A digital TV antenna allows you to watch local TV stations for free, all without paying a dime to a cable provider.Follow along as we run you through not only which antenna to buy and the differences between them, but also which local channels you can receive based on where you live, and how strong of a signal you can get in the first place.Once it loads, youll see what looks like a round diagram with various lines inside, as well as a list of channels off to the right, highlighted in different colors.
![]() The lines you see are in various lengths, and each line represents a channel. The longer a line is and the closer it is to the center of the bullseye, the better the signal is for that channel based on your location. As you can see from my diagram above, most of the broadcast signals are coming from the northeast, which means I should ideally place my antenna in the northeast corner of my house so that I can get the best signal possible. More on antenna selection in a moment.). ![]() Channels in green are channels that you could get with a basic TV antenna, while channels highlighted in yellow and red will need a more powerful antenna and strategic placement. If broadcast signals are relatively easy to come by in your area, then youre probably fine getting an indoor antenna. For that, youll need an outdoor antenna, built to take the grunt that mother nature provides, and reach much farther. Outdoor antennas are almost always more reliable, though they take a bit more work to set up. As you can guess, directional antennas grab a signal from a single direction, while multi-directional antennas can fetch signals coming from any direction. Multi-directional antennas can also suffer from noise and interference coming from all directions, whereas a directional antenna can block all that out. If theyre coming from different parts of town, a directional antenna wont work well for you. If theyre mostly UHF, then youll want to be sure to buy an antenna that can grab UHF signals. Most antennas can grab both VHF and UHF channels anyway, but its good to check before you buy, just in case. The longer the cable is, the weaker the signal gets by the time it reaches your television, so using a pre-amp (like this one ) and installing it near the antenna inline with the cable will make sure that you dont lose any signal strength. Many outdoor antennas already do, since they know youll likely need a long run of cable to make it to your television. If you just need a cheap, basic antenna to place in a window and be done with it, thats a good option. It has a common flat design to it that many antenna makers use, so feel free to go with another company if the price is betterThe Mohu Leaf (40) is also very popular (I have one and it works great), and The Wirecutter recommends the ClearStream Eclipse (40, amplified version for 60). ![]() Weve also used the 60-mile ClearStream 2 (90) in the past with great results, though its a little big to be considered indoor (even though its labeled as such). Still, on an apartment balcony, we found it got all the channels in that direction with great clarity. Theres no need to point it in any specific direction, so you have a lot more options as far as where you could mount it on the outside of your house, which also helps since you need to run power to it.
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