said:


> One of the best uhf antennas for roof mounted was the 15-2160 yagi. It was small and around 25 bucks. You can still find them if you look hard enough.


I actually have a 15-2160, aka U-75, that I have connected to my police scanner and use for the 800 MHz band. I have it mounted sideways (elements pointing up-down) to receive the vertically polarized signals.

I haven't tried it in place of the VU-190 for OTA reception, but the yagi portion of both antennas seem comparable. The VU-190 is very good for VHF, but the UHF reception is rather poor. Sounds like I may have a new weekend project coming up


----------



## Michael P

I wonder if the Antennacraft CY-1470 is the same antenna as the Radio Shack 15-2160?
They look the smae.
http://www.antennacraft.net/CY1470.htm

I have an old rusted 15-2160 that I'd like to replace, however finding a new on at RS is tough. They have been discontinued but may still be available at a few locations.


----------



## dodge

Radio Shack still sells their ota antennas. They are just not on the website for some reason. I was at a Radio Shack in Aurora Illinois and they still have 10 in stock. The manager told me they sell about 5-7 a week for the HDTV and the Rs VU-190 sells for $99.99.


----------



## Mike500

dodge said:


> Radio Shack still sells their ota antennas. They are just not on the website for some reason. I was at a Radio Shack in Aurora Illinois and they still have 10 in stock. The manager told me they sell about 5-7 a week for the HDTV and the Rs VU-190 sells for $99.99.


That has to be *NEW OLD STOCK* at an associate store.

There as still a few of those Radio Shack associate stores left. They stopped franchising them about 2 years, ago. They were from Radio Shack's early days as Tandy Corporation.


----------



## dodge

This radio shack is a Corporate owned store. I asked the guy at the store about antenna's not being on the website, he said they became too expensive to ship that is why they are no longer availible on the web. If you go into any coroporate owned store they still carry and sell outdoor antenna's. The vu190 is still availible and have tons in stock at the warehouse.


----------



## kc1ih

Being that there's no catalog anymore, they ought to list those items on the website as "in store only", but still have them listed. I've noticed that some other store websites do just that.


----------



## openhouse

http://www.radioshack.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2032205&cp=2032057.2032187.2032189


----------



## killswitchengage

I just bought a channelmaster stealthtenna from my local LOWES. They had 3 or 4 different types of outdoor OTA antennas. Pretty decent selection of Hardware too. You should check it out.


----------



## Jim5506

killswitchengage said:


> I just bought a channelmaster stealthtenna from my local LOWES. They had 3 or 4 different types of outdoor OTA antennas. Pretty decent selection of Hardware too. You should check it out.


You could have gotten a better CM antenna for less money, but it is not as pretty.


----------



## BornToFish

Your better off with separate vhf/uhf antennas, than a VU-190. Go with a 'CM' 4228 for UHF, and a antennacraft vhf band(HiorLo) cut antenna, and a 'CM' 7777 preamp.


----------



## Jeff McClellan

4221 is still the best bang for the buck by Channel Master.


----------

