If you have a good cheap easy digital over-the-air antenna please comment

[spncity]

For TV. Recommend a brand?

Maybe one of those square things you stick up in the window....

And where to purchase?

We have one purchased a few years ago and it gets some channels our attic antenna doesn't get - but it doesn't get some of the channels the attic antenna does get.

So I wondered if they have been improved in the past few years?

Thanks in advance.

 

[REWahoo]

Recommend a brand?

Maybe one of those square things you stick up in the window....

Consumer Reports just rated the Mohu ReLeaf tops out of a dozen or so indoor antennas they tested.

 

[Clone]

We put in a Clearstream 2Max at our winter place. It worked very well. We did put it on the roof. I think this just got a good review in Consumer Reports.

We picked it up on clearance at Lowes, which was really odd, because it was not on clearance at a different Lowes a few months later. It looks like they might carry the ClearStream Max-V now, which looks like the same thing but without the mounting pole.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

A couple of things. First there is no such thing as a digital TV antenna. The old TV antennas will pick up digital TV signals just the same . From my experience, putting an antenna of any kind near a window towards the TV transmitters will probably be just as good or almost as good as putting it in the attic. I have never had any luck with putting an antenna in the attic and getting any kind of good result from it.

Getting the antenna up in the air and outside is what is going to be the game changer and not everyone can do that. I bought some cheap indoor antenna with extending VHF rabbit ears and a UHF loop and it picks up the digital TV signals just fine.
The first step is finding if the TV signals can even reach your area. Punch in the the TV station in the FCC database and it should give a detailed TV contour map with estimated reception. Many people skip this step and I feel it's the first step and a very important one. It's very easy to do.

 

[triangle]

The Antenna Man on youtube gives helpful advice.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCySjheRcVJ21B3Jo3HcWMTQ/featured

 

[camfused]

Perhaps change your attic antenna to a better one, like the Channel Master CM-4228HD. That is what I have. Great antenna.

Also, I have two antennas in the attic, each pointing to a different direction, and a signal combiner. This solves the problem for me that PBS is one direction, and almost all the other stations are about 180 degrees the other direction.

 

[DallasGuy]

I've found that I can't necessarily go with the newer antennas with the best reviews because it depends so much on your own environment. I've had the best results by just trying out various antennas and keeping the one(s) that work best for me in my own environment. I've tried out those newer flat antennas and barely get anything at all. I have several "old fashioned" rabbit ear antennas from 10-20 years ago and they work the best for me. Also, amplified ones work better for me. I ended up putting my main amplified rabbit ear antenna in the attic and that gets me the best reception. Years ago, I'd buy 2-3 different antennas at Walmart, Target, etc. and try them all out and keep the best one and return the others.

 

[easysurfer]

Positioning probably more important than the actually antenna.

I've even had success with a tiny Amazon Basics antenna.

 

[Koogie]

Perhaps change your attic antenna to a better one, like the Channel Master CM-4228HD. That is what I have. Great antenna.

Also, I have two antennas in the attic, each pointing to a different direction, and a signal combiner. This solves the problem for me that PBS is one direction, and almost all the other stations are about 180 degrees the other direction.

I did exactly this as well. We are halfway in between Buffalo and Toronto and of course the signals are in different directions.

The house we're in has a tower mast antenna pointed at Toronto. I put a leaf style antenna I bought inside at the top of the wall over the tv (it is white, the wall is painted white) and put the signals together with a combiner.

Get about 9 channels from Toronto and 18 from Buffalo.

Been very impressed with the leaf style antennas but YMMV.

 

[Murph]

Consumer Reports just rated the Mohu ReLeaf tops out of a dozen or so indoor antennas they tested.

I've tried a few different types and they all work about the same. I settled on the Leaf because it had the right cable length for me.

 

[SumDay]

Consumer Reports just rated the Mohu ReLeaf tops out of a dozen or so indoor antennas they tested.

+1 on this. Works great. You do need to be familiar with 'updating' the channels, as they do on occasion change which causes you to lose a channel or two.

 

[Lakedog]

Have tried a few of the flat antennas (Mohu, 1byOne, Amazon, others) and haven't found much difference. I have never had to put one on the wall/window as I usually just lay them flat on the same surface with the TV. Most places I've lived have been 20+ miles from the closest broadcast sites so these cheap ($20 or so) flat antennas are fine if you are within a reasonable distance of a large city.

 

[jim584672]

Those small antennas will work for UHF, but you will need a long antenna, like rabbit ears, for VHF. In my area ABC, PBS and PIX are VHF.

 

[OldShooter]

There is no magic. Antennas do not know what kind of signals they are receiving. Bigger is better; the more energy the antenna collects and delivers to the television, the better. Directionality is a two edged-sword; higher directionality delivers more energy from stations in the favored direction and less from stations to the rear and sides.

The most important thing to understand is that at these radio frequencies communication is basically line of sight. Anything that wholly or partially blocks that line of sight will reduce or eliminate reception of that signal. A mast that lifts the antenna to the point where the line of sight is clear is the best. Once that is achieved, a taller mast will produce little improvement, and a fancier antenna will not matter much either unless the distance to the transmitter is long.

There is a thread here (https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/hdtv-indoor-antenna.125593/) that has a lot of information at the beginning but eventually deteriorated. Worth a look, though.

 

[JustCurious]

A couple of things. First there is no such thing as a digital TV antenna. The old TV antennas will pick up digital TV signals just the same.

This. I know this is hard for some to believe (I have argued with people about this before) but there is no such thing as a "digital" or "HD" antenna, that is all marketing hype. Again, yes, I know, some of you are thinking..."that can't be true"... it is true. You have been tricked by marketing to think that there is something special about an "HD" or "digital" antenna.

The advent of digital TV ushered in high-definition broadcasts that necessitated a new TV, but not a new antenna. As long as you can get a strong enough signal, you’ll be able to watch a digital station in whatever format it’s broadcast in. Even an antenna from 40 years ago will work.

So anytime you see an antenna advertised as “suitable for HD channels,” you know it’s meaningless marketing. It’s a bit like pitching a radio as “receives news and music stations.”

https://www.techhive.com/article/3315108/antenna-myths-busted.html

FICTION Special HDTV antennas are necessary to receive the free over the air HDTV/Digital signal.

FACT HDTV/Digital signal are and will broadcast on the same channel frequencies (VHF and UHF) that traditional analog television has been broadcasting on for years. See: Real vs. Virtual Channels >. There's no such thing as a HDTV antenna

HDTV Antenna Fact or Fiction

 

[W2R]

Do you know a ham radio enthusiast? I'm lucky because F loves ham radio, and has been a ham for I think 50 years by now. Believe me he knows ALL about antennas, and then some. That's one of his favorite ham radio interests.

So, when I dropped cable TV (about 5-10 years ago) he made me two indoor antennas for my two TV's. He made them out of wood and wire with a connector, and I paid him $6 for the materials. Talk about cut-rate! They both work beautifully, and fit behind my 58" and 60" TV's so you can't see them easily, and their homemade appearance doesn't bother me.

He had fun doing it because he got to try two slightly different designs and was curious to see which would work best; turns out they are both perfectly fine.

 

[Sunset]

We are lucky when I bought the house it had the old roof antenna on it.

It works wonders for free Over The Air (OTA) tv, in HD !!

 

[RunningBum]

Perhaps change your attic antenna to a better one, like the Channel Master CM-4228HD. That is what I have. Great antenna.

Also, I have two antennas in the attic, each pointing to a different direction, and a signal combiner. This solves the problem for me that PBS is one direction, and almost all the other stations are about 180 degrees the other direction.

I like the signal combiner idea. I've been kind of splitting the difference between two locations, I'm going to try to optimize each with a second antenna I already have.

 

[vince]

I purchased a ClearStream 2V TV Antenna from Amazon about 4 years ago and have been using it ever since. I installed it in the attic above the garage. Local news and some channels with commercials. Get about eight stations. Running coax is the hard part.

 

[nap470]

Lot's of great advice on this posting. Keys are bigger and higher are best, but not always feasible for most people in city or suburban locations. If you are fortunate to be relatively close to the OTA transmitters and even more fortunate to have most or all of them in the same direction with minimal interference, then an antenna like the Clearstream 2Max could be all you need. I installed that model at my mother's house on a farm in MN and she receives channels from up to 60 miles away. I was planning on installing it outdoors near the roof line of her house, but hung it on the wall inside her house just temporarily to try an initial scan for channels. It worked so well that she was happy with it and didn't want it placed outside. It hangs flat on the wall that faces most of her transmitters, and you really do not even notice it. Like a piece of art!

I also placed a mid-range Channel Master antenna in my own attic years ago and tied it into the existing in-wall coax cabling. The signal is sent to all rooms of the house and I receive 60+ channels (many are sub channels). I added a Channel Master signal booster to increase the signal strength. I'm about 30 miles west of the Chicago transmitters.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

I live in an apartment. I got one of those TV antennas from Costco for about $40 a few years ago, and it works fine. I usually get some 40-plus channels. The weather and atmospheric conditions will affect reception. (Having my balcony door open or closed, where the antenna is located, affects my reception too.) It is also important to try various positions when first installing. Raising my antenna two feet has affected reception. As had turning it sideways. (I also use a powered TV splitter and run a cable to my nearby bedroom TV, and it works fine for that too.)

Then update your channel scans periodically, as stations change. (I re-scan almost monthly.)

 

[foxfirev5]

Our lakehouse is over 50 miles from the nearest transmitter. Prior to this year we got 5 local channels. Recently a big house was built which blocked us out. Now it's two Comcast bills a month for us. Blow that dough!

 

[steelyman]

I've even had success with a tiny Amazon Basics antenna.

That’s what I use (an amplified 50 mile one). I got it in 2015 following a link someone posted right here on ER.org. It works well in my present location but not in my former (that home was lower altitude, leading me to think height of the home is a factor. I now live in one of the higher areas around here in the NC Triangle).

 

[Qs Laptop]

There is no magic. Antennas do not know what kind of signals they are receiving. Bigger is better; the more energy the antenna collects and delivers to the television, the better.

Well, this is false information. Antennas are designed to receive a particular frequency of wavelengths. Higher frequencies don't require as large antenna elements as lower frequencies. Bigger is not better; bigger CAN be better for the lower channel numbers since they have longer wavelengths. VHF channels need larger antenna elements; UHF channels respond to antenna elements that are shorter then VHF antennas.

Look at the picture of an antenna that Sunset posted. The longer rods near the back of the antenna array are for the VHF frequencies; the shorter rods are for receiving UHF channels.

Anyway, I've got one of the small ChannelMaster square antennas that you affix to the wall or window. I've found that it does a pretty good job but only if you experiment with placement. When put into the channel scan mode, my TV has a relative signal strength meter. I found that by moving the antenna just a few inches left/right or up/down can make all the difference in the world in signal strength reception. I can get 35 channels with it placed in the optimum position. However, placing it just 8"-12" to the left or right and I am reduced to 24 channels or so. Important thing with these square, wall antennas is to fiddle with the placement. Somewhat maddening is that I can get 5 of the 6 local original VHF channels but not all 6 no matter where I place the antenna.

If you are accustomed to HDTV from cable TV you will immediately notice an improvement in your HDTV picture when going to over-the-air antenna. Also, the sound is typically sent in dolby surround sound, whereas cable TV sometimes is only in stereo.

 

[OldShooter]

Well, this is false information. Antennas are designed to receive a particular frequency of wavelengths. Higher frequencies don't require as large antenna elements as lower frequencies. Bigger is not better; bigger CAN be better for the lower channel numbers since they have longer wavelengths. VHF channels need larger antenna elements; UHF channels respond to antenna elements that are shorter then VHF antennas. ...

Quite funny, actually. Antennas do not know what kind of signal they are receiving. FM, NBFM, AM, PSK, RTTY, HD Video, etc. all the same. Those "rods" are actually called antenna "elements" by antenna designers. Yes, the length of elements is related to frequency of the signals they are designed to receive and to their function in the antenna. If you look up "yagi" you will see some sample calculations for reflectors, directors, and driven elements. Bigger is definitely better. Antennas collect energy; properly designed large antennas will collect more energy than properly designed smaller antennas. This is why, for example, that the dishes used for radio astronomy are larger (like 100X or more) than the dishes used for consumer satellite television. It is also why my OCF HF wire antenna is 68 feet long instead of 6 feet long like some hams use for mobile radios. You can also look up "ham radio moonbounce" to see larger, more sensitive, VHF and UHF designs. https://www.google.com/search?q=ham...QGs0KHaW_DowQ_AUoAnoECBgQBA&biw=1600&bih=1030 Any questions?