Amplified Indoor Antennas?

Question

I just moved to a new area and I'm only getting 4 channels here and I know there are supposed to be others in the area (they aren't supposed to be digital yet). I have one of the indoor antennas with the two rabbit ears and the ring in the middle. I'm kinda thinking of getting one of the fancier amplified antennas. Are they actually better?

Answer 1

>Are they actually better?

Unfortunately, the answer is sometimes they are and sometimes they make things worse! Sometimes a cheap amplifier makes things worst.

The kind of information on the outside of TV antenna packaging tends to be pretty worthless also. Especially amplifier  "dB" ratings.

Indoor antennas can be very sensitive to location. Before spending much money on fancy antennas, you might want to invest in a length of coax cable (~12'?) and play around with location. If you enter your location at the first link below, you can find out some information about your local TV transmitters.

Pay attention to whether all the ones you want are in the same direction, distance to transmitters, and if they are all UHF (analog 14-69) or not.

The second link below has antenna reviews. Picking one suited for your local conditions and that lots of other people have had luck with improves your chances of not throwing your money away.

If you are within 30 miles of the transmitters and don't want to think too much, try the antenna at the third link.