What is the best UHF antenna?

Don, there is no one answer to your question. There is not really a quality standard to this, against which competing models can be judged and one very best seclected. Often, it is a matter of trying things and seeing what works. Read many other threads with approximately this same name, and you'll see the above answer mixed in with "I have XXXX, and it works good for me".


At only 29 miles, a lot of different antennas should work for you. Try antennaweb.org and see what it recommends. If you want to go a little further, step their recommendation up a point or two. For instance, given the distance, I would bet it will probably recommend a medium size antenna with preamp. So buy a large(r than medium size) antenna with preamp. Size matters and bigger is almost always better.


I'm about 35 miles from the principle towers in my area. I use a Blake JBX-21, which is more than I need for the locals. I bought it to try to reach approx 80 miles for distant broadcasters in Miami and Orlando. It does o.k. with those. When I was in your shoes, all the research I did led me to it.


Is it the "best"? Who knows? But it tends to rank highly when others ask your question. Good luck.

Darryl,


Antenna . Org 2months ago had me in light green, which when I began this project led me to try a terk 55. Not even close.


But the best part is, when trying ro show a friend of mine the web site last week, They now have me rated pink&purple! Guess the figured out I am indeed in a black hole here. The same antenna 10 houses away from me works ok for analog signals at said friends house, but will not pick up anything here.


Have tried a Terk tv36, better, but no dice. A radio shack UHF only, does fine on some channels, but is weak on cbs, and will not pull in abc (all UHF signals at similar headings.)


So I guess my question should be what antenna would be best for fringe areas. The antenna you mentioned works from 90miles? Could be the ticket.

I live in the western suburbs of Chicago about 30 miles from the Sears Tower and in a hole where reception OTA has always been poor. I went through a series of antennas trying to find one I could use in the attic. The Terks were @#$%@ every one I tried. Then since all of the digital channels (except for channel 2 which decided to use channel 3 for digital-unbeleivable blunder on their part) are on UHF, I decided to look at strictly UHF antennas. I went to Radio Shack and purchased a small 40" beam UHF only antenna (Cat # 15-2160) and it is simply the most amazing antenna for digital channels I have seen that works fine in my home in the attic. The antenna is only $21.60 and returnable if it doesn't work for you. I had a guy in San Francisco that was having problems with local digital channels and tried everything except this one. He bought it and Emailed me back with great praise on how it allowed him to get all of his local digital channels and very few if any dropouts. It's worth a try and no loss if it doesn't work for you.