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Oct 15, 2024

Best TV antennas of 2024: Indoor & outdoor models tested | TechHive

TV antennas aren’t just for cord-cutters looking to cut back on the cost of TV entertainment. A good TV antenna will bring in anywhere from 20 to more than 100 channels, depending on where you live.

TV antennas aren’t just for cord-cutters looking to cut back on the cost of TV entertainment. A good TV antenna will bring in anywhere from 20 to more than 100 channels, depending on where you live. The stations are free, don’t require a broadband connection (with the exception of some ATSC 3.0 channels using encryption), and boast higher resolution and picture quality than cable or streaming options like Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV.

But not all antennas are created equal, and there are big differences between indoor and outdoor models. Indoor antennas are supremely convenient, if not always aesthetically pleasing, but a rooftop antenna is always better than one in your home’s attic, which is always better than one that’s installed indoors.

TechHive’s editors and writers have been using and testing TV antennas for decades. Martyn Williams has relied on broadcast TV since he cut pay TV more than 12 years ago. He is a licensed amateur radio operator and understands the principles of antenna design, reception, and interference.

Our antennas evaluations are performed in a real-world location and rely on signal level and quality measurements across all TV stations. Each time we test a new antenna, we retest a competitor to ensure our comparison takes current reception conditions into consideration.

Pros

Cons

The Channel Master Flatenna 35 TV antenna delivers good performance at a low price, provided you live in an area with good local TV signals. It’s a simple matter to install and connect it, so the only thing you need to do is find a good location for it.

If you live close to TV broadcast towers, want to watch the major networks, and don’t want to spend a lot of money, the Channel Master Flatenna 35 TV antenna is a good choice.

Pros

Cons

Winegard’s FlatWave Amped delivers great performance for an indoor antenna. It’s small, lightweight, and includes an amplifier, so should work well in areas that enjoy good local TV signals.

If you live in an urban area with TV broadcast towers nearby, the Winegard FlatWave Amped is a good choice for indoor TV reception.

Pros

Cons

The Televes Dat Boss Mix LR (model 149884) is the best outdoor TV antenna we’ve tested, and a year after our initial test, it remains on my house thanks to its consistently reliable and strong performance. It delivered an excellent performance, pulling in strong signals from local and distant TV towers where reception ranges from good to poor.

If you’re able to install an antenna on your roof, the Televes Dat Boss Mix LR is an excellent choice. It should provide strong, interference-free reception for years to come.

Pros

Cons

The Ultra-Vizion Transparent Indoor Amplified antenna works well for local TV reception in areas of strong signals, and its transparent design is much more pleasing to the eye than the competition.

The Ultra-Vizion Transparent will work well in areas with strong signals, but it’s mostly for people who want to watch over-the-air broadcasts without don’t seeing a TV antenna taped to their wall or window.

Pros

Cons

The Televes Dat Boss Mix LR (model 149884) is the best outdoor TV antenna we’ve tested, and a year after our initial test, it remains on my house thanks to its consistently reliable and strong performance. It delivered an excellent performance, pulling in strong signals from local and distant TV towers where reception ranges from good to poor.

If you’re able to install an antenna on your roof, the Televes Dat Boss Mix LR is an excellent choice. It should provide strong, interference-free reception for years to come.

Pros

Cons

The Antennas Direct DB8e’s reception is as impressive as its looks. This is a large, heavy antenna that’s cleverly designed to receive weak signals with two antenna arrays. In areas of better reception, in can point to towers located in different directions.

The Antennas Direct DB8e is particularly suited for people in areas where TV stations are available from two locations far apart, as each reception array can be pointed in a different direction.

Pros

Cons

Despite its smaller size, the Winegard Elite 7550 immediately impressed with its ability to pick up more broadcast channels than most of the competition at higher signal levels. It has a built-in amplifier and performed well on both VHF-High and UHF broadcast bands.

The Winegard Elite 7550 is a good choice for anyone who cannot have a rooftop antenna but wants to pull in the maximum number of channels in their area. It will work well mounted on the side of a house, on a balcony, or in an attic.

Pros

Cons

The Clearstream 4 Max is a little larger than our top-ranked choice and wasn’t quite as good at pulling in stations, but it’s still a solid antenna. We liked its distinctive double figure-eight design and that it can receive signals from different directions, which is useful if you live in an area with broadcast towers in multiple locations.

The Antennas Direct Clearstream 4 Max will work well in areas where TV signals are strong to moderate and come from more than one direction.

Before you decide which type of TV antenna you need, you should determine which broadcast channels are available where you live.

To do this, head over to Rabbit Ears.info. It pairs the FCC’s broadcast TV database with topographical maps to give you a pretty detailed estimation of which signals will reach your house and how strong they’ll be.

Select the “Signal Search Map” and either zoom in on the map to your house or try entering the address in the search box (outlined in green, below). I have had mixed results with the search box, but try that first since it’s easier if it works. Once your house is displayed on the map, click the “Move Pushpin to Center of Map View” button beneath the map (highlighted in red, below).

The website RabbitEars is an excellent tool for determining which type of antenna you’ll need to pull in over-the-air television broadcasts.

The website RabbitEars is an excellent tool for determining which type of antenna you’ll need to pull in over-the-air television broadcasts.

Michael Brown/Foundry

The website RabbitEars is an excellent tool for determining which type of antenna you’ll need to pull in over-the-air television broadcasts.

Michael Brown/Foundry

Michael Brown/Foundry

Click the “Go” button and you’ll get something like this in return:

RabbitEars will generate a list of TV broadcast tower locations in the vicinity of your home address, which you can use to determine which antenna you’ll need to pull those channels in.

RabbitEars will generate a list of TV broadcast tower locations in the vicinity of your home address, which you can use to determine which antenna you’ll need to pull those channels in.

Michael Brown/Foundry

RabbitEars will generate a list of TV broadcast tower locations in the vicinity of your home address, which you can use to determine which antenna you’ll need to pull those channels in.

Michael Brown/Foundry

Michael Brown/Foundry

The table above above looks complicated, but it’s really not. The strongest signals are at the top and weakest at the bottom. They’re also labeled “Good,” “Fair,” “Poor,” and “Bad” according to how strong they are at your location.

To find the right antenna for you, consider these criteria:

As a rule of thumb, indoor antennas are suitable for areas with strong or very strong signals, attic/outdoor antennas work in areas of medium signal strength, and larger outdoor antennas are best for areas surrounded by weak signals.

In addition to signal strength, the RabbitEars table lists the channel numbers advertised on air, while the number in brackets is the actual broadcast channel (for more on this, read on). TV network details follow, along with the station name and the distance from the transmitter to your location. Reception depends a lot on local conditions, but whatever the environment, it starts getting difficult beyond 50 to 75 miles.

The list also includes the direction of the transmitter, which is important. Not all TV signals you want will necessarily come from the same geographic location.

Martyn Williams/Foundry

Martyn Williams/Foundry

Martyn Williams/Foundry

Predicting which antenna will work with certainty is almost impossible. The information garnered from sites like RabbitEars will provide a strong indication of what should work, but there are other variables at work.

In some areas, especially in cities or areas with lots of hills, signals can bounce off obstacles like buildings and cause interference, trees can grow leaves in the spring and block stations you got fine in the winter, and atmospheric conditions can alter the way signals reach your house.

Moving an antenna just a little to one side or up and down can have a big effect on reception. If you’re putting up an external antenna, one side of your roof might bring in nothing while the other side provides perfect reception.

Your next step is to figure out which stations you want to watch. After all, there’s no point wasting time trying to get weak stations if all your favorite shows are on strong ones.

You can check a TV listing guide to see everything that’s on the air in your local area and make a list of which stations you want to watch. You’ll probably need to enter your zip code and be sure to choose “antenna” or “over the air” as your TV provider in the online program guide, so you don’t get cable channels you can’t receive with an antenna mixed in.

Once you’ve made your list, examine the RabbitEars results to find the channels you want to watch. Write down the number in parenthesis, which is the “real channel,” the “Direction (true),” and the color (green, yellow, or red). The colors will inform you if an indoor antenna will be sufficient, or if you’ll need an attic or roof-mounted model to pull them in.

It’s important to remember that any indoor antenna will a compromise. You will always get better results with an attic model, and best results with an outdoor antenna.

Many indoor antennas are flat, so they’re easy to set up, usually by hanging them in a window on the side of the house facing the transmitter. Some look different but the principle is the same: Install them in a favorable location.

Indoor antennas are typically fine for all the strong local channels, but if you want channels that are weaker or further away, you might need to go larger and put an antenna in your attic space or on your roof. If you don’t want to climb onto your roof, and you have an attic, the Winegard Elite 7550 can be installed either in your attic or on your roof. The higher you can go with an antenna–and the fewer line-of-sight obstacles to the broadcast towers you’re looking to tune in–the better your TV reception will be.

This TV antenna has a motorized rotator attached to its mast, which you can use to turn the antenna to point it in the direction of the broadcast tower whose signals you want to tune in.

This TV antenna has a motorized rotator attached to its mast, which you can use to turn the antenna to point it in the direction of the broadcast tower whose signals you want to tune in.

Martyn Williams/Foundry

This TV antenna has a motorized rotator attached to its mast, which you can use to turn the antenna to point it in the direction of the broadcast tower whose signals you want to tune in.

Martyn Williams/Foundry

Martyn Williams/Foundry

If you install your antenna in the attic, you’ll probably get slightly less signal than if it was on the roof because it’s an enclosed space, but it might be enough to get stable TV reception. If you hate the look of an outdoor antenna, then experiment. An attic-mounted antenna will also be easier to maintain.

The direction of the TV transmitter tower is also important. If you’re using an indoor antenna, you’ll want to put it in a window facing that direction. If you’re using an outdoor antenna, it should be pointed in that direction. As signals get weaker, going from green to yellow to gray, the direction becomes more important. If you want to tune in weaker stations from towers in different directions, you’ll probably need an antenna rotator. This motorized device will turn the antenna so that it’s oriented to pull in those weaker signals when you want to watch them.

Knowing the real channel number will help you select an antenna. TV broadcasting in North America is spread across three frequency bands: VHF-Low (channels 2 through 6), VHF-High (channels 7 through 13), and UHF (channels 14 through 51). Because of the different frequencies in use, antennas are designed to cover one, two, or three bands. Not every antenna covers them all.

A length of coaxial cable cut and ready for a connector to be attached.

A length of coaxial cable cut and ready for a connector to be attached.

Martyn Williams/Foundry

A length of coaxial cable cut and ready for a connector to be attached.

Martyn Williams/Foundry

Martyn Williams/Foundry

The connection from your antenna to your TV is every bit as important as the antenna itself. You need a high-quality coaxial cable (“coax” for short) for the job. Coax has a center wire that carries the signal and is surrounded by a plastic insulator. An outer braid shields the center cable from interference, and an outer sheath protects the cable from the elements.

If you’re ditching satellite for over-the-air TV, you can probably use the existing coaxial cable from the satellite dish, but if it doesn’t work, be prepared to buy and run new coax. Make the cable a single run if possible because you’ll lose a little signal strength each time you use barrel connectors to tie shorter cables together. The most common type of coax cable for TV is called RG-6.

TechHive tests TV antennas in a location in Northern Viriginia, in the Washington, D.C. metro area. (Until 2020, we tested in the San Francisco Bay Area, so you might see references to that location in older reviews). This location receives strong signals from local TV stations, but presents several challenges: There are a large number of trees around to influence reception; some of the independent D.C. TV stations are weak and difficult to receive; and channels from the distant Baltimore market can only be received with good antennas.

Indoor antennas are tested indoors, and outdoor antennas are tested mounted out of doors. Each time we test a new antenna, we retest our current top pick to ensure a fair benchmark based on current reception conditions.

We use a HD HomeRun set-top box to scan for channels and record the number of RF channels received by each antenna, their strength, and quality. Each RF channel carries a number of digital stations, but the number is different per channel and can change, so just counting the number of stations received isn’t a reliable measurement. We scan several times and adjust the direction of the antenna on some rescans.

Our top picks are the antennas that receive the largest number of stations with the highest signal level in both the UHF (channels 14 through 51) and VHF-High (channels 7 through 13) bands, which are the primary TV broadcast bands.

All the antennas we test are suitable for reception of NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) signals. In fact, the new broadcast standard promises more reliable reception, which should help antenna users. In our Northern Virginia location, there are 3 NextGen TV transmitters within reach at differing power levels, so these add to the depth of our tests.

The new format also promises some interactive and streaming functionality, and many channels employ digital rights management (DRM) encryption, so you’ll also need an broadband connection if you want to enjoy many of the channels. Most TVs and some set-top boxes support encryption and interactive functions, so check before you buy.

Martyn has been reporting on the tech industry for more than 30 years. He started in the U.K, writing for European publications, and then spent 16 years in Japan. For most of that time, Martyn was a correspondent for IDG News Service, covering the consumer electronics industries in Japan and South Korea. He relocated to the U.S. in 2011, where he maintains his passion for technology. Martyn is a licensed amateur radio operator and, in addition to authoring TechHive's TV antenna reviews, he can often be found designing his own antennas and communicating with people around the world.