tmassey
Contributor
OK, this gets messy. When you said you lived in New York City, I assumed you lived in Manhattan, I guess. If you’re 60 miles away, things get challenging.
First of all, alignment matters: even just a few degrees off of the station can make a huge difference in reception. Make sure your pointed directly at the transmitter. Use the FCC HD TV look up website: it will tell you the exact compass bearing.
Also, while you’re on that website, pay attention to whether they are UHF or VHF stations. VHF stations used to be the good ones back in the analog days (channels 2-13). Unfortunately, almost all of the HD TV stations have moved to UHF, and a lot of antennas don’t even bother to receive VHF signals. Also, very, very few amplifiers will amplify VHF stations: they’ll get filtered right out. Completely. So if you’re trying to tune in a VHF station, there’s a high degree of likelihood either your antenna or your amplifier will block their signal, not receive/amplify it.
I had similar problems: I’m 20+ miles from the transmitter, and our local Fox affiliate is VHF: there’s a reason I know all of this.
I ended up going with this antenna in my attic: EZ-HD TV AntennaI’m using it to supply two different televisions with nothing more than a splitter. So despite the fact that it’s inside my wooden attic, with 70+ feet of coax in several separate pieces between it and the nearest television, and after splitting it for two televisions, I have strong signal for all of my channels. The antenna is worth every penny if you have a place to put it. It was the fourth antenna I bought, and the first one to be able to get all of my stations. For you, with TV stations 60 miles away, you may need that antennas big brother, the HD stacker. browse the website and you’ll find all the details you need.
ETA: Amazon listings for antenna is a cesspool. There’s very little guarantee that the antenna will do what it actually says it’s supposed to do. (That’s part of the reason why I ended up buying several of them. That, and I kept trying to buy cheap indoor ones: I was only 20 miles away!) Nowhere is that worse than in handling VHF. They’ll list it in the description, but the antenna or amplifier simply cannot do it. The shape of antenna for VHF is completely different, and the amplifier needs a completely separate RF section to do it. Unless you’re paying a decent price from a decent vendor, it’s very unlikely. Think back to old fashion rabbit ears: they had two long rods, and a loop in the middle. The long rods were for VHF, the loop in the middle was for UHF. VHF has a longer wavelength, which means it goes through obstacles better and longer range with less power, but you need a longer antenna to receive it. If your antenna doesn’t have any metal elements longer than 12 inches, it’s not a VHF antenna.
