Hey T Man experts'''' I got me a new bunkhouse I am fixing up and even though I have Direct TV in it I want to put up an outside antenna to catch some local free TV stations. I have a large outside antenna of the normal old style design (6 or 8 foot long wide reflector tubes on one end narrowing down to short tubes the driver end) that works good I am going to leave on my cabin. My question is has anybody ever tried the new smaller Digital outdoor antennas... kinda like the picture. I won't be mounting it high at all.... are the small antenna worth the money or are they junk. Bigger is still probably better ???? Thanks for any comments !!!

I bought one that looks like this 10 years ago or so (whenever they switched from analog to digital)
Get all the channels ,58, that they broadcast from about 40 miles away.
It's mounted next to my chimney and points in the general direction of the broadcasting area.
One of the best buys ive ever made. With technology nowadays the antennas are probably even better.

We have a smaller antenna mounted in a window for another TV and everytme a big truck drives buy it messes with the reception. And like the antenna on the roof it is pointed towards the broadcast towers for best reception. But otherwise it is fine

Not trying to derail this thread , but , when doing ADC work I have been asked to remove an old TV antenna since I was already on a customer's roof doing an inspection or setting traps and removed the antenna because it looked so 1960's in the customer's eyes.

Easy way to add $100-$200 to a customer's bill for a few minutes work.

This is the one I buy and install for everyone. My suggestion would be for $65 buy this on prime, lay it in the middle of your room, hook it up, and see what you get... 9 times out of 10 it works great just like that. Some TV's I just have that antenna propped up in the corner of the room behind the entertainment center. My old house I hung it in the attic suspended between trusses. I have one on the camper. I mounted one to the side of the house in my new house. I have one on the end of my barn for the TV out there. Actually those two are hooked together for double the signal. I put them up at my moms and my sisters and their campers. Works here. I'm 45 minutes NW of the TV towers. I'd say I get approx 30+ free TV channels. Half of them are stupid. Between that youtube, netflix, and prime thats all I watch.

Anyway if you don't like it return it for free. Its a Prime item. Might be worth a shot.

NOTE: The rating 5 stars with 12,000+ reviews.

https://a.co/d/0aPZFe4y

Ive had this 1 for going on 4 years and get over 60 channels with it.it does have a rotor so you can turn it and even get more channels got tired of paying for dish/direct.think back then it was like 73.00.

Amazon Ive found that 25 bucks gets you roughly 25 miles with no line of sight and 50+ line of sight. There are different levels of prices for the different ranged advertised. Ive never tried the more expensive models I've tried the ones that look like a sheet of paper and the ones that are some kind of shape. All are some off brand chinese junk. The main thing Ive found over the years is I think they either wear out, or the output for the tv channels change somewhat. Either way, ive never had one work well for longer than 3 years. Gave them to friends in town and they worked fine. Do a channel scan every now and then. Youll have stations come and go.

I learned in tech school, TV class, that the more metal surface the more sensitive an antenna is. Don't think that has changed.
just

That's interesting.
I should try foil on the plastic indoor antenna.
Anyone remember rabbit ears lol.

Oh yeah, I remember rabbit ears and foil and constantly fiddling with them to get the least snowy picture.

That was back in the days when stations signed off in the wee hours by playing the national anthem.

"It's 11 o'clock Do you know where your children are?"
That message would always play before the 11 p.m. news here