In my area, with a set of rabbit ears, I can receive the following local stations: WTOK, WMAW, WMDN, and WGBC. If I'm lucky and the antenna is situated correctly, I can receive WRBJ; which, I think is around 80 miles away.

Several months ago, I was bored and decided to experiment. I connected the same antenna to a long piece of coax cable and stuck the antenna, as high as I could reach, in an oak tree by my shop. All the local stations came in with a stronger meter reading and the distant WRBJ (Magee, MS) came in better, even during the day. At night, WHLT-22 (Hattiesburg, MS) popped in for a little while.

I just re-ran my experiment and WRBJ still comes in good (signal strength in the 70's); but, I can't get quite enough signal strength to bring in WHLT-22. There is also another Hattiesburg station, WDAM-7 (VHF frequency), that gives a slight deflection of the signal meter; but, not enough to produce a picture. Both WHLT and WDAM fluctuate between 0 and 12 on the signal meter of my digitalstream box.

Back in the analog days, it was not unusual to receive both WHLT and WDAM during night time and early morning hours with a set of indoor rabbit ears. The picture was always very noisy; but, watchable. Sometimes, I could also receive WLOX-13 out of Gulfport, MS and some other stations out of MS and LA.

I'm thinking that if I install a decent outdoor antenna, I will stand a better chance of bringing in these other stations. WDAM carries "This-TV" on it's subchannel and I think I remember WHLT carrying RTV on one of it's subchannels. So, what do you guys think? Would I benefit from an outdoor antenna mounted to my workshop or would I be wasting money? It would be nice if I could pull in these other stations, even if it's only for a few hours at night.

Antenna is EVERYTHING. I looked through all the specs and have been using the Wineguard HD7010. Its about $45 and has about 4 to 8 gain from channel 3 to 69. If you use this antenna and RG6 you will get all those channels 24/7 and more you didnt know were there. This is assuming all the transmitters are in the same general direction.

The best part is its made in USA

http://www.winegarddirect.com/viewitem.asp?p=hd-7010&d=Winegard-HD7010-VHFUHFFM-Prostar-1000-TV-Antenna-%28HD7010%29&post=

A rotator can be helpful as well... looks as if you might have stations in different locations to deal with.
Stations within 100 about km, from the FCC site: (click on call letters for more info)
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?state=&call=&arn=&city=&chan=&cha2=69&serv=&type=0&facid=&list=1&dist=100&dlat2=32&mlat2=&slat2=&dlon2=89&mlon2=&slon2=&size=9
jr

With my outdoor antenna I get all the Detroit channels in digital no problem. Recently I picked up another dtv converter box, thinking I would put it on a tv upstairs hooked to just rabbit ears (before digital I could get most Detroit stations upstairs with just rabbit ears), but I got nothing in digital, not one single channel. So the antenna really does make a difference.

Box makes a huge difference too, although I'm sure you all knew that already.

If I had only ever tried the "HD Access" box, I would have pronounced digital a total failure (as opposed to the mixed failure I now pronounce it). I bought a Zenith/Insignia box on craigslist after hearing all the good reviews, and man what a difference! I wouldn't use that HD Access box to hold up the short leg of a table.

I will be following this discussion with interest because I'm thinking of adding an outside antenna myself.

Anybody got any ideas where a guy could get a 20-30' tower for something less than the National Debt ?

I have the Insignia and the Digital Stream. The DS is the one I got 2nd to put upstairs. But I tried swapping them and I got the same results either way, nothing with the rabbit ears. I like the Insignia better because I like the metal case over the plastic, but they both seem to perform about the same. I haven't tried any of the others.

Has anybody compared different models of outdoor antennas, I'm curious as to which perform the best for distant stations. I have one of the old channel master "color vector" series of antennas, which I think is great, but I don't think they've made those in over 30 years.

Has anybody compared different models of outdoor antennas, I'm curious as to which perform the best for distant stations. I have one of the old channel master "color vector" series of antennas, which I think is great, but I don't think they've made those in over 30 years.

I have not compared many different types, but here are a few guidelines (my 2cents worth):
1. Size matters...This can be boom length in flat style antennas, or reflector size on screen reflector types... bigger is better!
2. Don't bother to buy elements that you don't need... Very few locations have digital channels below channel 7.... older designs that cover down to channel 2 have very long elements that will not be used. If you have an older antenna with long elements fine, use it, but don't pay for low band coverage if it is not needed in your area*.
3. Bargains can be had... it is fairly easy to find a decent older all channel antenna that is being replaced because the owner believes that it is not "HD".
4. In most cases a bigger antenna without an amplifier will outperform a small antenna with a booster amplifier.

*Here is an example of a fringe antenna designed for UHF and high VHF only (ch 7 and above):

http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=HD7697P&d=Winegard-HD7697-High-Definition-VHFUHF-Series-TV-Antenna-(HD7697P)&c=TV%20Antennas&sku=

not affiliated,
jr

Antenna is EVERYTHING.
This quote says it all.

I am using a Winegard Stealth-Tenna, and it works well with stations up to 30 miles away in two opposite directions. I live in a flat area; the stations in the two directions are on hilltops maybe 1000-2000' high. Here is the antenna on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Channel-Master-3010-Outdoor-Rooftop/dp/B0009FJEUS

Antenna is EVERYTHING.
That was worth repeating. Yes, put up an outdoor antenna! :)