Digital TV Antenna Installation

After making the decision to ditch cable or satellite service in order to save upwards of $1,500 per year, you need to invest in antenna hardware that enables all the televisions within the home to pick up free, over-the-air high definition programming from networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, the CW, PBS, ION, Telemundo, Univision and other stations. While investing in a whole house, outdoor antenna system is the most ideal solution for providing high definition programming to all televisions within a home, people living within rental properties are unlikely allowed to mount outdoor antennas on the roof or run cable lines from an outdoor antenna to rooms around the home. This is partly why the indoor antenna has made such a resurgence over the past few years.

However, before considering an indoor antenna, head over to TV Fool and use the TV Signal Analysis tool to view the available stations in your area based off physical location. The analysis provides important data such as the direction of the transmitters, distance from each transmitter and the signal power of each transmitter.

In addition, the tool uses colors to visually represent the probability of picking up each station. For instance, transmitters marked in green can be picked up with a standard indoor antenna while transmitters in yellow or red will likely require an attic antenna or hardware mounted on the roof.

If the majority of the transmitters are marked green, it’s likely that you can outfit televisions within your home with indoor antennas. People that live closer to urban areas will likely fall into this category. However, you may also have to take into account the building materials used when constructing your home or apartment as well as the terrain or large buildings in the area that could potentially block any incoming signals.

While you should definitely be cautious about purchasing an indoor antenna based solely off the claims of the manufacturer, there are some really fantastic, high quality digital indoor antennas that will allow you to pick up crystal clear high definition programming from transmitters that are 20 to 40 miles away.

Personally, I have tested all of the following antennas in my own search to find the best reception while living on the bottom floor of a large apartment building. At my location, the majority of transmitters are approximately 25 miles away and located in an direction that requires the signal to travel through a couple concrete walls.