This was a task within it's self. There must be 100 different brands and types to opt from! So we did eventually encounter one that we all agreed upon. After we had set up the TV we learned that we also had to acquire a HDTV antenna to be able to check our local channels broadcasted in HD.

Our original antenna we tried was purchased at the same spot as our TV. After we assembled it unitedly in the garage we carried it inside and up the stairs to the 2nd story window.

We lifted it out the pane and put the 17 yr old on the roof with the antenna. We used walkie talkies to interact between the roof and the family room with the tv. His job was to turn the antenna in tiny increments till the signaling came in.

The problem was we could only get 2 channels at a time coming in clear but never could we get all the channels coming in at one time. So we brought the antenna in, carried it to the garage, dissembled it and took it back to buy a bigger one and go through the complete procedure again.

Once more on top of the roof with the 17 yr old. Twisting and turning and all the while in a downfall storm. It wasn't that bad but still raining all the same.

This went on for virtually a total of 4 nights in the period of December during the cold and rain. We could never get this HDTV antenna to operate so we finally gave up. We brought the big anomaly antenna in again dissembled it and put it back in the car to return.

I was glad it didn't work because it looked horrendous up there on the roof. It stuck out like a tender finger. Then we did some research on the internet and found an antenna that claimed to do everything we needed and the good part was it was cheaper and way way smaller.

Actually in wasn't no bigger than the size of a cake sheet. So we purchased the HDTV antenna and brought it home. No assembly required and we put the 17yr old back on the roof with the walkie talkies again and this time we had a signal before we even tried to alter the antenna.

It was implausible.. we found all the channels coming in crystal clear without even trying to set the antenna in the perfect "sweet" spot that we were use to setting with the previous additional two.

Just by putting it on the roof and pointing it in the generalized direction where the stations were located was all that was required! Seemingly this HDTV antenna was a much higher caliber antenna.

If I would have known this 5 days before, I could have saved all those evenings, the poor kid on the roof and the aggrevation it took for our house to eventually like HDTV!