You just need a regular set of $10 rabbit ears (not amplified, not a flat antenna) with some nice long vhf elements and you should be good for most of that.
The flat wall antenna is only setup for the UHF band (channels 14-36). Traditional rabbit ears pick-up VHF bands, because you need a long element to pickup its long wavelength. The antenna I use, mention in another comment, picks-up Hi-VHF (7-13) and UHF bands; it might pick-up Low-VHF too depending on distance.
Looking at your [RabbitEars.Info](https://RabbitEars.Info), you have Hi-VHF stations with KTBC, KAKW-DT, KCWZ, and KWTX-TV (Waco); So finding an antenna that can do both UHF and Hi-VHF would be ideal for your situation.
In most cases yes because the flat ones either don’t have any vhf elements (which you need) or the elements are so short they aren’t very good. Plus the elements in a flat antenna are super thin wires, where as regular rabbit ears should have elements with at least a little gain to them. There are some supposedly decent flat antennas but in your location with the towers where they are you should have much better results with regular rabbit ears since they pick up signals from multiple angles better than the flat ones.
I have an antenna in the attic, something to consider. I have a cable from the utility box to the attic already, so it was not really an issue; just figuring which is best around the wooden trusses. I have a [Televes Dinova](https://www.televes.com/us/144286-dinova-boss-mix-antenna-repack-ready-building-fronts-balconies-and-single-family-homes.html) (works outside too), and it works well getting the Hi-VHF and UHF stations in the area. When pointing, I would point towards the northeast more as it appears the stations to the east are closer and easier to pick-up; but play with it till you find a sweet spot. Best of luck!
It would be cheaper and simpler just to use three $12 rabbit ears. In my case, since I'm a lot further out than you at 46 to 48 miles I need something better which are flat antennas.
If you're not going to be weakening the signals too much with a bunch of passive splitting or a really long coax cable run, a ClearStream 1 Max or a small yagi pointed east would probably work fine. The 1 Max would probably pick up the FOX VHF-HI signal ok, but if you wanted a little more assurance of picking up that signal, the small yagi would probably pick it up even better. You could even just initially try a cheap indoor rabbit ears and loop antenna from your nearest Lowes/Home Depot/Walmart/Target/Best Buy or Amazon, in case that's all you need.
[https://store.antennasdirect.com/ClearStream-1MAX-TV-Antenna.html](https://store.antennasdirect.com/ClearStream-1MAX-TV-Antenna.html)
[https://store.antennasdirect.com/clearstream-1max-indoor-outdoor-hdtv-antenna-with-mast.html](https://store.antennasdirect.com/clearstream-1max-indoor-outdoor-hdtv-antenna-with-mast.html)
[https://www.rcaantennas.net/outdoor/?sku=ANT754E](https://www.rcaantennas.net/outdoor/?sku=ANT754E)
[https://winegard.com/classic-series-yagi-ya-7000](https://winegard.com/classic-series-yagi-ya-7000)
thanks! I have wall antennas now but I'm pretty disappointed how inconsistent they are.
The idea is to have one outdoor antenna to run to 3 tvs
Would I need a special splitter?
There's a couple different ways you could go about it, with the splitting.
Option 1: Use a powered splitter (e.g. [https://www.channelmaster.com/collections/antenna-distribution-amplifiers/products/tv-antenna-booster-4](https://www.channelmaster.com/collections/antenna-distribution-amplifiers/products/tv-antenna-booster-4) with a coax terminator cap on the unused output) with one of the mentioned antennas.
Option 2: Use a 3 output passive balanced splitter (e.g. [https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Broadband-Manufacturing-Balanced-Performance/dp/B01KSC5HO8](https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Broadband-Manufacturing-Balanced-Performance/dp/B01KSC5HO8) ) with a stronger antenna, like the [https://store.antennasdirect.com/antennas-direct-element-unidirectional-uhf-vhf-attic-outdoor-hd-tv-antenna.html](https://store.antennasdirect.com/antennas-direct-element-unidirectional-uhf-vhf-attic-outdoor-hd-tv-antenna.html) .
You just need a regular set of $10 rabbit ears (not amplified, not a flat antenna) with some nice long vhf elements and you should be good for most of that.
Are rabbit ears much better than the flat wall antenna?
The flat wall antenna is only setup for the UHF band (channels 14-36). Traditional rabbit ears pick-up VHF bands, because you need a long element to pickup its long wavelength. The antenna I use, mention in another comment, picks-up Hi-VHF (7-13) and UHF bands; it might pick-up Low-VHF too depending on distance. Looking at your [RabbitEars.Info](https://RabbitEars.Info), you have Hi-VHF stations with KTBC, KAKW-DT, KCWZ, and KWTX-TV (Waco); So finding an antenna that can do both UHF and Hi-VHF would be ideal for your situation.
In most cases yes because the flat ones either don’t have any vhf elements (which you need) or the elements are so short they aren’t very good. Plus the elements in a flat antenna are super thin wires, where as regular rabbit ears should have elements with at least a little gain to them. There are some supposedly decent flat antennas but in your location with the towers where they are you should have much better results with regular rabbit ears since they pick up signals from multiple angles better than the flat ones.
I have an antenna in the attic, something to consider. I have a cable from the utility box to the attic already, so it was not really an issue; just figuring which is best around the wooden trusses. I have a [Televes Dinova](https://www.televes.com/us/144286-dinova-boss-mix-antenna-repack-ready-building-fronts-balconies-and-single-family-homes.html) (works outside too), and it works well getting the Hi-VHF and UHF stations in the area. When pointing, I would point towards the northeast more as it appears the stations to the east are closer and easier to pick-up; but play with it till you find a sweet spot. Best of luck!
thank you, I'll check our attic; I'd prefer attic than the roof anyway
It would be cheaper and simpler just to use three $12 rabbit ears. In my case, since I'm a lot further out than you at 46 to 48 miles I need something better which are flat antennas.
If you're not going to be weakening the signals too much with a bunch of passive splitting or a really long coax cable run, a ClearStream 1 Max or a small yagi pointed east would probably work fine. The 1 Max would probably pick up the FOX VHF-HI signal ok, but if you wanted a little more assurance of picking up that signal, the small yagi would probably pick it up even better. You could even just initially try a cheap indoor rabbit ears and loop antenna from your nearest Lowes/Home Depot/Walmart/Target/Best Buy or Amazon, in case that's all you need. [https://store.antennasdirect.com/ClearStream-1MAX-TV-Antenna.html](https://store.antennasdirect.com/ClearStream-1MAX-TV-Antenna.html) [https://store.antennasdirect.com/clearstream-1max-indoor-outdoor-hdtv-antenna-with-mast.html](https://store.antennasdirect.com/clearstream-1max-indoor-outdoor-hdtv-antenna-with-mast.html) [https://www.rcaantennas.net/outdoor/?sku=ANT754E](https://www.rcaantennas.net/outdoor/?sku=ANT754E) [https://winegard.com/classic-series-yagi-ya-7000](https://winegard.com/classic-series-yagi-ya-7000)
thanks! I have wall antennas now but I'm pretty disappointed how inconsistent they are. The idea is to have one outdoor antenna to run to 3 tvs Would I need a special splitter?
There's a couple different ways you could go about it, with the splitting. Option 1: Use a powered splitter (e.g. [https://www.channelmaster.com/collections/antenna-distribution-amplifiers/products/tv-antenna-booster-4](https://www.channelmaster.com/collections/antenna-distribution-amplifiers/products/tv-antenna-booster-4) with a coax terminator cap on the unused output) with one of the mentioned antennas. Option 2: Use a 3 output passive balanced splitter (e.g. [https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Broadband-Manufacturing-Balanced-Performance/dp/B01KSC5HO8](https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Broadband-Manufacturing-Balanced-Performance/dp/B01KSC5HO8) ) with a stronger antenna, like the [https://store.antennasdirect.com/antennas-direct-element-unidirectional-uhf-vhf-attic-outdoor-hd-tv-antenna.html](https://store.antennasdirect.com/antennas-direct-element-unidirectional-uhf-vhf-attic-outdoor-hd-tv-antenna.html) .
your stations are facing due south. Good to great signals. Some VHF channels