Tuning Rabbit Ear Antenna for HDTV Indoors

Yes, Rabbit Ear antennas work quite well for HDTV Over the Air reception!

Tune a simple Rabbit Ear antenna for best indoor performance.

Works as good or better than many flat panel or amplified indoor antennas.

By default, most people just place it wherever they can and stretch its antennas to full length. However, this is not necessarily the best solution. Antennas need to be tuned to the frequency of the HDTV Station(s) that you are trying to receive. No Tinfoil needed!

Rabbit Ears (as well as most indoor antennas) are good only for about 25 miles no matter what their ads say. Beyond, you will likely require an external TV antenna.

Inexpensive Rabbit Ear Antenna such as https://amzn.to/4iK1FFN

Shelf placed as high as possible. Or like me, I had to use an 8 ft pole and hot glued to the top.

First, find the lowest TV channel and direction to the majority of stations by entering your zipcode in a TV Map website such as this one:

https://www.channelmaster.com/pages/tv-antenna-map-orange-park-fl-32065

Note the RF Channel for that station. This is not the TV Station Channel. See the example above.

Use the table below to adjust the lengths of each arm of the rabbit ear antennas. Since VHF channels are close together and lengths don't change significantly, just pick the closest.

Widen the two antenna legs to at least 45 degrees or wider and adjust their lengths to close to one of the lengths in the table. TV Stations use "horizontal polarization", which means antenna legs should be horizontal, not vertical.

Place the antenna as high as possible, thus a shelf. If a window is available, this is best, even if not as high.

For UHF channels, you only have a loop, so the next step is the most important.

Orient the antenna so that the rabbit ears are perpendicular to the direction of the station(s). i.e. just look through the loop towards the stations. Doesn't have to be perfect!

Connect the antenna to the TV. (duh)

In your TV's settings, perform a Channel Scan to find the over-the-air channels.

>>> Seems simplistic, but such tuning can make the difference between breaking or no signal and perfect image!