Got rid of cable and looking for INDOOR antenna. Neighbor got one from Best Buy, about $50, looks like fishbones? gets great reception in her window.
I went on-line & quickly overwhelmed by choices & not knowing what's important,
Desirable: ?
Multi-directional. Important in flat area with good reception?
VHF +and+ UHF. ? Some stations still broadcast VHF ?
Price: Varies widely. Don't want to penny-pinch but also not be sucker for fancy equipt for gaming, etc.
Digital: Only way to go?
Your recommendations welcome, keeping in mind this is flat area, So Calif coastal
HB
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T
Tony Hwang
Hi, WHF? You mean VHF, right? There are many you tube how to's home brewing antenna. It all depends what channels you watch and distance to the TV station tower. Those indoor ones contain broad band low noise amplifier if it is plug in variety. I assembled a small Log periodic antenna using 1x2 wood piece and handful of Al rods used for welding. Designed to receive high VHF band signal from about 100 miles away. This antenna is hung on the rafter in the attic upstairs. Works just fine. Digital antenna is marketing ploy. Antenna does not know it is receiving digital or analog TV signal.
H
hrhofmann
Tony said it perfectly.
G
gregz
Maybe
Some do, but on upper VHF.
No difference.
Ask neighbor.
Greg
M
micky
It depends in which direction or directions the stations you could receive are located. If all in the same direction, get uni-directonal, although I'm pretty sure if there's a strong signal from a station not in that direction, the uni- will still pick it up. . If not, you can add a piece of wire or another antenna through an antenna splitter, and use both at the same time.
If various directions, get omni-directional.
Look at antennaweb.org and tvfool.com.
Are you watching tv now without cable? What are you using? I live 10 miles from Television Hill in Baltimore and with a VCR and quality digital converter box, I get all the Baltimore stations with just an 8 foot or so piece of stranded wire, no shielding of course, lying on the floor of my second floor bedroom. I even get one DC station, 35 or 45 miles away. And I live in a valley. It's a valley only 20 or 30 feet deep, but still. :-)
It has a lot to do with the tuner in the tv
Means nothing.
I would check out solidsignal.com .
For one thing, they are the only place I've noticed-------------------- that sells Over the air recorders for digital signals. That is, those that aren't designed for cable and satellite.
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By zip code seems to need a lot more data, at least around me, but the rest of the page is good.
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Also, for some reason, I think their phone reps know what they are talking about, although maybe now they're pushing email, above, instead of talking on the phone. Or maybe they're pushing both.
M
micky
Don't your friends at the CERN collider know more about all this than we do?
N
NotMe
Be aware that some homes (typically built in the past 10 years or so) may have foil backed insulation/sheetrock in the walls that can play hell with reception even in strong signal areas.
M
micky
I had never even thought about that. Thanks for mentioning it. So if the house is 35 years old, not much chance of foil????
Years ago. I called up one of the antenna companies (the one that makes small, external radio antennas) and asked about aluminum siding. Bad, he told me.
G
gregz
That stuff I've seen but not in building supplies around here. Pretty good vapor barrier.
Isn't stucco made with a metal sheath.
Greg
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