I have tried several antennas included the Clearstream 2Max as referenced above. The Fox, ABC and CBS towers are from 30 to 56 miles from me. I am in the middle of a small town and have an old tower out back that I have mounted the antennas on. I can say that I have gotten the best results from the RCA Outdoor Yagi style antenna listed below. I have a channel master medium gain pre-amp on it. It works great. As you can see on Amazon it has over 11,000 reviews. When I bought it it was only $31 and the price is now $66 but I did see it at Menards for $40 awhile back. I definitely recommend you consider this one.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0024R4B5C/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
this is the most basic antenna that will perform well from low vhf to uhf spectrum...
https://www.amazon.com/RCA-ANT3036WZ-Outdoor-Element-113/dp/B0027VST0I
its because the dipoles are at specific lengths that pickup all of the frequencies ... the longer the dipole the lower the channel it can pick up... UHF over 14 is approximately 8 inches and you can see that the channel master and antenna I pointed out have v shaped dipoles that are about 8 inches
The medium sized antennas like this one
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0024R4B5C
the first 3 elements are known as collectors.. they guide signal into the first dipole which is your UHF Dipole... then you have dipoles behind that which pick up VHF down to channel 7..
the lower you go the longer the minimum dipole length needs to be.. channel 2 is the longest
But if you have really high signals there are people that live in the city or just a couple miles from towers... they actually bend a paperclip and stick it in their Coax port and can pickup everything... if you had like 65nmdb and a house that wasn't blocking signal .. bricks, aluminum siding.. heat reflective moisture barriers can block signal.. even my refrigerator was blocking signal when i tested in my house before putting in my attic.
so you can get all get all the channels on a yagi antenna its just that they are 9 feet long and 9 feet wide and no one wants to deal with them
One thing that I have noticed is A.) Stillwater seems to be in a valley when it comes to TV singles, and B.) To get a strong OTA signal you need an outdoor antenna placed pretty high above everything else. If you can do directional that helps as well.
Don't forget that unless your tv has a built in digital tuner, you will need a digital converter as well. OTA signals are now all digital. You may also look at a signal amplifier but I have had mixed results with those.
When I first moved to Stillwater, I too thought man, I am roughly ~60 miles from OKC and Tulsa, I should be able to pick up both, but low and behold the best I was able to do is get OKC stations.
Something like this may work.
Side note: there is nothing different between and HD and a non-HD antennas, they just charge more for the "HD"
I get about 80 channels in Hermitage through an RCA Yagi antenna ($40) mounted on my back porch along the roof line. Of course, a lot of those channels are garbage: religious channels, shopping channels, repeats of other channels.
But you do get all of the network channels, plus lots of other channels are being added all the time. My current favorite is Defy, which shows old History channel reruns (Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, American Pickers).
If you're having trouble picking up channels, try an indoor/outdoor antenna in your attic or on your roof. If you mount it outdoors, be sure to properly ground it and install a lightning arrester on the coax line. (You can ground it to your electric meter like the cable companies do).
I have a small-ish yagi antenna in my attic pointing a few degrees east of south. I live near Franklin & Eastern and I get all the major channels with zero issues. I do have the benefit of not having any big buildings or much of anything in the way.
Luckily most of the station's towers are all located in the same area. I even pick up WZZM which is located the complete oposite side my antenna is pointed.
I'd also suggest to check out a website like tvfool.com and it will help you with where to point your antenna and which stations you can expect to get.
Thanks. How can you tell if an antenna is good or vhf? I assume the thin paper antennas are no good for vhf.
Also my Walmart doesn't have any rabbit ear antennna in stock so will have to order online. Do you think the rabbit ear aantennna will be able to pick up the non vhf channels I currently get?
Also what do you think about this one?
https://www.amazon.com/RCA-ANT111Z-Durable-Antenna-Rabbit/dp/B000HKGK8Y
Or should.i just get this big dog https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0024R4B5C/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8
If by RCA Yagi you mean this antenna (http://www.amazon.com/RCA-Compact-Outdoor-Yagi-Antenna/dp/B0024R4B5C) it is most definitely NOT crap. In fact, I just used one to replace an Antennas Direct DB4e. It's got decent VHF-Hi gain, which the DB4e did not, and for my purposes the UHF gain is acceptable.
BTW, it's a log-periodic antenna, not a Yagi, so it has better performance than you'd think based on its size.
KCTS' tower is in Capitol Hill, and anything north of 526 has a very poor line-of-sight to downtown Seattle - a bit after the 20 mile marker in the image below.
https://i.imgur.com/IfL24gq.png
You might be able to pick something up if you stick a directional yagi outside on a pole as high as you can get it.
This is the one we have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0024R4B5C
You shouldn't be having trouble getting local stations towards Indy. If you use an amplifier below 20 miles you will probably overpower things. My brother-in-law has problems with PBS in Indy, so that MIGHT be a problem station for the Recast. But using the shortest amount of cabling possible, run a single cable to the Recast and use Fire TV devices to watch on your TVs. For an antenna the STEALTHtenna should work if properly aimed or this antenna. https://www.amazon.com/RCA-Compact-Outdoor-Antenna-ANT751E/dp/B0024R4B5C
I have a RCA Yagi in my attic.
[RCA Yagi Amazon Link] (TVAntenna-RCAOutdoorYagi...https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0024R4B5C?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share)
Currently on a 2-way splitter, but I would like to add a third TV. Could someone recommend the best splitter for a 3-way? Possibly with Amazon link.
I’m confused about MHz range. And best brand. Or if using a 4-way with one unused would work, since there seems to be more 4 than 3-ways.
Thanks!
The highest frequency a TV antenna signal splitter needs to pass these days is 608 MHz, which is a lot lower than it used to be before the FCC frequency repack giving all the upper portion of UHF TV frequencies to the cellular companies.
UHF tv channel 83 was at something like 890 mhz, I think.
but today the highest frequency is uhf channel 36, which tops out at 608 megahertz.
And almost any splitter of any age will pass frequencies well BEYOND that, so this is not at all critical UNLESS you have a very WEAK signal situation to start with ...AND then probably only if you manage to find a splitter that actually attenuates signals significantly beyond 600 MHz, which probably isn't very likely.
Just keep it SIMPLE and try a low-cost under $5 4-way or 3-way splitter.
I'm guessing it will probably work just fine in your situation, unless again, you're in a very weak signal situation where you need every bit of signal possible.
Here's a 3-way Splitter from Amazon that should work for you, but at $7 it's about twice the price it should be, but that's typical for Amazon prices for most everything:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09W9VNH3P/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?ie=UTF8&psc=
A local Walmart store might be a good place to look for splitters. Also places like Home Depot or Lowe's or even some dollar stores.
And fwiw, get a rabbitears.info report for some good additional info for your particular signal situation. If all or most of your signals are rated as GOOD on that report you should have no problems at all.
That's a good one... as is the Yagi antenna GE sells (which I bought one of them) that's the same price. Both are also at most walmart stores for $40 each.
https://www.amazon.com/Antenna-Satellite-Broadcast-Epicenter-Reception/dp/B0024R4B5C
I currently have this on the J mount it came with... but such that it can stand up and it's sitting on a desk. I plan to mount it in my attic or outside this weekend.
Think those are better than the ANT751 https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0024R4B5C/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8
If you want to watch cable-only shows live, or soon after they air, you’re probably stuck with cable (there are exceptions, depending on the shows you watch).
Amazon solves this by offering practically any network show the morning after it airs. Sure, you'll pay $1.99 per episode, but you are most definitely NOT stuck with cable.
With my setup, I pay about $66 per month. That covers xfinity internet, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu. This is the antenna I bought with my Amazon Prime subscription.
As for HBO Now, $15 per month is steep as fuck to me. Especially when Amazon Prime already has everything but the newest HBO shows and films already in their streaming library. Boardwalk Empire, Deadwood, The Wire, and countless comedy specials are all there, along with tons more.
Like I mentioned before, Amazon also gives you access to almost every other cable TV network by letting you buy new episodes for $1.99. This to me still trumps the cable subscription, because it allows you to only watch what you want, commercial free, on your schedule, anywhere you have an internet connection on any device, FOREVER. No rentals. One time fee and you own the episode.
When you factor in the internet service and equipment fees, most people I know pay $120 per month to enjoy cable. I will continue to pay half of that (with twice the convenience IMO) and never look back. Cable is as dead to me as DVD and VHS.
I got this one. It's small.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0024R4B5C/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_H5AWybVKSX0TS
Works great in Henderson, used the arm that was mounting a small dish network dish, connected to the coax cable already ran through the house. Took maybe 20 mins.
I used to have a cheap $20 antenna that I would stick in the window. It worked pretty well, but I get a slightly stronger signal with this one. The old one didnt work as well with rain or bad weather.
Thank you! I figured the 150 mile mark was garbage.
On Denny's website, do you know anything about the EZ-HD antenna? Also, how does it compare to this... https://www.amazon.com/RCA-Compact-Outdoor-Antenna-Range/dp/B0024R4B5C/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1497977638&sr=1-1&keywords=ez-hd+antenna
As someone else said, half of that very large antenna is designed for reception of low VHF, which you don't have any channels of interest in that band. Something designed for just high VHF and UHF would work better. https://www.amazon.com/Antenna-Satellite-Broadcast-Epicenter-Reception/dp/B0024R4B5C/
At 30 mi out, you shouldn't need a huge antenna or an amp. If you do, get a preamp which is installed at the antenna, not something downstream. A Televes preamp is probably the best one available in the US.
https://www.nesselectronics.com/products/televes-560382-single-input-antenna-preamp-lte-filter-coaxial-f-fitting-connections-automatic-gain-control-agc
Oh, and install it outside. Attic reception can be iffy, at best.
I'm thinking about moving to the DFW area and it is good to know that you can pick up stations with an attic antenna from 50ish miles away. Fox 4 is on RF/UHF channel 35.
Where is the CW (33.1 / RF channel 32)? I don't see it in your list. These are similar distances and close in frequency. The higher frequencies (in general) are harder to tune in from long distances.
I'm a NJ resident as well, 27 miles from the main towers in Manhattan, and I put this YAGI up that I bought at Walmart and it works great. (Here is the link for it at Walmart. It's also available at Home Depot.) I get 41 channels but the only ones I care about are CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, and PBS out of NYC. I get prefect reception for them. Channel 9 comes in fine as well. The only station I have trouble with for some reason is channel 11, i.e., CW, which is in the same direction as the other towers (and its 3 miles closer, actually) but I evidently don't have quite enough height to get it? (This is how I mounted mine, using the j mount from a satellite dish that I removed.) Anyway, I should think that YAGI should get the job done. But surely there must be more powerful antennas available if you want to spend more.
