Hello, I live in a mobile home 45 miles southwest of Downtown Chicago and I NEED recomendations for an HDTV antenna that WORKS. I don't mind if it's indoor or outdoor HDTV ATSC antenna or if it's directional or omnidirectional. I just need one that WORKS. Thankies in Advance!!!
To start, there really is no such thing as an HDTV or Digital Antenna. It's all sales hype. From the information you provided I'm guessing that you live somewhere near Plainfield or Joliet Illinois? When looking at an antenna you're generally looking at size, height, physical configuration, and amplification. It never hurts to buy a really good antenna because there are a lot TV broadcasts from other cities in your surrounding area. To get a better understanding of the stations you could be pulling I will need your Zip code (not your address). There is an online antenna dealer who provides a zip code and antenna match for your area so you could check with them. My advice is if you can swing it, is to get a decent not too large amplified roof antenna. Check this link and do a zip code search. https://www.antennasdirect.com/transmitter-locator.html
As somebody who used to mess with the DX-TV world back in the 1980's I learned the hard way that antennas and cables are a dark art. Even to this day I sometimes have to solve peoples "whole mux missing" issues by literally chopping a couple of inches off the end of a cable. Seems weird until you learn about standing wave reflections and such. I would start first with pretty much any decent "in band" Yagi (or just some random dipole with reflector if VHF) and wave it around until results happen.. then tweak for best effect. It's a shame in your area that Channel 6 Analog went off air a couple of years back. I have an old (1970's) aerial riggers Pye portable signal strength meter. It's a very useful and was a very cheap "obsolete old junk" purchase.
Here are some recommended antenna's. My recommendation is forget the first one, and get the best of other three you can afford. You will notice the first one on the left can bring in only 3 channels, the 2nd 116 channels, 3rd 123 channels, and the one to far right 126 channels. Click the link below. https://www.antennasdirect.com/transmitter-locator.html
Although there is no such thing is an HDTV (or Digital TV) antenna, there is such a thing as VHF and UHF. Antennas differ as to their ability to receive either or both. That really simplified shopping for me. What I mean is this. In my area every station is UHF. There are no longer any VHF stations in my metro area. My antenna has two round elements. If there were also VHF stations, the antenna would need to have several straight rods or beams as well as the round elements. Joliet appears to be a city 45 miles southwest of Chicago. Here's the Channel Master webpage for reception in Joliet TV. https://www.channelmaster.com/pages/tv-antenna-map-joliet-il-60435 The guide channel is in the first column. However, these are "virtual channels" and the channel number that determines UHF or VHF is the "RF" channel. "In the United States and Canada, VHF (very high frequency) channels are numbered 2–13, and UHF (ultra high frequency) channels are numbered 14–36. VHF channels occupy frequencies between 54–216 MHz, while UHF channels occupy frequencies between 470–700 MHz."
Most antennas except the small ones that sit on your TV are both UHF and VHF. That being said, UHF is disappearing because the bandwidth (channels above 36) are being repurposed for 5G. Also because of added bandwidth to accommodate HD, a single VHF channel can be subdivided into several channels. Local channel 13 for instance includes 13.1 to 13.6. Because of where ivymike lives he will be able to pickup a large number of off air channels both UHF and VHF with even a modest boosted roof antenna. https://blog.solidsignal.com/tutorials/dont-tv-antennas-pick-vhf/
I also live outside of Chicago. depending on where you live, you might want to get a outdoor antenna. I have tried the indoor ones and they blow, you lose some stations such as channel 2 during bad weather. I upgraded to one similar to this one https://www.homedepot.com/p/Winegard-65-Mile-Range-Indoor-Outdoor-HDTV-Antenna-HD8200U/204701107. and haven't had issues since. just make sure that if you do an out door antenna, make sure you position it correctly (toward the sears tower) and make sure to ground it so it doesn't blow out your tv in bad weather ( parents learned that out when I was a kid lol)
