For this year’s project, Consumer Reports tried each antenna in two locations. The first was in an apartment in Riverdale, N.Y., a Bronx neighborhood about 12 miles north of the heart of Manhattan. At this location, which has an unobstructed view to the south where the city’s broadcast towers are placed, we found little difference among the antennas. All were able to pull in between 90 and 100 primary and digital subchannels.
Next, we moved our tests about 20 miles further north to an apartment in White Plains, a city in Westchester County, N.Y., where we did find reception differences among the antennas. We attached the flat antennas to a window on clear days. (One model with a different design was placed on the windowsill.) Signal strength typically is stronger near a window, and that’s the result we used when calculating our rankings. We also put each antenna outside the window on a balcony to see whether reception improved, although only one model is actually rated for outdoor use. But as you’ll see below, the results were overwhelmingly better outside for every antenna, so you might consider using an indoor/outdoor model if you are able to place or mount it outside. In general, we advise trying a few locations to see whether reception improves.
All the antennas we tested pulled in both VHF (channels 2 to 13) and UHF (14 to 51) signals.
“Unlike the old days, when tuning to a station yielded only one channel, many stations now offer multiple subchannels that provide a greater variety of programming,” Ciacci says. Such subchannels often include a mix of vintage TV shows, nature programs, local weather and sports, and foreign-language programming.
Most, but not all, of the antennas were able to receive at least some NextGen TV channels, which mainly use the UHF band. (A total of 11 NextGen TV channels are currently available in our New York area.)
To earn a mark for reception, a station had to have a relatively stable, viewable TV picture. The amplified models in this group were tested both with the amplifier turned on and shut off. We gave credit to those models that had marginal reception if they were able to provide a more stable, viewable picture at another time during the test.
In the rankings below, you’ll see three figures: the number of VHF channels received, the number of UHF channels pulled in, and the number of NextGen TV channels the antenna could get. The numbers were all recorded at the White Plains location. The first two numbers include both the primary broadcast channels—such as the local ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC stations—plus the digital subchannels. Anytime a new UHF or VHF channel was found during a given scan, it was added to the total number available.
Back in the early analog TV signal days, most major broadcast channels were in the lower-frequency VHF band—channels 2 through 13. Now they’re scattered across both bands, so it’s important to buy an antenna that does well across the board.
Our test results should be useful for pointing you in the right direction to models you might consider, but there are a number of variables that can affect antenna performance in your home.
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