What's the best way to hook up my antenna?
Answer courtesy of Gil Maxwell, Maine Public Broadcasting:
You really need to have coaxial cable running from the antenna to your TV. The flat wire antenna lead allows too much interference into it and will kill digital.
Do not put a preamp (amplifier) in your antenna line unless you have to. Oftentimes it results in "too much signal" which your TV will not be able to digest. If you have to use a preamp to get the reception, you should put it at your antenna. Too many people place in the house. The trip from your antenna into the house degrades the signal. When you amplify in your house you amplify the degradation. If your signal is good enough, you can get away with the amp in the house. All in all you are better off having an amplifier as close to the antenna as possible.
My next piece of advice is, unlike in analog where you wanted the most signal level, in digital you want the least ghosty signal. The problem with digital (and the benefit, from the standpoint of never getting a blurry picture) is that you get all or nothing --either a perfect picture, or no picture at all, so do not be alarmed when your TV cannot recognize the stations. Manually tune the TV and adjust the antenna. Now you may need a rotor in the end but you will know that.
Lastly, if you do need a preamp, you do want one that is designed for digital. Think of it this way: analog is like driving an old pickup down a bumpy road. The ride could be awful and was never really good but you travel that road. Digital is like a sports car. The ride is terrific on the right road but do not try to take a woods road with it, or else your car will bottom out. The older preamps were like the bumpy road. They wanted the tree stumps out of the way and you were good to go. Digital has to have a little more fill added to let you drive your HD sports car. Hope this helps somewhat.
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