As with attic antennas, follow the directions and take proper precautions when installing an outdoor antenna. The best way to find the best digital TV antenna for your home is to visit AntennaWeb. AntennaWeb offers choices from several companies for each search, so be sure to comparison shop those options to get the best deal for your wallet. Another way to find out if an antenna might work for you is by asking your neighbors. This tactic may seem old-fashioned, but the signals picked up by an antenna vary a lot depending on location.
Your neighbors might have already gone through trial and error to find a TV antenna they love. How much an antenna costs depends on the type of antenna you need to pick up the channels you want. Antenna Selector. Broadcast signals are superior to cable and satellite. Unlock new local channels. All the major networks transmit signals free over-the-air. There are channels, and then there are sub-channels.
Antennas are a great compliment to any cable or satellite subscription. Find the broadcast towers before you choose an antenna. Hills, trees, and buildings bend, deflect, and weaken signals.
See here at Antenna Point The knowledge of broadcast tower locations in your area. Point your antenna toward them and bask in the glory of OTA, free television. There is no magic antenna. Your first step is figuring out which channels are available where you live and of those, which ones you want to watch.
To do this, head over to TV Fool. The strongest signals are at the top and weakest at the bottom. Keep this page open in a browser tab. Your next step is to figure out what stations you want to watch. Over the next few years around 1, TV stations across the U. Phase one began in September and phase 10, the final step, is scheduled to end in July The website Rabbit Ears has a long list of all the stations in the U.
Find the stations you want to receive in that database the drop down list of TV markets is the easiest way and note the new channels too. In almost all cases, the answer is yes, you can put up an antenna. It applies to both homeowners and renters, and it overrides the power of home-owners associations HOAs to block antenna deployments. The FCC website has full details. TV Fool ranks stations in order of predicted signal power, with the easiest to receive at the top.
The green channels can probably be received with a simple indoor antenna, yellow ones will probably require a larger antenna in an attic space or on the roof, and the red ones will require a good roof-mounted antenna. You will always get better results with an outdoor antenna.
Some look different but the principle is the same: Install them in a favorable location. Indoor antennas are typically fine for all the strong local channels, but if you want channels that are weaker or further away, you might need to go larger and put an antenna in your attic space or on your roof. There are several excellent options including our current top pick for attic installation, the Winegard Elite , and for a roof-mount, the Antennas Direct DB8e.
In addition we added popular channels CBS 2. While the results will vary depending on where you live and how far you are from TV towers, we found that the best-performing models received more of the most popular channels as well as local channels and additional radio broadcasts and Spanish-language stations.
Most of the TV antennas are based on the same rectangular design, but there was one important consideration: the cable. Did the antenna have a long, high-performance coaxial cable or, even better, a detachable one? You'll be sticking one of these in your window, which could be a long way from your TV, so longer is better. It's worth noting that some of these antennas -- the 1byOne and the Channel Master Smartenna Plus -- include gain-boosting amplifiers. While the 1byOne will also work without the amp attached, the Channel Master won't.
Based on our experiences in a number of locations, however, amplifiers offer a wildly unpredictable signal strength benefit. If you can't get TV reception with an indoor antenna, a gain amp may not actually help you, and in other cases, it could make your reception worse by overloading channels that already have a strong signal. Several antennas in our list include a powered amplifier, but use thoughtfully, as these may actually make a strong signal worse.
Unlike when we reviewed indoor antennas in , most contemporary antennas include some form of adhesive to attach them to your wall or window. If for some reason they lack this option you could try packing tape or poster putty instead. When you install it, you will definitely need to experiment with the placement. A wall may actually be better than a window, depending on the orientation of your living area. Also, if possible keep the antenna away from magnetic metals such as security bars or the like since they can interfere with your signal strength.
If you buy a model with a short, captive lead like the 1byOne, be aware that you may need to buy a male-female extension lead, and more coaxial cable , to get it to reach your equipment.
Finally, if you live in a poor coverage area, with weak signals, an indoor antenna may not be for you. We tried using the antennas at a location in the Hudson Valley and none of them worked at all, even the signal-boosting Smartenna.
That's why it's best to test the signal strength waters with a cheap antenna first, instead of spending a hundred bucks on something that might not work in your location due to a lack of a broadcast tower.
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