On 10 Oct 2008 08:52:50 -0400, (Samuel M. Goldwasser)
wrote:

OK, so I'm one of the 6 people in the Universe who don't have cable,
satellite, or fiber-optic TV.

Er raises hand seven.

With analog reception, the picture remains viewable even with a weak
signal, with increasing snow, but nonetheless, usable. The sound
would survive even lower signal levels.
[snip...snip...]
So far I've tried using old loop antennas and basic indoor antennas (loop+
rabbit ears) from Radio Shack, both unamplified and amplified (though I'm
not convinced the latter was even working properly).

Actually, I've been quite surprised at how well the old rabbit ears +
loop antenna has really worked. Aside from occasional episodes of
pixelation during stormy weather (relative motion between TX and RX?)
I'm getting everything that's available, with very clear reception.

This is a residential location with no high structures nearby. I believe
most of the transmitters are only a few miles away.

Roughly the same here, except for the little issue of a major naval base
and air field between me and the antenna farm.

For a 10 year old TV with a converter box in one location, a simple loop
antenna seems to be fine. For a similar setup on the floor below,
reception is terrible on nearly all channels no matter how the
antenna is oriented.

For a new HDTV at the other end of the house, nothing I've tried seems to work
very well, with some channels requiring very careful fiddling with the
antenna orientation to be acceptable most of the time.
Reception on analog channels is fine and I believe the TV is working correctly.

According to http://www.antennaweb.org/ , for most of the channels I
care about, a "small multidirectional antenna" should suffice.
I haven't yet tried an antenna like and would hoping for recommendataions,
or whether it would even work.

I realize this is insufficient information for anyone to suggest a
specific remedy other than "get a wired connection", but figured it
might be worthwhile to hear about others' experiences so far.

Take a look at http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com/

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA