Posts Tagged review

Best Indoor Antenna You Can Buy

Posted by Paul Oliver in Antennas on April 6, 2011

We all know that the most important thing to getting rid of cable is to find the best antenna to pull in the free HDTV signals. It can be confusing because there are so many different kinds of antennas out there.

There are indoor antennas, outdoor antennas (meant for your roof) and indoor/outdoor antennas (they can go on the roof or can fit in your house somewhere…like your attic). These categories are easy to understand.

And there are VHF antennas and UHF antennas, which refer to what channels you can pull in with the antenna. (VHF is for channels 2-13, UHF are for channels 14-51). Okay, they are getting a bit more complicated, but this isn’t too hard to follow.

And of course there are marketing tricks that label antennas “HDTV Antennas,” implying that older analog TV antennas are not capable of picking up HDTV signals…don’t fall for this trick. HDTV antennas and analog TV antennas are basically the same. There isn’t anything special about them really other than HDTV antennas are built to handle a smaller channel range than the classic antenna you had on your roof as a kid.

I currently recommend one antenna for indoor use, the http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007MXZB2/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0007MXZB2&linkCode=as2&tag=groc0-20&linkId=QG2GLJ6NC65RUN2D“>Terk HDTVa. Why? Let me list some of the reasons.

  1. I was able to install it quickly. Just take it out of the box, plug it in, and run the coax cable to my TiVo.
  2. I was able to pull all the Omaha stations clearly with a minimum of movement. Yes, certain stations came in better when I pointed it a different direction, but I found an orientation that was able to pull all stations very well.
  3. I had it in the basement. It pulled a great signal even though it was pointed through a brick wall in the basement of my house.
  4. I was able to pull in shows from Lincoln (40-45 miles away) from the basement. Through the brick wall.
  5. The price was great! I got it for under $40 from http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007MXZB2/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0007MXZB2&linkCode=as2&tag=groc0-20&linkId=QG2GLJ6NC65RUN2D“>Amazon.

If you live in the city, or your are under 30 miles away from the city with most of your TV stations, I’d look into the Terk HDTVa first before trying to install an antenna on your roof. I also recommend Amazon as your seller because they are great with returns and their prices are among the lowest around.

Technical Specifications

, , ,

No Comments