Outdoor TV Antenna

[Mike2]

What do you use for an outdoor TV antenna?  I am surrounded by trees and in a bit of a valley so any antennas that work good in those situations would be awesome.

[Khaetra]

Head over to either TVfool or antennaweb and put in your address.  They will tell you what channels you can receive and also what kind of antenna you'll need.

[Bettis]

I second those sites (I prefer TVFool) but as far as the actual antenna, I use one whose model is 91XG.  It is better for UHF channels (14-51)  VHF channels are 2-13 and will still come in if close enough but not as well.  If you post your TVFool results, I'd be happy to take a look.  You may also want a rotator so that you can change the position of the antenna.  Channel Master makes the one I have and it is remote powered so no having to get up to turn the dial.

[NoCreativity]

I bought the best one that Best Buy had at the time and I've been super happy with it. We watch HD local channels now to get local news / weather and the signal is incredibly stable even in heavy storms compared to satellite that we had previously. I didn't use those sites but I don't think they'd be useful for me anyways, since we live in an area with just a few local channels to begin with.

[Fishindude]

25 Years ago when we bought our place in the country, very few had satellite dishes.  We installed a 75' antenna with rotor, and it has worked well ever since, we get about 20 channels for free.   We have a satellite too now, if it was just my call I'd be fine with the antenna and renting an occasional movie.   

[Spork]

I second (third? fourth?) the suggestion for tvfool or antennaweb.

What is also very important is knowing where the broadcast antennas are.  Where I used to live, they were all in one area on high ground.  Now they are every which direction.

If they're in one area, you can get a directional antenna.  If not, you'll either need a rotator or an omnidirectional.  And if you're using a DVR with multiple receivers, you're pretty much going to have to go with the omni.

[AlwaysLearningToSave]

I bought this antenna and have been very pleased with it:

http://store.gomohu.com/sky-60-attic-outdoor-hdtv-antenna.html

I mostly bought it because I did not want a big, ugly wire contraption on top of my house.  This is much more discrete than a "regular" antenna and has great signal quality.  It has to be a very bad storm for us to have problems with lost signal.