What is a good indoor antenna for my area?

Question

I recently purchased the insignia analog to digtial converter box and can get almost every channel except one? Channel 50 doesnt show a signal at all, yet when I went to the antennaweb.org site about reception in my area, it gave me the impression channel 50 should be as strong as all the other UHF channels (which come in beautifully by the way).

I've followed the advice of others and played around with my current antenna and nothing works. So I'm interested in purchasing a new one. I live in Detroit, so what's a good one to buy? I'd prefer an indoor antenna but will I need an outdoor one? I appreciate all the recommendations and opinions I can get!

BTW I did check and that channel is currently broadcasting a digital signal...lol

Answer 1

Try putting your antenna as close to a window as you can and as high as you can.  Watch the signal strength level from the converter box.  See if it shows up at all.  Try turning the antenna and see if that makes the signal increase.  

If none of this works, you'll probably need an outside antenna.  It doesn't have to be a "digital" antenna.  There's no difference between a digital antenna and an analog one.  I'd advise against one with an amplifier.  If you get good signal from all the other stations you shouldn't need it and you may overdrive it causing more problems that it solves.  It doesn't sound like you'd need a huge outdoor antenna.  Go for something average in size.  That should work.  Adjust the antenna with the signal meter from the box again to make sure all the channels have good level.  

I put my box in yesterday with my old antenna.  I had to adjust it a bit to get the signal levels from all the stations up, but it works great after being turned a bit.  It's about 20 years old.