Description
What the Winegard FL5500A Is and Who It Suits
The Winegard FL5500A FlatWave Amped is a flat, amplified indoor television antenna. It is designed to be taped or mounted on a wall or window, connected to a television by coaxial cable, and powered by USB to run its built in amplifier. Winegard states it is made in the United States, lists it as multi directional, and gives dimensions of 12 by 0.6 by 13 inches with a dual color black and white finish so it can be turned to face whichever side suits the wall it is mounted on.
The listing records a first availability date of February 25, 2013 and 8,903 customer ratings averaging 4.0 stars at the time this data was captured. That is an unusually large feedback sample and a long production history, both of which say more about a product than any specification does.
The buyer is someone cutting the cord who wants local broadcast channels for free, in an area where those broadcasts are reachable. That last clause is the whole subject of the next section, and it matters more than every other specification on this page.
About the Mile Range Figure
This is the single most over claimed number in the antenna category, and it deserves to be dealt with plainly rather than repeated.
Winegard’s title and several of its bullets state a 60 mile range. A range figure like that describes a best case: unobstructed line of sight to the transmitter, no terrain in the way, no buildings, no trees, and the antenna mounted in a favorable position. Television signals at VHF and UHF frequencies travel essentially in straight lines and are blocked or weakened by hills, buildings, foliage, metal roofing, foil backed insulation and low emissivity window coatings. An indoor antenna is on the wrong side of the exterior wall to begin with.
What that means practically is that no antenna can promise you channels. The honest way to find out what your address can receive is to check a broadcast coverage lookup before buying: the Federal Communications Commission publishes a DTV reception map, and several broadcaster supported tools take a street address and return the stations, their real transmitter directions and their predicted signal strengths. That tells you which stations are plausible, which are marginal, and which direction to point a directional antenna. It takes two minutes and it is worth more than any mile figure printed on a box.
Note also that this listing gives the range two different ways. Four bullets and the title say 60 miles. A fifth bullet says “50 Mile Range.” The listing contradicts itself, which is a useful reminder that these figures are marketing rather than measurement.
Amplification, Bands and Standards
The Embedded Amplifier
Winegard’s Clear Circuit Technology places an ultra low noise preamplifier directly at the antenna elements rather than further down the cable, with a typical noise figure of 1.0 dB, which Winegard contrasts against 3 dB or more from other preamplifiers. This is the most substantive engineering claim on the page and it is a real one. Amplifier noise figure matters because an amplifier boosts noise along with signal, and amplifying at the antenna rather than after cable loss preserves more of the original signal to noise ratio.
What an amplifier cannot do is create a signal that is not arriving. Amplification helps with weak but present signals and with cable losses. It does not help, and can actively hurt, in areas with strong local transmitters, where an amplifier can overload the tuner front end.
Bands and ATSC 3.0
The antenna covers high VHF and UHF. That distinction matters: some markets still carry major network affiliates on low VHF channels, which a compact flat antenna handles poorly by physics rather than by design failure. The specification field lists NextGen TV compatibility, and the title states ATSC 3.0 ready. ATSC 3.0 is the newer broadcast standard now rolling out across the United States. An antenna is inherently standard agnostic, so this claim mostly means the frequency coverage suits current and planned allocations. Receiving ATSC 3.0 requires a compatible tuner in the television or a separate receiver, not a special antenna.
Buyers in fringe reception areas should consider an outdoor directional antenna instead, such as the Antennas Direct 91XG or the Winegard YA-7000C, both of which offer more gain and directivity than any indoor flat panel can.
Highlights
- Embedded ultra low noise amplifier with a typical 1.0 dB noise figure, amplifying at the elements.
- Dual band high VHF and UHF coverage.
- Multi directional design, so precise aiming is less critical than with a directional antenna.
- Very thin at 0.6 inches and light, mountable flat on a wall or window.
- Dual color black and white so either face can be shown.
- USB powered amplifier with an LED indicator, plus a 110 volt adapter included.
- Two 3M Command strips included for mounting without hardware.
- Listed as NextGen TV and ATSC 3.0 ready.
- Made in the United States, with a large customer feedback sample behind it.
Things To Consider
- The range figure is a best case and the listing states it two different ways, 60 miles in most places and 50 miles in one bullet. Check a broadcast coverage lookup for your address instead.
- The cable length is stated two different ways. The title says a 6 foot cable. The description and three bullets say an 18.5 foot mini coaxial cable attached to the antenna. That is a substantial discrepancy for anyone planning where to mount it.
- The weight is stated two different ways. The specification field says 5.4 ounces, the description says 0.6 pounds, which is 9.6 ounces. Both cannot be right.
- The impedance field reads 74.99 ohms. The real figure is the standard 75 ohms. This is a rounding artifact in the import rather than an unusual antenna.
- An amplifier can be a liability close to transmitters. In strong signal areas an amplified antenna may overload the tuner and perform worse than an unamplified one.
- Low VHF channels are a weak point for any compact flat antenna, and some markets still use them.
- Indoor placement is the largest variable. The same antenna can work well at one window and poorly at another five feet away. Expect to experiment.
- Run a channel scan after installation and repeat it periodically. Winegard says so directly, and station allocations do change.
- 4.0 stars across 8,903 ratings is a mid range score on a very large sample, which is consistent with a product whose results depend heavily on location.
Who Should Buy It and Who Should Skip It
Buy the FL5500A if you live within reliable coverage of your local transmitters, want to stop paying for channels you can receive free, and need something unobtrusive that mounts flat on a wall. The amplifier design is genuinely good engineering, the mounting hardware is included, and the multi directional pattern removes the need for careful aiming.
Skip it if a coverage lookup shows your address is marginal or shielded, in which case an outdoor or attic mounted directional antenna is the answer rather than a better indoor one. Skip it also if you live very close to the transmitters, where an unamplified antenna will likely perform better. For anyone whose real goal is watching specific shows rather than local broadcast, a streaming player such as the Roku 2 XD addresses a different problem entirely, and the TV antenna category lists the other options tracked here. The Televes Ellipse is worth comparing for an outdoor alternative.
