The Best and Cheapest TV Antennas

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You don’t need to tap a home equity line of credit to get your network television show fix. In most places, an antenna is enough to let you know who gets a rose on “The Bachelorette” or what acts on “America’s Got Talent” make the cut.

Kicking your cable to the curb can save you upward of $100 a month. Even better news: Two of the best antennas are also among the cheapest, says Consumer Reports in “Indoor HDTV antennas get a warm — but hopefully not fuzzy — reception.”

You can get the antenna with the best reception for about $30. The RCA ANT1650, which sells for $30.99 including shipping on Amazon, took the top spot in Consumer Reports’ evaluation of 10 popular indoor television antennas. The products tested ranged in price from $8 to $80. This model is much sleeker than old-fashioned options like rabbit ears. It also doesn’t require adjustments, or tin foil for that matter, like the antennas from days of yore.

Coming in second place was RadioShack’s 15-254 model, which retails for $34.99.

The other eight products did not get a ranking. “In our tests, performance varied wildly — so much so that we couldn’t really rank them in order of performance, as a model that did well for one tester couldn’t pick up any TV signals for another,” Consumer Reports explains.

Here’s a list of all of the tested antennas along with the price at Amazon:

  • RCA ANT111, $8.
  • RCA ANT1650, $31.
  • Terk FDTV2, $32.
  • RadioShack 15-254, $35
  • MOHU Leaf, $37.
  • Winegard FL-5000 Flatwave, $40.
  • MOHU Leaf Plus, $48.
  • Terk FDTV1A, $49.
  • Antennas Direct CSM1-XG, $60.
  • MOHU Leaf Ultimate, $80.

What else you might need

If you have a newer TV, then all you need to do is pick up an antenna and install it. All sets 25 inches and larger made starting in 2006 come with a digital tuner. Those folks with older analog televisions will need to purchase a digital converter box in order to receive the digital signals. You can pick up one of those for about $40.

Location, location, location

The location of your home and the antenna will greatly impact your reception. Living either in or near a large city with a major TV market will increase the likelihood that you’ll be able to watch networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and Fox with an antenna.

For the testing, Consumer Reports had a dozen employees living in the New York metropolitan area see what VHF (channels 2-13) and UHF (channels 14-51) HDTV signals they could pick up. Most were successful. Consumer Reports added:

But four users who live the farthest from the NY towers couldn’t get anything. That underscores how heavily reception depends on your location relative to a TV station, the strength of the broadcasts, and whether there are physical obstructions such as trees, mountains, or buildings between you and the tower.

Wonder what channels are potentially available in your area? The FCC offers this map as a reference.

Because your surroundings will determine the channels you receive, the best antenna for you might not be the best antenna for me. There may be some trial and error involved. For this reason, the testers say they “strongly recommend purchasing from a retailer with a no-hassle return policy and reasonable warranty.”

Once you find a good antenna, where you place it is important. Just as trees and whatnot can interfere with the signal outdoors, wood and metal within your home can do the same. Consumer Reports says the preferable location is generally near a window and facing the direction of your local TV transmitters.

Don’t know where they are? A few websites will tell you, including Antenna Point and TV Fool.

Avoid the cable squabble

Getting free channels via an antenna comes with another added bonus — not losing your signal while big corporations spar over payments.

The Consumer Reports testing was done in an area that might lose CBS due to an ongoing disagreement over pricing for retransmission of signals. About 3 million cable customers in the New York, Los Angeles and Dallas markets may learn Friday about the outcome of negotiations between Time Warner Cable and the CBS-owned stations, according to the Los Angeles Times.

If they can’t come to an agreement, those channels will potentially go dark for paying customers. But those connected with an antenna will bypass the drama and remain plugged into CBS for free.

Have you found an antenna that works for you or have any tricks for getting a better signal? Let us know on our Facebook page.

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