what's a good HDTV antenna?

OK, I got this Fusion II HDTV card FedEx today. I installed it without
much trouble, turned on the remote and got a decent picture of ABC, CBS, and
NBC, but the other stations are either bad (choppy, like a stuttering DVD)
or don't show up at all. Since PBS is one of my favorite channels, that's a
downer that I couldn't get any of them. Signal strength is 60-75 percent,
and the manual for the card recommends at least 80. Some of the channels I
cant' see have signals strengths of 8-33 percent.

I'm using an indoor antenna I bought from Radio Shack. It's a 50 dollar
job, has a dish shape with a bowtie, and also an amplifier. The amplifier
tends to kill the reception, so I don't use it. I think the antenna isn't
much good, though, if I'm only getting a few channels. It's actually
better for picking up NTSC than some of the other antennas in the house.

Out of curiosity I took a really cheap UHF/VHF loop and rabbit ears off an
old TV set and tried it out, and it seemed to work a little better, more of
the channels were smoother and I got one or two I wasn't getting before.
Obviously paying more money for an antenna has little to do with the
reception.

So any advice on what would be a good indoor antenna in the Central Florida
area would be welcome. Most of the stations are in the same general
direction. There are alot of multi-story houses and apartments around, but
not many big buildings and the terrain is pancake flat.

The picture is nice too on my computers 17 inch 5:4 LCD, although the HD
shows are only a little better looking than the regular shows, but both are
much better looking than the regular over-the-air NTSC. It looked like I
was watching a good-quality DVD- there was some grain or noise in a few of
the shows, though. I showed it to my mom and she was really impressed.

oh yeah, I forgot to ask... I asked the Radio Shack clerk for an
"extension" for the antenna and he gave me a coax cable with an adapter. I
plugged it into the antenna. I notice when I layed it on the floor the
signal would cut out sometimes- in fact it only works best laying on my
desk. And sometimes if you "wiggle" the chord a bit, you get stutters in
the video. Bad cable?

"Joe" wrote in message
...
There is no such thing as a HDTV antenna. If someone tried to sell you
one,
they are liars. HDTV and digital TV stations operate on the UHF TV
frequencies.

In my area NBC in digital comes in on 11... that's VHF.

I returned the Radio Shack antenna, went to Sears to look around at the
TV's and antennas. I asked a clerk what he thought was a good antenna for
HDTV reception, and he recommended a Zenith Silver Sensor, so that's what I
bought, and it appears to work for all the channels within about 20-25 miles
(basicly all of them I could get before on analog), although I have to turn
the antenna alot for some of the channels (like UPN). It advertises itself
as a UHF antenna, but I was able to pick up the digital broadcast of NBC on
channel 11- a VHF channel.

It's been a while since I went to a Sears- they really have a nice
selection (I saw a Samsung HDTV for 699, very nice, may have to buy), unlike
Best Buy which just seems to be peddling high-end, gold plated cables
overpriced and all. I was able to buy a long coax cable too, for about half
the price. That's one thing I dislike about Radio Shack, too- all their
cables are gold plated high end now days, if you just want to set up a
simple wiring (like when I hooked up my PS2 or speaker setup) you have to
pay out the @ss for the privilege.

Does anyone have experience with one of those $20.00 plug-in-the-wall
type that turns the house wiring into one big antenna? They sell 'em
at www.heartland.com, if you want to try it out -- and if you do, let
me know.

Matt

People who have tried them have reported uniformly poor results.

Pat

I compared directly the RS antenna you have to
the ChannelMaster 4228, the CM is much better.

Jeff

"Jeff B" wrote in message
news:[email protected]_s02...
I compared directly the RS antenna you have to
the ChannelMaster 4228, the CM is much better.

The Silver Sensor seems to work well, it gets a good strong signal, my
only problem with it is they should have incorporated the coax hookup into a
rotating base (because you really have to rotate it around to get the best
signals, and coax chords tend to hold alot of tension), other than that its
fine.

Hopefully, newer tuners will be more forgiving and simpler, less
directional antennas can be used.

If you can, put up an outdoor antenna. Indoor antennas are a waist of time
in most places.
The ChannelMaster 4228 is a UHF outdoor antenna.
"Jeff B" wrote in message
news:[email protected]_s02...
I compared directly the RS antenna you have to
the ChannelMaster 4228, the CM is much better.

Jeff

I have tried a Jensen flat aplified antenna ($40) which sits on a
table top. It came highly recommended from a Best Buy employee. It
was total crap. I had to hold it sideways to even get any reception
and I was only getting 30-40%. It went back the next day. I then
tried Radio Shacks aplified antenna that rotates to programed
positions ($40). It sucked as well. I have heard from numerous people
that Radio Shacks double bowtie antenna ($15 available via special
order see their website for detail) works best so I put in an order
but it has yet to arrive. In the mean time I picked up a $3 bowtie
antenna from Radio Shack and OMG, I get near perfect reception on most
channels, and 50% on the rest. I hope the antenna on order is even
better but if its not, oh well, this $3 antenna performs good enough
for me. If anyone is looking for an antenna I highly recommend
getting this $3 antenna. At $3, you can just throw it away if it does
not work rather than having to drive somewhere to return it.

The bowtie antenna sounds like it would work, from what I've read...

I made an antenna out of a 4 inch loop of wire and it picked up alot of
stations.