Home > Consumer Reviews > RCA ANT1450M Multi-Directional Digital Flat Amplified HDTV Antenna (White)

I bought this after I tripped over my Terk antenna--parked in the middle of the room for the best reception--and bent it and drew blood on myself. I bought this one because it was small and wouldn't trip me and because it was on sale and therefore worth the risk.

And there is always a risk. Everybody's reception is different, and I have found that the highest-rated antennas--which work fine for other folks--have not worked as well for me.

I hooked it up and scanned the channels on my TV, and was shocked that this tiny lightweight thing picked up all the same channels as my two more expensive and larger amplified antennas. With my other antennas, my DTV reception is affected by movement in the room, but not with this antenna, which hides nicely behind the TV. I had to move the other antennas depending on which channel I was watching, but this one just sits there, hidden, receiving it all.

I just bought another one for my kitchen TV.

This amplified antenna starts with a small plastic-enclosed array that doesn't catch much signal to give the amplifier. The amplifier isn't strong enough to put out much, either. Together, they will probably do for strong signal areas. I am on the north side of a city where the broadcaset towers are on the south side. So I'm probably about 20 miles from them. The good thing about these antennas is that you may not have to move them once you find the right spot for placement. Watch out though for the cable positioning. It acts as part of the antenna.

What works better is the bigger non-amplified ANT1500M (wrongly described as amplified). It has long been established for antennas, that more metal picks up more signal. I use the ANT1500M with my 24db amplifier, which I purchased separately. All the stations come in with 4 out of 4 bars. With the ANT1450M, half or more of the stations have two or three out of four bars. The ANT1550M is supposed to be the bigger one with probably the same amplifier as with the 1450. You'd be better off with a better amplifier than the one that comes with these (amplified) antennas. I'm returning the ANT1450M.

I couldn't be happier with this purchase. The HD programs and channels are beautiful to watch on an HD enabled tv. We don't have cable, so we wanted a powerful indoor antenna. This brought in many more channels than our old rabbit ears did (We live across the river from New York City). In addition, what I really love about it is that it is slick and elegant; it's a huge plus compared to other antennas that can be massive eye-sores. It's true that you do have to reposition it every now and then, but that's what you have to do with all indoor antennas. I wholeheartedly recommend this.

After switch to digital TV, I lost some channels. This antenna picked up them easily. It has removable external amplifier, so you can use antenna with or without it depending on your needs. Very convenient. Reception is crystal clear. In horizontal position antenna takes very little space and looks very stylish.

We have a small TV in the kitchen which does not have access to our whole house antenna. I could not run a coax through the kitchen without having the coax being exposed and ugly or without spending significant money (not worth it just to hide a coax cable).

So we were using the T-shaped cable which came with the TV routed up through one of the kitchen cabinets. This worked pretty well for the analog stations, but digital channels reception was poor.

I measured that this antenna could fit in the back of one of our kitchen cabinets. I installed it and am very happy (and my wife is happy which is more important :)

There are about 20 or so digital channels in Chicago. The old unpowered T-shaped antenna picked up about 5 of them clearly. This antenna picks up all except 4 of them. It is a little irritating that it can not pick up all of the channels, but it is a significant improvement over the old unpowered antenna.

I also tried the antenna unpowered before powering it. Unpowered it picked up about 15 of the channels, so the amplification does indeed work.