I've had great sucess by mounting one of these in my attic. I catch channels up to 40 miles.
You would need a VHS and UHF antenna. I own this Winegard antenna and can catch all local stations.
I don't live in Hawaii, but I've tried a lot of different antennas and the best one I found is this one. However, you do need to mount it outside.
I repurchased the exact same antenna. It had worked flawlessly for 3 years:
Winegard FreeVision FV-30BB Indoor and Outdoor Digital HDTV Antenna (4K Ultra-HD Ready, ATSC 3.0 Ready, High-VHF / UHF) - 30 Mile Range High Performance Digital HD TV Antenna https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003L76BJS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_2tRbGbDN3WTX0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
If your cheap flat antenna can get all the channels you need, then you probably don't need to get anything fancy. If you're only serving one TV, you can probably just get away with sticking your flat antenna on the window and running it to your TV. If you really want something attic based, you can try one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FreeVision-FV-30BB-Ultra-HD-High-VHF/dp/B003L76BJS/
I would recommend going with a Roku instead of the Fire Stick. Fire Sticks are notoriously poor performers, and Roku also has more streaming services available. It does have an Amazon app, so you're covered there.
I'm also in DFW and I have used this antenna: https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FreeVision-FV-30BB-Ultra-HD-High-VHF/dp/B003L76BJS
Works great for me and has for some time now. I had it on a satellite mount on single story at old house and it worked great. When I moved it's now in attic. You can also buy this antenna at Home Depot.
One thing I've noticed that channel 5 lately has been really bad for me. This is after I've had a couple years of very reliable signal and all my channels are extremely strong. If you also just started having trouble with NBC 5 it might be a problem on their side.
The "50 mile range" is for UHF channels not VHF. A leaf/flat antenna of this type only has 10 mile range for VHF. So you should stay-away from gimmick antennas, and buy yourself a Winegard Freevision (an actual real antenna). https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FreeVision-FV-30BB-Ultra-HD-High-VHF/dp/B003L76BJS
Or CM4228 (larger == better)
Don't amplify. This works great for me connected to three tvs at once: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L76BJS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You're in a pretty good location to get most of the stations available without much trouble.
Thank you for the suggestion. It is a bit better and gets WNTV, WMYA, WSPA, and WYFF so that is an improvement. I do not get WLOS or WHNS but it is still an improvement.
I ran some cable through the window and placed it outside and the results were the same so it doesn't look like I will get any advantage from putting it outside other than height which I will try when it stops storming this weekend.
In the meantime I have ordered this: https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FreeVision-FV-30BB-Ultra-HD-High-VHF/dp/B003L76BJS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 and I will see if it gets similar results inside since this current one is huge and got a "That really ties the room together" from my wife when she saw it... haha If it doesn't do any better I will return it.
Tower is always preferable, especially if you're already wired up there, but attics get great results too. Aiming to the transmitter locations on your report is of course encouraged as well, but that can always be adjusted when you're initially installing it and testing your scans.
Yeah, just put it up and do the channel scan. Very plug and play once you've settled on a location to install.
You can read owner reviews as well:
https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FreeVision-FV-30BB-Ultra-HD-High-VHF/dp/B003L76BJS?th=1
LOL..... I happen to know OTA will work since I get OTA right-next-door to you (Santa Ana). On the other hand I'm not bothered by having a Winegard freevision. If a guest is so shallow to judge me because I put an antenna on top of my TV, the bitch can leave:
https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FreeVision-FV-30BB-Ultra-HD-High-VHF/dp/B003L76BJS
It won't be behind the TV if you have it wall mounted, but maybe you could hide it behind the stand below the TV. I've had good luck with the Winegard . Plus it's got VHF and UHF reception. I just built a little base / stand with a dowel and a piece of 2x4 and zip-tied it so it stands on its own.
So you live in a basement and UPS doesn't deliver..... have you thought about moving? ;-) But seriously: You live in a very poor situation for receiving TV. You need a BIG antenna to get the signals.
Here's a cheap alternative that might work. I have this in my basement, and it works, but I only get about half the channels (versus first floor)
We cut the cable (satellite, actually) a couple of years ago. Went thru a bunch of different antennas. Channels 10 and 12 were the toughest to get.
Eventually bought this. Now I get channels I never knew existed. Disclaimer tho... I did mount it to the roof. That helped.
Check out tvfool.com. Then also ask in /r/cordcutters if need be. They're a great group.
I cut the cord a while back. Tried the Leaf, but it wasn't great for us. Ended up with a Winegard that I mounted on the roof where the DirecTV dish was.
Shocked how many OTA channels there are. Can't recommend the winegard enough. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L76BJS/
I got a Winegard atenna and it was much stronger than my old signal. It is just sitting on my window and it doesn't seem nearly as sensitive as the cheaper antennas I was buying. There are a few channels I don't get, but way more than before - and perfect quality. I may try putting it on the roof to increase my signal.
This is the model i got:
This one has worked out great for me the past year. /r/cordcutters can also help.
EDIT: If you've got a cheap pair of rabbit ears laying around, I'd also try those. That's all I've got in my bedroom and I still pick up everything but our local CBS affiliate.
Back Bay, I get an excellent signal for the major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS) and also get a bunch of others that I don't watch so I can't say much about their quality. I have a good outdoor antenna attached to my fire escape.
This is what I have. Amazon.com: Winegard FreeVision FV-30BB Indoor and Outdoor Digital HDTV Antenna (4K Ultra-HD Ready, ATSC 3.0 Ready, High-VHF / UHF) - 30 Mile Range High Performance Digital HD TV Antenna : Electronics It's not available anymore as I bought it a number of years ago now. But I think the antenna you need to use depends more on where you live in relation to the broadcast stations you want to watch. Websites that give antenna recommendations based on your address are probably your best bet. Something like this. Antennas Direct | TV Transmitter Locator and Mapping Tool. I assume these websites recommend antennas that pay the site, but I would assume they are still valid. Just google "antennas by address" to try a couple of different sites to see what they recommend to find something that should work for your specific situation.
Agreed most of the leaf type antennas are not great. We got this antenna and it worked surprisingly well for such a small package. As you discovered for TV VHF/UHF the higher the antenna the better. Then after that size matters. The more antenna the more signal it can collect. This antenna though considerably bigger does work very well. You can get an inexpensive speaker mast on a tripod to mount the antenna on and point it to where you need it.
We moved to the countryside and ended up having to get this antenna and this signal amplifier to pull in some stations 51m+ away. All of that mounted on a 10' tower we had installed outside.
A combiner is nothing but a splitter reversed. If you do plan to go toward 2 antennas (which can work if you need to point in different directions) you will want to have at least a 20 coax' cable between the antennas and the combiner. Otherwise you could have phasing issues which will only make things worse.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L76BJS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This is the one I was using. It worked GREAT for 3 years!
This one. Don't bother with anything else. Worked great at my old place here, recently gave it to a friend in Ballston for whom it works just as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FreeVision-FV-30BB-Ultra-HD-High-VHF/dp/B003L76BJS/
Connected the FreeVision. 8, 19, and 43 don't come up with a channel autoprogram at all.
It shows it supports VHF: https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FreeVision-FV-30BB-Ultra-HD-High-VHF/dp/B003L76BJS
Thanks for the suggestion. Is this what you're talking about?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L76BJS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This worked for me more that anything else I tried.
I am skeptical. I think this will work better. (Though I eventually upgraded to CM4228)
I had a lot of skipping to until I switched to this:
Can you recommend buying on Amazon?. No Home Depot around me
No, bowtie antennas are only designed to pick up UHF.
You need long elements to pick up VHF.
There are some smaller VHF antennas with small elements, like the Winegard Freevison, but at 30+ miles out, reception will likely not be good.
Examples of good VHF antennas:
Like I tell other people who live in apartments, if your apartment owner/management allows tenants to install DirecTV or Dish Network or Shaw(?) small satellite dishes on the rooftop, see if you can hire a local satellite installer to install a regular TV antenna on the roof for you.
We cut the cord (from DirecTV) about 2 years ago.
Relatively inexpensive OTA antenna gets us a ton of channels. I mounted the antenna where our satellite dish used to be, and just connected it to the existing wiring, which made things very simple.
We picked up a Tivo Roamio OTA (with lifetime service) to record OTA shows.
Netflix has been wonderful for us. I'd say that 90% of our viewing is on Netflix. No, it doesn't have a lot of blockbuster movies. But the content it does have (original content, tv shows, documentaries) are well worth it to us. My Netflix list continues to grow, in spite of my best efforts to make dents in it.
I missed having a dedicated news channel, so started paying for Sling. It was OK, but after about a month checked out PS Vue. A little better.
Then, just recently, DirecTV launched DirecTV Now. It's a really sweet deal if you get in on it now. For $35 a month you get over 100 channels. It's actually their $60 a month package... but sign up now and you'll be grandfathered into it. Even nicer... HBO is a $5 add-on. Normally HBO is $15. Not terrible, but was hard to justify with other costs. At $5, it's a no-brainer.
PLUS... if you sign up now and pre-pay for 3 months, you get a free Apple TV. The 3 month up-front is less than the cost of the Apple TV unit. So if you don't like the service, cancel after 3 months. Keep the Apple TV. Otherwise, $40 a month for 100+ channels and HBO... hard to beat.
Happy to answer any specific questions you might have.
https://www.reddit.com/r/cordcutters/wiki/index has a good overview, but I use a Winegard FreeVision FV-30BB HDTV Antenna
Awesome, that's a good start. Just a few things to keep in mind --
Be cautious of how hot that vent gets, especially if it carries hot air from the heater. Coaxial cable is made to withstand temperature extremes, but you don't want to test that theory, or have it be a fire hazard.
Now that you're thinking of placing the antenna outside, you may want to be aware of how visible it will be, and whether someone might steal it or think it's junk for the trash.
In fact, instead of a $99 antenna, once you're outdoors, the $7 rabbit ears or a $32 Winegard Freevision or especially a homemade, DIY Gray-Hoverman (linked in my previous comment) may be less likely to be yanked away or trashed by some neighborhood kid.
Also, once you have the antenna outside the basement, you no longer really need an amplified antenna, which the Flatwave Air is. (I know I suggested it, but after another look at your TV Fool report, it reinforced that you're just 10 miles away from the Empire State, with some very strong signals.)
Finally, the coaxial cable that comes with an antenna is usually pretty short. So you may need a barrel coupler/connector and another length of RG6 coaxial cable to reach your television set (again, you can find it any CVS, Duane Reade's, etc.)
You're welcome. Happy viewing!
That's rough.
It sounds like you have a big house. And usually big houses have a central point where the cable/satellite coax line feeds into big splitters that feed coax out to each bedroom.
So another possibility is to use an outdoor antenna, like the Freevision, Flatwave Air, or Clearstream 2V.
It would feed into an extra coaxial line on the outside of the house -- the same box where the cable TV line enters the house. Then you could split it at your central wiring panel/closet out to the bedrooms.
Yeah, if you're already pulling in 35-45% that's a positive sign on what you can do with a preamp.
As far as your coworker, you could tell her that she has choices for "cute" antennas that are not big, hulking pieces of metal -- and that would be very discreet along the side of her house or virtually hidden on the roof.
You might show her cute ones like the ClearStream 2v (customer photo set 1, Photo set 2) or the Winegard Freevision (official photos).
There must be some houses in her community with DirecTV or Dish Network dishes. You might ask her to look for the dishes she sees on people's roofs/chimneys/sidings in her HOA community, so obviously outside mounting is permitted. Once she notices other people with outside antennas of some type, that should make her comfortable.
Also, she can nicely call up the management company or the HOA board president and mention that she's thinking of a TV antenna. They'll likely give her the green light. (Because if they had actually been hard-nosed about all antennas in the past, other homeowners who wanted DirecTV would have quoted the FCC OTARD rules to them.)
I put this puppy in my attic and got every OTA network.
Then Blazer season started back up...
I also want to add that I have the Winegard Freevision on the roof which helps to pull in 3 VHF stations that I had a little trouble getting with the indoors antenna.
Do you have any windows facing in the direction of the TV towers you posted, so I guess SW? Just getting a cheaper flat antenna will do the trick if there's no obstructions between you and the towers.
If there is obstructions, try something like this : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003L76BJS/
First you don't need an amp, so get an antenna that has none. Like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L76BJS
Second if a station comes-in too strong, point the antenna in the opposite direction. That will attenuate (lower) the power enough for your TV to decode it.
Third if that still doesn't work, point the antenna at 90 degree right-angle from the station. That makes the signal even weaker.
Yeah, and I was looking at the possibility of mounting something like this in my attic if the dirt cheap one doesn't work.