I was disappointed with my reception using my old Radio Shack 15-1868 indoor rabbit-ears antenna. I didn't receive channel 66, and I wanted to at least see what was on channel 66. I received the three major networks and Fox fine, but none of the fringe-UHF stations the FCC said I should be able to receive at my location.
I bought another Radio Shack antenna -- this time the "Outdoor HTDV Antenna," SKU number 15-2152 with the last money left on my two-year-old Radio Shack gift card. Since it was a huge, 80-something-inch antenna, it must receive better, right? I mounted it in my attic, two floors above the indoor rabbit ears, and hooked it up via quad-shield RG58. Excitedly, I ran back down to my man-cave and scanned through the channels again.
At first, I lost channels 4, 26, and 32. After minor direction adjustments, I received all previous channels as well as 23 (analog), 25 (analog), 30, 47 and 66. While there's nothing I'm going to be watching on channel 66, I definitely receive more stations than before. Best of all, the new stations are free, so I'm one step closer to eliminating my cable bill.
If you can run a cable to your attic, and you have a traditional, non-steel roof (like the asphalt shingle here), then you can mount your antenna there. I'm not about to distract from the beauty of my Icom Discone mounted on my chimney with a cheap aluminum TV antenna. And that antenna is cheap and I got aluminum dust all over my hands assembling it. Since it's going to stay in a corner of my attic, I don't mind. If you're looking for the 15-2152 antenna on Radio Shack's site, it's gone. It was discontinued and cheap to buy.
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