How to Pick Up TV Reception in 20 Easy Steps.

Our old antenna is kaput. It's simply too old to get a clear signal. So, my son and I went on a merry chase to find a new antenna. We went to Antenna Web to help us pick out the type of Antenna you need.

Antenna Web is sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association, and helps you figure out the size of the antenna you need, where to aim it, and the types of issues you may have with it. It then uses a color guide to help you pick out the antenna. Unfortunately, few sites actually list whether or not their antennas are certified by the CEA as to a specific range.

Most of he TV/Appliance stores don't sell antennas any more. I guess too many people use cable now. We went to Best Buy and a few other stores, but all they had were Digital Indoor Antennas. A few words here: There is no such thing as a digital antenna. Antennas pick up electromagnetic waves in either the UHF or VHF range. This is true for analog or digital signals. The difference is the way those signals are interpreted. It's somewhat like the difference between AM and FM. You use the same antenna on your car to pick up the signal, but once you receive the signal, they are interpreted in different ways.

So, what we really saw was a bunch of attractively packaged rabbit ears in flat high tech looking boxes. Each one specifically labeled it was for digital TV. In fact, one box even explained that you can't use your old antenna for digital TV.

So off to the Internet to find a new antenna. Again, most sites claimed they sold digital antennas and charged a premium. I wouldn't have minded that so much, but none of the sites gave you an idea of the type of antenna you were getting. We found only two that used the Antenna Web rating system.

One site that attracted my attention is Denny's TV Antenna Sales. The site outright admitted that there is no such thing as a digital antenna. Wow, that's refreshing! Denny also suggested you go to the Antenna Web site, find out the antenna you needed, and then Denny's selects the antenna you need based upon Antenna Web's recommendation. For example, according to Antenna Web, we needed a medium directional antenna. Denny's site also determined that since all of the stations we wanted to receive were within 80 degrees of each other, we could easily use a narrow directional antenna.

Denny's site also took a look at our setup: How much cable is there between the antenna and the TV? Will we be using a splitter? If so, how many splits will there be? Do we need pre-amp or post amps to help boost our signal. Even better, Denny's offers a 90 day return policy.

Another good site is HD TV Antenna Labs. Unlike Antenna Web (which they link to), they actually recommend specific antennas based upon your needs. They also have an excellent article about selecting an antenna. They also have a price comparison service and a user comment and ratings section. However, what we discovered is that few of the antennas actually have price comparisons. Most show no vendors at all, and those that do only list Summit Source as the only vendor.

By the way, Summit Source is also another antenna sales site that uses the Antenna Web rating system to help you select your antenna, but they don't help you beyond that. Plus, Summit Source doesn't offer a return policy. However, their selection is much greater than Denny's and their prices also appear to be lower.