20 Best Outdoor Hd Antenna Cnet (2022 Updated)

While I was a little hesitant to spend more than $100 for an indoor antenna, it’s clear the choice was well worth the price. I’ve never had this many channels with those flat, paper thin antennas you can place on a window.

I live fairly close to several broadcast towers, I didn’t have much luck getting a reliable signal until purchase this antenna. I installed it in a crawl space in my attic onto a wall frame beam underneath the roof.

I was amazed to get around four dozen channels and all the local ones that matter for sports and what not. Easy to install and setup. I’d highly recommend purchasing this antenna if you have the space for it.

However, it doesn’t seem sturdy enough to install outdoors, but I wasn’t looking for that option even though this can supposedly weather it. Maybe someplace that isn’t like the northeast with our winters, I’d feel more comfortable placing it outdoors.

excellent antenna. works great. i live in a rural area well outside city limits. i pick up tv stations as far as 80 miles with it. also, its not so intrusive looking on the outside of your home, if you choose to mount it on your roof.

mine is mounted on a post, 100′ from my home along the west side of the property facing an open farm field. this antenna has been through some serious weather this past summer, including high winds, and heavy rains.

it has not faltered at all. i have no doubt it will be fine through the winter months. 1 downside is it does not like splitters on the antenna side of the coax. i had to remove one that was installed prior to me living here.

fortunately, i only have one tv to use on it. now if only they could come up with a long range antenna like this in Bi-directional.

I haven’t yet been able to put the antenna in my attic, as I’d planned, because it’s consistently been 100 or more degrees up there, but I have it in the highest point of my second floor, or about 18 feet over ground level.

The terrain near my house and most of the terrain between my house and local TV broadcast towers is fairly flat or slowly rolling — I’d call it “central Midwest mildly glaciated. ” Columbus has two buildings over 500 feet tall and another 10 or 12 greater than 350 feet, and dozens, if not 100 or so, taller than 150 feet.

There are several big structures like Ohio Stadium (seating for 110,000) between me and some of the towers. In central Ohio, we have about 40 subchannels broadcasting off about 12 primary channels. It took me two days to find the optimum place to get the majority of these channels, but the antenna will receive about 46 of the 52 stations that are offered, and it pulls in a weak signal on one main channel that has five subs on a channel I’d describe as “usually, but not always-watchable.

” One channel — the PBS affiliate and its four subchannels broadcasting from about 20 miles away — is often (I’m estimating half the time) usually not received at all. It’s normally a normal-to-high-powered UHF station, so there may be some technical problem to explain why it’s not being received, and not just by me, but by several friends who live between me and their tower.

In general, the antenna was a little pricey for the improvements I’ve seen in channel reception. I may have a better idea of its abilities after I move it to the attic, but realistically, that move isn’t going to greatly increase the height or minimize the distance or the obstructions that could detract from the reception I’m getting.

In my case, the difference between this antenna (at about $99) and a more-affordable antenna (at $29 or so) is this: I can now receive about 1/3 of the channels available in my area that I wasn’t receiving with a $29 antenna.

That is, I was formerly unable to receive about 1/3 of the channels (or roughly 15-20 channels of 52) that broadcast in my area, but now, I’m getting a signal on most of those 15-20, which aren’t available with a cheaper antenna.

In addition, another 15-20% of the 52 available local channels have improved their signal from “unwatchable or unavailable half the time” to “usually watchable, and with a good picture. ” Some of the offerings I can now receive with my new antenna are a couple of old movie channels, in addition to GRIT TV, and another pretty good network that shows reruns of Law and Order franchises, including SVU, and a couple of similar stations.

Also “new-to-me” are two more home shopping networks, which I care nothing about. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet been able to check out one more reason I bought the antenna — I plan to split the signal and, using a signal amplifier, run a second cable to the main TV in my second floor family room.

I’m sure the usual $19 or $29 antennas that I often use wouldn’t be strong enough to provide an adequate signal to TVs on two different floors. So in general, don’t expect to pick up channels broadcasting from 100 miles away, but stations broadcasting from 50-60 miles away is a good possibility, if you can find some higher-than-normal ground to fix the antenna to.

DO NOT buy if you want a good indoor VHF antenna. i live about 16 miles away from jacksonville florida towers. about 50 from ION. i installed indoors in my room. tested many, this doing the best all aroundResults with each antenna:Target phillips antenna (35 miles) 14-17 ch$3 Garage sale antenna (also phillips) 14-19 chfun fact, im now using that antenna for my sony xdr-s10hdip hd radio and gets good FM.

Generic flat 200+ mile range UJM antenna got 17-22 chClearstream 2v (the one youre viewing) 17-37 chUHF reception is very very good, with a reflector that also helps. the ION station 50 miles away almost every day comes in CRYSTAL CLEAR, even at night the other UHFs come in just fine 24/7 heck every once on a while i get a low powered repeater HSN stationVHF is poor even in a good reception place i’ve tested it in.

however. again, im in a pretty bad OTA room. the coax cable part is a nightmare despite having rg6 quad shield. put it 1 area, lose nbc and pbs and abc (the 3 VHF) however make the coax spot on if a unnecessarily long cable run is made, maybe a loop or two, and twist it around at the center (make sure both ends are in fine) i then usually get 1 VHF channel (NBC), abc and pbs are 50/50 for even showing up, but are very pixelated, suprised they even shown up (the VHF part of antenna is the long black stick like object on top or grill like reflector, UHF 2 circles.

oh and it was the ONLY antenna ive tested that got a vhf crystal clear in my room. impressive, but even when i get NO vhf stations, thats to be expected. i don’t care. really. overall this antenna performed very well if coax is laid and bent just right, especially because it was low at a window facing somwhat wrong from tv towers, with cars, trees, and a bush 2 feet away, very good, even gets repeater SD HSNstation every once in a while.

will not move for a whileUPDATE: sold online, i couldn’t take it’s awful VHF reception anymore.

This is my third type of antenna. Just got this. It’s a SUPER extremely high windy day, I’m high up in the mountains and tall trees, rural area 38 miles from Pittsburgh but about 25 from the nearest tower I think.

ABC has been the acid test station. All others come in with indoor antennas but that one according to TV Fool I need outdoor up high to get it. Hooked this up quickly, scanned and got 45 channels including ABC out of Pittsburgh, a shock.

The Mohu Leaf I have, got ABC from other cities but never Pittsburgh. Problem became: it had to be moved around constantly according to station and weather, causing me to tape it with packing tape onto the window rather than secure it more firmly.

So it fell many times and sat on my baseboard heater, warping it about 10 different times so it’s no longer flat. Impressively, it still gets channels but is getting continuously worse and more pixelated, and no ABC, no way, no how, from nowhere, ever.

No Shark Tank. Thought of getting another Mohu since it did work okay at first except for the moving around of it, bit decided to try this one. I had to point this a certain direction to get everything in.

First I had to pointing through the window and all is fine. So I moved it behind the tv set to hide it, it’s pointing through a wall and everything is still coming in including ABC. A good sign. A plastic part which holds the rabbit ears onto the grate broke while I was putting it together, so that part failed and if it’s outside that would not hold it on.

I have to exchange it, but I will probably get another one since it’s picking up so well indoors. Wondering how much better if it’s put outside under my deck cover, or if it’s even needed. I pretty much am getting what I need inside so far.

I’m hopeful. I’m sure it depends on your particular situation but it’s worth trying, especially from WalMart since they are good about returns.

I bought this antenna at a Walmart store. I had it assembled and mounted in 30 minutes as I leisurely assembled it. I live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida 34 miles northwest (according to antennaweb.

com) from the transmitting towers in Riverview. I had used an RCA ANT751R which is a very good antenna and worked very well in the sun. I would, however, have “no signal” if there was any rain between me in Dunedin and Riverview for channels 8, 10, 13 & 44 until the rain stopped.

That was aggravating if it rained all day! This Clearstream 2V is unaffected by the weather. The most stations I got with one full scan with the RCA antenna aimed at Riverview was 50. This Clearstream 2V pulled in a whopping 67 channels aimed at Riverview including ALL the low power channels as well.

That is amazing! My house is surrounded by trees so a direct visual line of sight is impossible to acquire. I also bought the premium extra shielded R6 cable at Walmart and the picture quality is now simply outstanding when watching old TV shows taped in the 70’s and 80’s compared to the quality before I got that cable.

The old TV programs are much better and clearer to see than before. In conclusion, this antenna is unbeatable in my opinion for clear reception in any type of weather or blocking line of sight factors such as foliage here in Tampa Bay.

I truly believe it is worth it to get the premium R6 cable as well from my own personal experience.

Having read a lot of reviews I decided to take a shot at this antenna. I put it in our attic and I get channels from 35 miles away. We are at a high elevation. It does a good job but with mountains, buildings, the curvature of the earth, etc.

you should know that if you put the antenna atop a 150 tree it will get a better signal but I am not going to do that and neither are most others. If you check out a map of your local broadcast antennas you will have a basic idea of what you may get.

Prior to this, I had a little rabbit ear sort of thing with chicken wire I rigged up and got channels 25 miles away. The fact that I can rotate it remotely is helpful and it does pull in more channels with more clarity.

We live out in the country on my private property that is in the middle of a State Forestry! This means satellite is iffy here. I bought the onn. Outdoor Motorized Antenna couple of years back. I installed it myself, and immediately went from 3 to 47 channels that came in perfect and a few that did not but we’re still watchable! I was impressed to say the least! The antenna has held up against some incredible storms without failure! I haven’t even had to sweep the snow off for it to work.

I have lost the remote control a few times but you can still rotate the antenna using the box that hooks the cables to the tv. This is great for me cause if you have kids then you know what it’s like to lose a controller.

I would definitely recommend this product to friends and family members.

I never write positive reviews unfortunately but i was impressed with this especially for the price. I had a clear tv antenna that picked up 8 stations. joke of a product. No lie 40 stations, they may not be what i like but they are stations as well as it improves my selection hands down! Great product.

The only negative is and its not the company’s fault but kind of is. i bought one before this of the same product and i got home and it had been used in the part that connects to the wall that rotates was cracked.

so I was thinking hey they damaged it and returned it which they did but when I got the second one and installed it it was new but I could see the reason why it cracked there because there’s really no support so I actually put some JB weld the type that you knead and it turns to metal and it helped secure it.

I have an off grid cabin (solar powered) on 136 acres and was wanting an antenna to get a few channels, mainly news or some sporting events, on the tv while we are there. I initially purchased an inexpensive antenna that was rectangular to be placed inside the cabin, but every single time the tv was turned off (or for absolutely no reason at all), I had to rescan for channels or re-position to get anything at all.

I decided it was time to upgrade to something a little bit more permanent and that was better quality. I am a huge fan of the GE brand and while looking at the choices in the store this was a definite front runner for me.

It comes with an instruction sheet and was not difficult to put together, took less than 5 minutes. We have a metal roof on the cabin, but my husband was easily able to secure the antenna on a pole (purchased separately).

We really are in the middle of nowhere so we had no idea which way to point the antenna, but with him on the roof and me inside scanning for channels, we were able to find the best position and get around 25 channels.

Some of the channels were ones we wouldn’t care for (old westerns, infomercials, etc) but we were super excited to get the local news.

It’s not as powerful as we’d hoped. Especially compared to our over 25 yr old radio shack antenna of same design but shorter. It seems to real picky as to where u aim it to get in signals. The radio shack antenna picked up signal in a more broad range.

It seems to be more sensitive to atmospheric changes as well. Rain will cause signal loss on some channels. Again not a problem on the old antenna. Some channels are coming in a bit better but the other issues are just about a deal breaker.

Not worth the extra money we paid for slightly better reception.

This replaced a 54 element antenna with definitely improved reception. Distant (50+ miles) stations come in with rarer drop-outs. The material quality is much better than imports. Thicker, sturdier metal and plastic parts.

Still, be careful when assembling. Open by putting pressure nearer to the fulcrum, not at the ends where everything can bend more easily. A real plus that it’s made in America.

Design of downlead box requires a staking of the contacts to 4 aluminum rods. Box is not sealed, only held with 4 plastic tabs, is thin warped plastic and leaks to elements and insects. My antenna lasted less than a year before surface mounted components and board corroded.

Contact with Winegard told me it is only covered for 90 days. That tells a lot that a manufacturer will only warranty a passive item for such a short time. New box is another $25, Winegard says you are on your own.

Very common problem with this antenna. Now in the recycling pile.

This antenna was easy to assemble in just a few minutes. If you are not very handy the instruction book will guide you through the assembly. After I had it assembled I decided to mount it in my attic as far to the roof as I could and ran the line to a tv in my garage.

I actually live in a residential area and prefer not to mount this to the top of my house so that is why I proffered to do the attic installation. I used the included mount to make a nice installation look in my attic without any problems.

I had analog cable out in my garage and thought that having a crystal clear digital signal would be nice to watch football games while I work. I went to the website antennaweb and looked up what channels to expect to receive.

I live in a rural area at least 50 miles from the nearest cities and expected to get about 14 channels per the website. After I hooked up the tv to the antenna and did the channel scan I got 17 stations which included PBS,CBS,FOX,NBC, and ABC.

The antenna picked up some of the same networks from multiple surrounding cities. Pretty impressed with how many stations this antenna picked up especially for its size and the area that I live in. All stations had crystal clear picture which is great.

It was packaged very well from the factory with everything arriving in great condition after I opened up the box and the actual construction of the parts feel of good quality but surprising light weight when fully assembled.

Excited to watch football games in high def.

Antenna seems to be made well. Brought in a couple more channels than my other antenna. Only thing it is real light and not much wind will distort some channels. I like the design though except for the lightness and ease of bumping around.

All in all I would recommend this antenna because it does as well as all the other ones I have used.

GE Quadcore HD Outdoors Antenna So I decided to save some money and cancel my cable. Then I got this GE Quadcore HD outdoor antenna. It has a long-range up to 70 miles allowing me to receive free local HDTV channels like Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC, and more.

Plus it has 4K fullHD 1080 clarity. Now I am saving over $60 a month and it came with a lifetime warranty. It was Whole Home Ready so I was able to use coaxial cable and connect my whole home to the GE outdoor antenna.

Pros long-range 70 miles. Cons take me about 30 minutes to find the right spot.

I purchased this antenna for my guest room tv which does not have cable. Assembly was easy to understand. I don’t think this antenna will hold up in outside weather. That’s why I removed one star. Just to test I connected to tv.

I got 2 local channels. I am planning to put in the highest point in attic but not sure how I will test if I can get more channels before going through the effort. The remote for rotation works alright.

I am still not sure the purpose of the booster box. I see same channels even if the booster box is turned off. Anyways saves me some electricity and trouble to keep one more power connection on.

had direct TV and nothing but infomercials for $78. this was $45 once and I get all the basic channels and couple of extras for free. also in HD!! took 10 minutes to hook up and we were watching football!!.

This is the second one I have bought. I have 2 properties on a lake that is below a large hill. Picked up 22 channels. Very happy with that. Also it is very attractive and looks great. I love it.

When I ordered this I didn’t realize it was intended to be a outdoor antenna. That being said, there’s still many good qualities about this GE Antenna with a few notes as to why it’s okay as a indoor antenna.

Included in the box is the antenna, grommets for the predrilled holes for the screws and anchors which are provided. But, no coaxial cable which I found understandable given that it’s not known how far from the television you’ll need to install it.

They recommend in their rather short guide that it be installed under the eave of the roof. It’s black in color but that placement would make it unnoticeable. For my purposes I had only a short coaxial cable (about 3 feet long) just to be able to test this antenna.

On first scan I received 15 digital channels which actually isn’t bad for my area as I live within 15 miles of Providence Rhode Island. I find that a second scan after sunset picks up a few more and I believe that a longer coaxial cable and different placement on a outer wall will give me even more channels.

This is a lightweight non-amplified antenna that is of good quality and does the job very well. I recommend it.

This antenna works like a charm! You have to put it together which was not as difficult as I expected! You have to mount this antenna on a stud outside! After putting in this antenna, most every channel is about 5 of 5 bars! And I’m able to pickup an additional 10 channels! Pretty good! For cord cutters, this is the best way to go to get your locals for free! A simple way to save!! Love this antenna.

It works but so does all the other rotor models. It has the same faults as the rest. I bought one as my first. It lasted about 2 yrs. Most will. The worse problem with them all is the cable that they come with that runs from the antenna to the splitter, it you use one or the box.

It cracks within a year or so. Not made from the best material. Best to go to Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot. Any one that sells coaxial cable and get a the better cable. The other is the box. They usually work for about 2 yrs before they start going out.

The antennas last, the motors last. It’s the cables and the box and the box cost about $30. At least half the cost of the whole package. My thought is buy any of the rotating models, The boxes almost look alike , just different colors.

The box is the brains of the whole thing. The antenna won’t run even one TV if the box is not working. That is the amplifier which these small, 18″ antennas need to even give a signal period. I have been off cable and satellite for several years now and have owned about 3 of these antennas and I am fixing to buy my 4th.

All different models.

It would have been nice to know the max length of the coax cable from the antenna was only 50’. Didn’t realize until bought and saw manual. Reception was terrible. Also it looks nothing like the picture.

All plastic so I doubt it would have held up after years in the sun. Fins on back are so flimsy too. Very cheaply made.

I was surprised when the box arrived it was much smaller than I expected. My first thought was there must be a million parts to this thing. Surprised again when I opened it. The few component pieces were easy to assemble and the only thing I will re-emphasize is restrain yourself from over tightening everything.

I removed my old 9′ antenna and straightened up the mast. Mounted the LAVA HD2605 and connected it to the existing coax. I aimed it the same direction the old antenna had been. Finishing the inside connections as per the directions and turned on the TV.

WOW! 33 stations and every one of them perfect. I didn’t even need to rotate it. I own a really good TV I never knew how good until I connected it to this antenna. I live in a rural area with out cable and lots of hills.

To get satellite was another project so for years I had to be content with what ever I got from my antenna. It was big and subject to the winds and weather. I could get 26 stations but half of them were un-watchable if it was windy or raining.

It was now obvious that none of them were coming in as true HD with my old antenna. With the LAVA 2605 the TV shows are amazing, sharp, colorful, like never before. I don’t have a monster antenna hanging over my house anymore.

Every channel comes in perfect no matterwhat the weather is doing. Wind, rain, snow, even the big pine trees out back do not affect this antenna. Not that I ever did but I don’t have to pay someone to provide my TV entertainment.

Paying for garbage TV? You may want to consider this option and save yourself a pile of cash every year. I can buy a lot of movies and boxed TV shows for what cable and satellite companies charge. Some of my neighbors noticed the big antenna is gone and wondered what I had put up that is so much smaller.

I invited them in to see my TV. They all agreed my reception and definition are much better than what they are getting. I expect to see a few more of these antennas around soon. This was a great investment.

This outdoor antenna gets the job done! Mounted it on the top of my chimney, facing majority of broadcast signals. Picked up over 25 extra channels with NO PIXELATION. Even picked up stations from an entirely different direction.

Mine was mounted 30 above ground and trimmed tree branches for line of sight in direction. Very happy with this compared to $20 indoor antenna which fabricate miles of coverage. Previously purchased flat indoor window antenna.

Received 50 channels, with constant pixelation. If your broadcast towers are over 25 miles away you need either a high end indoor $75+ or this Yagi at half the price. Easy to install. Masonry anchors into brick chimney , cable secured down the brick.

Drill hole through house wall. Crimp ends on cable. wallah. 75 channels clear as cable.

In Tampa/St Pete area. Had trouble getting NBC with indoor antenna. This was the only reason I couldn’t cancel my subscription to Hulu Live. I picked up this antenna because it was the only one at my Walmart under $100.

Assembly was easy. Be careful! There are some sharp edges and I cut my fingers on them. I was able to pull in 27 channels standing in my garage but still no NBC. I went up to my attic and rescanned still no NBC.

My friend told me to download an app that would tell me which direction to point the antenna. That did the trick. It picked up 50 channels and NBC. Canceled Hulu Live the next day. Using Amazon Recast and wanted to make sure I liked the interface.

I did break the thing that the coax cable attaches to. I picked on up at local hardware store for $5. You can search for “TV Antenna adapter transformer Blaun” to find a replacement.

This antenna was fairly easy to put together. Take your time. Use the pictures! I used my old Direct TV cable to hook the antenna up. Ground wire already on old Direct tv cable. I did NOT have to add a signal amp set-up to this to get a great picture and more channels.

I put this antenna on the end of my house at the peak of my roof. It is not very big or noticeable. Works great, for $40 it’s a steal.

Wow! This antenna works great. Putting it together is a chore, but it’s well worth it. It replaces a Radio Shack VU-190XR that I’ve been using for 20 years. I added a Winegard LNA200 to the VU-190XR a couple years ago.

The old combination worked well, but the HD8200U & the same LNA200 works even better. I get more gain on all 3 TV bands, and FM reception is better too.

If you live near a large metropolitan area, this may be just what you need to receive most channels. It is a UHF antenna. (You should not expect Walmart to tell you that. ) Even UHF antennas receive some VHF signals, but they are pretty much omnidirectional for VHF.

The three small elements in front (directors) are sized for channels in the 700 to 900 Mhz range which mostly no longer exist as TV channels. So, for most channels you will receive, it is a 2 element antenna.

It has a built in transformer, so you connect an F connector cable directly to the antenna. Most antenna distance claims are worthless including this one. It depends on the height of the antenna and terrain between you and the TV tower that transmits the signal to you.

The number of channels you receive are dependent on how many channels are being transmitted in your area. If you are disappointed in this antenna, you could buy a better one from Channel Master, a company that has been making antennas since before most of us were born, and whose distance claims are somewhat realistic.

It is very easy to put together in under 15 minutes. We have it placed on two outdoor TV poles so roughly 16 ft up and we are able to pick up 30 channels. We do live in a rural area with the closest broadcasting area being 55 miles away from either Northern and Southern stations.

We had a non amplified antenna that was alright but this one provides crisp channels and brings in a few others that we were not able to obtain before. Also, able to bring in channels clear when they start to pixilate by rotating the antenna.

I was looking for an antenna that is not dependent on electricity. I am very pleased with this little antenna. I am getting most of the local channels in my area with little to no pixelation. I am using this antenna as an indoor antenna at this time, and the picture is very clear.

Note: I placed the antenna as high as I can get inside my house, and I had to test for the best location and position in the room to put the antenna.