What type antenna do i need for hdtv

If you got all orange or red channels or no channels, you should try to get free TV over the Internet. The strongest signals are at the top while the weakest are at the bottom. Things to take care: These predictions are based on a terrain-sensitive propagation model resembling but not identical to the propagation model used when calculating service and interference contours for TV stations.

Actual signal strength may vary based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to , building construction, neighboring buildings and trees, weather, and specific reception hardware.

Your signal strength may be significantly lower in extremely hilly areas. Please do monthly rescan in case of the signal change in your local area.

Click to check. While the idea of needing an antenna to watch TV may feel like a retro throwback to our shared pre-technological past, over-the-air TV is a significant part of the cultural trend known as cord-cutting.

Cord-cutting — the act of abandoning your cable TV subscription in favor of streaming TV over the internet and receiving local broadcasts with an HD antenna — is fast becoming a phenomenon.

Cord-cutters rely on streaming services to deliver their favorite shows and movies, then supplement those services with local broadcasts to deliver local news and programming from the major networks. The practice is becoming so popular that cable companies often attempt to provide customers with incentives to bundle cable TV with internet service.

Most HDTV antennas are basically the same, but there are three categories that are useful to understand when shopping:.

Outdoor or attic antennas are perfect for situations where one antenna will be receiving TV signals for multiple TVs, or instances where broadcast towers are particularly far away. If you plan on installing one HDTV antenna and connecting it to your in-home coaxial wiring, so you can watch broadcasts from multiple locations, an outdoor or attic antenna is your best option. Desktop antennas are typically smaller units meant to sit on a flat surface.

Desktop antennas typically only pick up content from closer broadcast towers and are only meant to provide a TV signal to one TV. Flat antennas are popular because they take little to no space at all, yet still deliver strong HDTV signals. Flat antennas are typically made to attach to window panes and are the most affordable kind of antenna available.

Similar to desktop antennas, flat antennas are only intended to supply signals to one TV at a time. If you live far from broadcast towers, your HDTV antenna may not get a very strong signal. If you get a good, but not great, signal from your antenna — for example, if the picture looks good, but cuts out regularly — you may benefit from an antenna signal amplifier. Antenna signal amplifiers are small devices that are connected between your antenna and your TV. Plus, with its foot coaxial cable, you have some flexibility in mounting it on the wall.

This antenna picked up 16 channels in our downtown office surrounded by buildings and 21 channels in a nearby apartment with fewer surrounding barriers. Surprisingly, the Micron has a smaller signal-searching radius than many products we reviewed, at 30 miles. Even so, it received 26 channels in our urban test and 39 when tested in the suburbs.

It has an amplified signal that reaches TV towers up to 50 miles away. The Winegard struggled to connect in our city test and managed to pick up only 18 channels.

In our suburban test, however, it doubled this performance and received 36 channels with good reception for the majority. Unlike many of the antennas we tested, the Winegard FlatWave device is not made of a thin, papery substance.

It also has a convenient Though it costs slightly more than average for this product category, the Winegard FlatWave is a good value, both due to its great performance outside of the city and its lifetime warranty. A rotator will turn the TV antenna in any direction with the click of a remote. Many antennas do a good job pulling in stations from different directions, especially if they are strong, local signals. The connection from your antenna to your TV is every bit as important as the antenna itself.

Coax has a center wire that carries the signal and is surrounded by a plastic insulator. Make the cable a single run if possible because each time you connect shorter cables together, a little signal is lost. The most common type of cable for TV is called RG Predicting which antenna will work with certainty is almost impossible.

The information garnered from sites like TV Fool will provide a strong indication of what should work, but there are other variables at work. In some areas, especially in cities or areas with lots of hills, signals can bounce off obstacles like buildings and cause interference, trees can grow leaves in the spring and block stations you got fine in the winter, and atmospheric conditions can alter the way signals reach your house.

Moving an antenna just a little to one side or up and down a window can have a big effect on reception. How to determine which free over-the-air TV channels you can tune in Closed captioning available on our YouTube channel. How to install a smart switch How to install a smart switch Figuring out which channels are available for free where you live, and the antenna you need, is easy with our guide.

Table of Contents Which channels are available on an antenna? Which channels do I want to watch? The national TV repack Can I put up an antenna? Which antenna do I need?