[cheesepizzacheese]

I've been using my outdated rabbits ear antenna for my hdtv's and the signals are quite weak. do you guys have any suggestion on which is the best indoor antenna circulating the net?

I was told to get an outdoor antenna but i'm a little reluctant to because i fear that when the signals are bad i would have to climb up the rooftop to adjust the signals. THanks.

 

[eherberg]

First - there's nothing inherently 'outdated' about rabbit ears. I'm using them and they give the best and most consistent signal of all of my indoor antennas.

Second - it's impossible to guess without seeing your TVFool report as to signals in relation to you. See the sticky on the top of the page. It may be that signals are strong and you just have a poor placement of the antenna or that an outdoor will be necessary.

Even without seeing the report - I wouldn't be too worried about having to go up to 'adjust' an outdoor antenna. Place it right during install and that should be the end of it.

 

[Calaveras]

I've been using my outdated rabbits ear antenna for my hdtv's and the signals are quite weak. do you guys have any suggestion on which is the best indoor antenna circulating the net?

I was told to get an outdoor antenna but i'm a little reluctant to because i fear that when the signals are bad i would have to climb up the rooftop to adjust the signals. THanks.

Please follow the sticky above and then we can help you. Put your location in the title and a link to your TV Fool report in the post. You'll have to make a couple dummy posts to get to the 5 post minimum requirement to post links or get creative with the link.

 

[Ratman]

How do you know the signals are "weak"?
What problem(s) do you have that makes you believe the signals are "weak"?
And... what the other two posters said.

 

[cheesepizzacheese]

I have to adjust my rabbits ear antenna nearly every single day. so..an outdoor antenna is consistent all the time?

 

[hotsho111]

I'm not sure what you mean by consistent but you generally set it up pointing in a particular direction and don't change it once it's set up. That's not to say you can't if you need to change the direction slightly but you probably won't change it very often.

If you find yourself needing to point in 1 direction to get X set of channels and another direction to get Y set of channels you'll probably need to get an antenna rotator which allows the mast the antenna is attached to to rotate from inside the house.

Like others have said, a tv fool report will help determine what you may or may not need

 

[AntAltMike]

I'm not sure what you mean by consistent but you generally set it up pointing in a particular direction and don't change it once it's set up....

I used to live in a mountainous region that had obstructed receptions paths to the only three "local" stations, and I hung an antenna loop from my double window curtain rod using a bent coathanger as a "glide", and whenever I changed the channel, I just took a six foot pole and, without leaving my chair, slid the antenna along the curtain rod until it hit a spot where the reception was good for that channel. That was back in the analog days, when you could visually peak an antenna much more readily than you can now with digital signals.

 

[jjeff]

I like this indoor antenna:
http://www.amazon.com/Amplified-Hig...TF8&qid=1414870815&sr=8-1&keywords=terk+hdtva
It does UHF, which the majority of channels are and with it's "rabbit ears" in the back it also picks up VHF.
Personally I like the HDTVi(unamplified) version but it seems to be discontinued.

 

[Ratman]

I have to adjust my rabbits ear antenna nearly every single day. so..an outdoor antenna is consistent all the time?

Yeah... that's the type of performance that should be expected when using an "indoor" antenna.

No, an outdoor antenna is not "consistent". But, installed, mounted and aimed properly it should be better than rabbit ears.

Do everyone (and yourself) a favor... provide a TVFool report.

 

[tylerSC]

Yeah... that's the type of performance that should be expected when using an "indoor" antenna.

No, an outdoor antenna is not "consistent". But, installed, mounted and aimed properly it should be better than rabbit ears.

Do everyone (and yourself) a favor... provide a TVFool report.

Do your rabbit ears have a UHF loop? That could be part of the problem, as some channels may be UHF and rabbit ears primarily receive VHF. But, as mentioned, the Terk HDTVa is a good indoor antenna, and I think you can remove the inline amp if it is unnecessary or detrimental. Some folks have good luck with the Mohu Leaf antennas from Walmart, but they can be hit or miss, and can be weak for VHF. The Clearstreams can be used as a good indoor antenna, and certain GE antennas at Walmart reportedly perform well. How far is your distance from the towers? An outdoor antenna could be the best choice depending upon location.

 

[DrDon]

Please supply your location and TVFool report as requested. Thanks.

 

[rabbit73]

the signals are quite weak.

How weak is quite weak?

I'm wondering if cheesepizzacheese understands that we can't help him if he doesn't give us a tvfool report for his location.

And I'm wondering if cheesepizzacheese understands that he needs to go here to generate a tvfool report for his location:
http://www.tvfool.com/

And I'm wondering if he knows that all he has to do is copy and paste the URL in bold type near the top of his tvfool report into his next post so we can help him, like this:

If you would like to share these results with others, this page can be referenced as:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dd2436686a80dec

And I'm wondering why he can't at least tell us the city where he lives.

And I'm wondering why he doesn't understand that he needs to help us to help him, otherwise this just isn't going to work.

 

[retiredengineer]

I've been using my outdated rabbits ear antenna for my hdtv's and the signals are quite weak. do you guys have any suggestion on which is the best indoor antenna circulating the net?

I was told to get an outdoor antenna but i'm a little reluctant to because i fear that when the signals are bad i would have to climb up the rooftop to adjust the signals. THanks.

There is a review of various indoor antennas that may help you decide.
http://www.hdtvexpert.com/antennas-antennas-on-the-wallwho-has-the-best-reception-of-them-all/

 

[holl_ands]

Too bad NONE of them were specifically designed to receive Hi-VHF channels.....where most of them fell short on performance....

Curious that the old R-S Single-Bay Bowtie received the MOST stations (incl. ALL THREE VHF)....with about as much Raw Gain as Rabbit-Ears....and high SWR issues....just like Rabbit-Ears. Since you (probably) can't buy it anymore, here are Optimized Dimensions for New UHF Band 1-Bay Bowtie DIY Project:
http://imageevent.com/holl_ands/dipoles/uhfbowties

If Mohu Leaf 50 is a simple UHF 2-Bay Bowtie (as I've heard), it "SHOULD" have received Ch9, since it has about the same Raw Gain & SWR as fol. DIY New Band Optimized 2-Bay Bowtie:
http://imageevent.com/holl_ands/multibay/uhf2bays/uhfm2
Maybe Mohu's Amp and/or Balun is less effective in Hi-VHF Band????

Note that Mohu Leaf Metro was the ONLY Antenna tested that could pick up Lo-VHF Ch6 (ABC in Philly)...but it was as the expense of reception of TWO UHF Stations (FOX & UNIvision)...and although it picked up Hi-VHF Ch12...it couldn't receive Ch9...BOTH of which the Old R-S Bowtie COULD.

SO for Indoor Antennas that you can actually BUY.....and Peter Putnam just happened to have ON-HAND at the time, it was a TIE between Mohu Leaf 50 and W-G Flatwave for UHF Performance....and BOTH of them are in need of being combined with a separate VHF (or just Hi-VHF) Antenna. Or choose a VHF+UHF Dual Band Antenna....like Terk HDTVi/a, Digital Stream DHA-1000, or either of the two that won the fol. Consumer Reports OTA Test.....

 

[holl_ands]

Last year Consumer Reports did a test of a bunch of Indoor Antennas at a large number of locations in NYC. Although each location had it's own set of problem channels, they found the best overall performance across BOTH VHF and UHF TV Bands was provided by:

RCA 1650 Omni-directional VHF/UHF "Flat Panel" with REMOVABLE Amplifier:
http://www.voxxintlcorp.com/docs/common/ANT1650/ANT1650_OM.pdf

Amplified Radio-Shack RS-15-254 VHF-Rabbit-Ears+UHF-Loop was next Best:
http://demandware.edgesuite.net/aas...6435/Support/ProductManuals/1500254_PM_EN.pdf

 

[holl_ands]

John Quain's article at Tom's Hardware BURIED THE LEAD (and other test details...read each review carefully):

RCA ANT1150F Amplified Ultra-Thin Flat Panel was the overall winner (although for some reason still couldn't pull in NYC's NBC on Ch7):
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-tv-antennas,review-2354.html

Mohu Leaf 50 (with removable Jolt Preamp) was tested in a DIFFERENT city and can't be fairly compared.

 

[holl_ands]

Peter Putnam tested many of the SAME Antennas in Mar 2013:
http://www.hdtvexpert.com/tag/indoor-tv-antenna-review
In order the winners were:
Mohu Amplified Leaf Ultimate
Mohu Amplified Sky [Sky 60, similar to Amazon Basics Sky 60]
Old R-S One Bay Bowtie [Non-Amplified]

At that time there was only ONE Hi-VHF station, on Ch8, which both Mohu's above could receive, but was intermittent using R-S Bowtie.

=============================================
And here is yet another July 2012 OTA Test by Peter Putnam:
http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/columns...or-dtv-antennas-the-third-times-the-charm.php

Amplified A-D Micro was ONLY Antenna to pick up ALL UHF stations, incl. Ch38, but was NO-GO for both HI-VHF Ch7 & Ch8.

Unamplified Walltenna, Mohu Leaf, W-G Flatwave and Amplfied Mohu Leaf Plus were ONLY Antennas which picked up ALL UHF Stations (except Ch38) and BOTH Hi-VHF Ch7 & Ch8....Old R-S Single Bowtie performance was the SAME, except could NOT receive Ch7. So there wasn't very much variation across the entire lot.....

 

[holl_ands]

In fol. Indoor Antenna Test in San Francisco, Amplified Terk HDTVa was significantly better than NON-Amplified Mohu Leaf (so not Apples-to-Apples):
http://www.techhive.com/article/246217/kiss_your_cable_bill_goodbye_with_these_hdtv_antennas.html

================================================
Yet another Indoor Antenna Test posted by "Idaho Spuds" in Rockville, MD:
http://idahospuds.blogspot.com/2013/01/filmtv-review-of-5-hdtv-indoor-antennas.html
Overall winners (in order, best listed first):
Mohu Amplified Leaf Plus and Winegard Amplified FDTV2A (tied)
RCA 1450B Amplified Flat Panel (close third)
RCA Non-Amplified Rabbit Ears (maybe ANT110 or ANT112R?)
A-D Clearstream-2 (distant last place....probably cuz it's the ONLY Antenna that is UHF-ONLY and NOT Quasi-Omni)

 

[holl_ands]

If you scroll down to the end of this Mar 2013 ADDENDUM to most recent test reported above, Peter also posted brief results for Apr 2010 Test in Indoor NYC Apartment....due to DIRECTIONAL Antenna Pattern rejection of Multipath, Terk HDTVa was the winner, winner...chicken dinner:
http://www.hdtvexpert.com/tag/indoor-dtv-reception

Note that there isn't a HUGE difference between most (Good) Indoor Antennas....if you STILL need something "better" consider mounting/hiding an OUTDOOR Antenna....or consider a DIY Project, such as a SIMPLE Hourglass-Loop, Quad-Trap-Loop, M4 or FF4 4-Bay Bowtie, G-H (see nikiml's antenna Optimization website) and others found in the "ANTENNA SIMULATIONS" link below....although SOME provide "adequate" Hi-VHF Raw Gain along with Good UHF performance...in difficult situations, you might need SEPARATE, OPTIMIZED Hi-VHF (or Lo+Hi-VHF) and UHF Antennas...and a VHF/UHF Combiner device.

 

[holl_ands]

OUTDOOR Antenna Comparison Tests can be found at antennahacks website:
http://www.antennahacks.com

Bob Chase (Station Engineer in Houston, TX) also conducted an OUTDOOR Antenna Comparison Test, finding unusually high 20 dB difference when located in his Attic:
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/25-hd...a-related-hardware-topic-201.html#post9332997

OUTDOOR Antenna Comparison Tests by ATECH Fabrication (15.5-mi South of Mt Wilson in L.A.) is found here:
http://www.atechfabrication.com/reception_solutions.htm