HDTV Antenna

[GadgetBoy]

I just purchased a new PC and will be looking to make it the living room's media center.

It has a HDTV tuner in it - I do not have an antenna in my house.

Any suggestions? Mounting something in my attic would be preferred, as I don't want anything visible in the living room and I don't want to install anything on the roof.

The tuner card also has an FM receiver in it. Is there anything that would include antennas for both?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Steve]

The antenna choice depends largely on where you are and the direction and proximity of the OTA stations. Check AntennaWeb for details. That said, I have a Radio Shack VU90 in my attic and it works great. Looks like RS now sells other branded antennas instead. Mine is similar to this one. As long as you are withing a decent range of towers, I would dimply put the biggest antenna that will fit in the attic.

 

[GadgetBoy]

I probably should have mentioned my distance - I live in a borough of NYC, about 10-15 miles from Manhattan...

 

[Steve]

It appears that there are towers withing 10 or 20 miles and on UHF and VHF both. Depending on your exact zip my suggestion is still the same. Get a VHF/UHF antenna and point the UHF portion toward the towers. With a large enough antenna and that close a distance you should be fine.

 

[pete_c]

I live about 25 miles S/W of metro Chicago. I installed an antenna in the attic and it works well. I've noticed recently smaller rotating HS antennas being sold very reasonably (under $50) and wondering how those work.

 

[az1324]

http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com/

With the right reflector I get ch 8 - 61 @ 30mi.