Relying on the overall expertise of this group.
Just got a new tv for an uncle that does not do cable or internet. Only over the air broadcast. And so far, we got the simple rca antenna.
Are the flat ones like this any good? https://m.kmart.com/as-seen-on-tv-cleartv-indoor-digital-hdtv/p-00825679000P
we are only going to get one from Kmart, Walmart, or Home Depot as they are the close by stores.
Help would be appreciated.
How far out of town does he live? We're about 25 miles from most Indy stations. We use one of these for the TV in the bedroom and one with extendable "Ears" that is amplified for the living room. Both work well. My folks still use their aerial from the old days hooked to a newer HD amplifier. IT's a little ghetto but it works well. They pick up stations from Indy and Terre Haute.
My parents still have their outdoor antenna from the '90s on a pole outside. Looks something like this one.
Works pretty good, I don't know if there's more channels they'd be getting with something else, but they get quite a few.
I've built a couple DIY antennas with wire coat hangers, there's several how-tos on the internet. This double antenna was the first one I made, when we lived in the Columbus, OH 'burbs. I've since made a quad version that's in our attic. That double worked better than current quad does, but there's a lot more broadcast stations, that we were closer to, out of the Columbus area, than there are out of Little Rock.
I just hooked up a Mohu Chroma indoor amplified antenna (about $50 after their discount), and it is sort of ok. I am 25 miles North-Northeast of Cincinnati, and get about 1/2 of the stations there. But, I get all of the Dayton stations even though I am farther away. Must be terrain sensitive.
I’m about 20 miles from the transmitters for most Cleveland stations, and i have a $19 antenna from amazon on a pipe clamped to the chimney. We’re also surrounded by huge trees, and most everything is fine except in really crappy weather. It was more an experiment than actually caring, but i’ll probably get a bigger one before football season.
With antennas, Bigger is Better. Get the biggest one sold at whatever store you pick. Amplified is probably better too, but not as "beterer" as "bigger." Bigger and Amplified would be betterer, especially amplified up at the antenna. The longer your coax run, the less signal you'll get.
Old school big-ass antenna.
I'm a firm believer in bigger-is-better, as well. I have a big ole Channel Master on my roof, and from my location I can get locals from either Detroit or Lansing pretty well.
Wirecutter generally steers me well, and they say that this is the best indoor one. And it appears they have it at Wally World, so that helps.
bobzilla said:How far out of town does he live? We're about 25 miles from most Indy stations. We use one of these for the TV in the bedroom and one with extendable "Ears" that is amplified for the living room. Both work well. My folks still use their aerial from the old days hooked to a newer HD amplifier. IT's a little ghetto but it works well. They pick up stations from Indy and Terre Haute.
Thanks, all, for the external suggestions. Sadly, those are not going to happen, as well. This is a super tight person, so it has to look like a gift, so Bob’s above suggestion is what we will go with.
He’s in a city, but the broadcasts are all over the island. So going with a booster or the flat antenna are our best options.
Edit, and Adrian as well....
I found that an indoor antenna worked okay, but getting it into the attic got me more channels. If you're having trouble getting channels, move it around. Higher is betterer.
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
Never thought of putting it in the attic
currently contemplating putting one in my attic as well. Good info.
This site lets you enter a ZIP code and look up both which way to point your antenna and how far away your local TV transmitters are.
https://antennaweb.org/Address
For me, the stations were often in the 20-30 mile range. A flat antenna didn't work too well - I now have a log-bar type antenna like the one in bigdaddylee's first post mounted in the attic, and it works a lot better.
Simple answer - a cheap DIY Gray-Hoverman antenna or folded dipole antenna is better than anything you can buy. LINK
I've got a GH in my attic that I built in 15 min from scraps and it's crystal clear on probably 25-30 channels.
Bigger is better. Higher is better (honestly height is way more important than size no matter what she tells you.). Amplified is better, but only if it's big and high enough.
I've used everything from paperclips, to CB antennas, to fancy amplified "HDTV Antennas". Sometimes it just comes down to putting it in the attic or on a mast.
MadScientistMatt said:This site lets you enter a ZIP code and look up both which way to point your antenna and how far away your local TV transmitters are.
https://antennaweb.org/Address
For me, the stations were often in the 20-30 mile range. A flat antenna didn't work too well - I now have a log-bar type antenna like the one in bigdaddylee's first post mounted in the attic, and it works a lot better.
That helps, as we do get the 6 channels of the 10, just not great. Got a different antenna which should hang on the wall nicely.
We have a Mohu Leaf 50 in the attic. It works pretty well. We lost a few channels we we replaced the roof with titanium underlayment. Now it will pixelate when a plane flies over (we are 5 miles from the Asheville Airport). I plan on getting something I can place outside.
AntennaWeb is a great website to get some information about what might work for you.
Just as a note, I have the "budget" pick from that wirecutters article linked above (the black square one) that's amplfied. I live in the north east edge of CT, and I can get 28 channels with it on my first floor. My office mate borrowed it and took it up to his attic and got something like 45. So I think it has more to do with your location than the particular antenna :) But for $25, I'm happy enough with it for the 3 times a year we watch broadcast TV.
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