You buy both the AirWave device and the antenna in one kit. In our testing, we evaluated the signal strength and quality of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, The CW, PBS, Ion, Univision, and some independent stations. If you cut and fold it correctly, it makes a little tabletop stand for the antenna--but it’ll still look like cardboard. If there isn’t enough of a signal for the tuner to lock onto, amplifying a glitchy signal just gives you a stronger glitchy signal, which in the end still doesn’t give you a picture. If you don’t mind doing a little DIY project, live in a rural area, or are serious about getting excellent reception from your HDTV antenna at all times, the Mohu Sky is your best option. Your distance from the broadcast station or transmission tower, as well as the topography of your area, are 2 important factors that dictate what kind of antenna you'll need.
Often a signal amplifier can introduce confusing signals to the tuner and cause more harm than good; our results with the amp varied depending on where we used it. If you're a city dweller, you may only need an indoor multi-directional antenna which picks up …
It’s larger and higher-priced than our current picks, but it can work either indoors with the supplied base or outdoors with the supplied mounting hardware. ANTOP also developed a technology called “smart pass” that balances the signals the antenna receives from multiple broadcast towers. If you’d like to give HDTV antennas a try, but don’t know where to start, we’ve compiled this guide to help you out.
Honestly, it feels cheap, too, which may be an issue if you expect to reposition it often or otherwise need your antenna to take a lot of abuse.
We then recorded the number of channels each antenna received and the quality/integrity of the picture. The antennas were placed on the wall 10 inches from the ceiling and close to a window. I’ve been using one myself for two years and have no complaints about its performance. It performed well in the Pennsylvania location but not so well in New York, where it was subject to more multipath interference.
Among the flat antennas, the Antennas Direct model is the least flat. There’s never been a better time to be a cord cutter — the group of people who have stopped paying for cable television.
If you want to hide it completely, it’s flat and small enough to fit behind most wall-mounted TVs. Its metal construction makes it heavier than other wall-mounted antennas and harder to hang.
Most of the antennas in this roundup pulled in 30 to 40 channels, although the number of channels reached through a scan with the tuner would vary slightly from day to day. You can also use the included bracket to mount it on the side of your house, or in an attic. The made-in-the-USA Leaf is clearly better constructed than any of the knockoff flat antennas.
If you read any user reviews on Amazon or other retailers’ websites, you’ll see that half the users love and half the users hate every antenna. If you live in a rural location 50 miles or more from the broadcast towers, you’ll probably need an outdoor antenna mounted on a large mast, not one of the antennas recommended here.