Which TV antenna do you need?

Start with your distance and direction

Look up your address in the tower finder or open your city's channel guide. Two numbers decide which antenna you need:

• The distance to the farthest network tower you want to watch. If ABC is 12 miles away but CBS is 48 miles away and you want both, plan for 48 miles.
• How spread out the towers are. If every tower sits within about 45° of the same compass direction, one directional antenna catches them all. If they are spread over 90° or more, you need a multi-directional antenna, a rotator, or a compromise aim.

Every city page on this site does that maths for you and prints a recommendation, but the table below explains the reasoning so you can sanity-check it.

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Why the mileage on the box is optimistic

TV signals travel in nearly straight lines. Because the Earth curves away, a transmitter's signal starts to fade quickly once you pass its radio horizon. For a typical full-power tower around 300 m (1,000 ft) tall, that horizon is roughly 45 to 50 miles for an antenna at ground level. A rooftop antenna and atmospheric bending stretch that, which is why 60 to 80 miles is a realistic limit in flat country.

Antennas sold as “150-mile” or “250-mile” models assume a very tall tower, perfectly flat terrain and no obstructions. No antenna changes the curvature of the Earth. Compare gain (in dBi), the physical size of the elements and whether the antenna is directional. Those numbers mean something; the mileage claim mostly does not.

Indoor, attic or outdoor?

Every wall, roof and window between the antenna and the tower costs signal. Roughly, from best to worst:

1. Outdoors on a mast or roof. Nothing in the way, and every extra foot of height helps, especially past 30 miles.
2. In the attic. Asphalt shingles and wood cost a few dB. Metal roofs, solar panels, foil-faced insulation and radiant barriers can block most of the signal.
3. Indoors on an upstairs window facing the towers. Glass is usually transparent to TV signals, but low-E coated windows are not.
4. Indoors on an inside wall or downstairs. Brick, concrete, stucco with wire mesh and metal siding all absorb signal.

The best indoor TV antenna setup for weak signals

If you cannot mount anything outside, these steps usually make more difference than the antenna you buy:

• Go high and face the towers. Tape a flat antenna to the top of the window that faces your towers' compass bearing. Upstairs beats downstairs every time.
• Try every window. Run a channel scan at each one. Results can change completely a few feet away because of reflections inside the house.
• Pick a bigger antenna, not a stronger amplifier. A larger element catches more signal; an amplifier only boosts what was caught, plus the noise. See the amplifier guide.
• Keep it away from electronics and metal. Routers, LED drivers, computers and metal blinds add noise or reflect the signal.
• Use a short, good coax cable. Long thin cables bundled with cheap antennas lose signal. Use RG6 and keep it as short as you can.
• If it is still weak, move up a tier. An attic antenna is often the cheapest real improvement.

Directional or multi-directional?

A directional antenna (often called a Yagi) concentrates its sensitivity into a narrow beam. It reaches farther and rejects reflections and interference from other directions, but you have to aim it. A multi-directional antenna listens all around. It is easier to install, but it has less gain and picks up more reflected signal.

Our city pages measure how spread out your main network towers are. Over about 60° of spread, they suggest a multi-directional antenna or a rotator. If you want to point a directional antenna anyway, aim at the farthest or weakest tower; the closer ones usually come in off-axis.

VHF, UHF and what an “HD antenna” really is

There is no such thing as a special digital or 4K antenna. Any antenna receives digital TV; “HDTV antenna” is marketing. What does matter is the band. Since the 2017–2020 spectrum repack, US TV stations use three bands: low-VHF (real channels 2–6), high-VHF (7–13) and UHF (14–36). Most stations are on UHF, but many markets still have one or two important stations on VHF.

The channel number your TV shows is a virtual channel and often differs from the real (RF) channel the station transmits on. Many small flat antennas are weak on VHF. If a strong nearby station will not come in while everything else does, it is probably on VHF, and an antenna with longer VHF elements or telescoping dipoles will fix it.

NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0)

Some stations now also broadcast in ATSC 3.0, marketed as NextGen TV. Your antenna does not need to change. Your TV or converter box needs an ATSC 3.0 tuner to decode those broadcasts. In most markets the same channels are still simulcast in the older ATSC 1.0 format that every digital TV supports.

When there is too much signal

Living within a few miles of a tower can cause trouble too. A very strong signal can overload the tuner or an amplifier, and channels break up even though the signal meter shows high strength. If your city page shows a “Strong” station under 10 miles away, start with a plain unamplified antenna, and point it slightly off the tower if that channel pixelates.