The trouble is, you need to match the antenna and the amp and the booster to your location, the channels you can get, and the length of the cable you are running and the number of TVs you have.
We are -way- short on info to really help you at all.
Basically the bigger, higher, and unobstructed your antenna is, the more you will pull in. That is #1 most important overall.
Its easy to pull from 30 miles, not too hard to pull from 60 miles, and takes a lot of thought and top stuff to pull from 80 miles.
Some antennas pull from all directions and are great, but they won't make the 60 mile stations....
The aimed antennas might reach more than 100 miles, but you will have difficulty picking up a station 20 miles off to the side because the aim in one direction only.
The channels from 6-13 still use the bigger elements of an antenna - VHF. The other numbers on the dial mostly all use the short elements (or grids) UHF. So do you have any VHF channels?
So what antenna is best? Depends on what you need.
Spend money on good cable, well shielded. Makes a difference. The electrical signal in that cable is very weak, it needs to be shielded from stray current from your house wiring, from strong TV and radio signals, etc.
From the antenna to wherever your first split of the cable is, it really helps to have a booster. This is a powered plug in deal at the bottom of the cable, and a little box plugs into the cable up by the top of the antenna. $29?
If you are splitting to 3 TVs, it will really help to have a powered splitter - this takes the signal from the antenna, and boosts that signal as it pushes it to each cable run. Another $29?
There is no 'best' booster or amplifier; it depends on how much boost you need, and how many runs of cable you are doing, and how long the cable runs are.
Kinda sort of you need to customize the pieces to fit your needs.
But in general the bigger the antenna the better.
And buying good shielded cable is a must.
And in general if your cable from the antenna is longer than 25 feet the powered antenna booster is a good thing. (This device adds strength to the signal coming down from your antenna.)
And in general if you split the signal more than into 2 TVs a powered splitter is a good thing. (This device adds strength to the signal splitting out to multiple TVs.)
If you are getting 16 channels with the cheapest crap you could find, then something in the middle will likely be an upgrade and hard to go wrong, you must be fairly close and an antenna that picks up signals from all directions would likely work best for you.
Denny's would like to sell you stuff, but his web site is a wealth of info and worth looking through if you want to figure stuff out better than just guessing:
http://www.dennysantennaservice.com/
Lot easier for you to look things up here than for us to guess what you need.
I really studied this stuff when the big switch over was made, you don't have to throw tons of money at the expensive stuff and there is no 'HD antenna' they are still using exactly the same signals so the old and new antennas are the same. The more you learn what you have around you, the more you can spend your money on what will help you out the best.
Don't go into a local store and ask their advice, they all have cable at home, they have no clue, and they will push whatever the higher priced stuff is on their shelf, and will tell you you need new special labeled antenna. Trust me, I went through that, I was educating the Radio Shak guys they had no clue, the Walmart folks didnt even pretend to know they just shrugged their shoulders.....
Paul
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