Naturally, the TV antenna type you need depends on the distance from the broadcasting towers and on the environment the antenna will be installed in. In close proximity to the towers you can get away with an indoor tv antenna. If you want to pick up signals from more distant tv stations an outdoor tv antenna is required. The larger the distance is, the more powerful antenna is needed. In general, more powerful antenna means bigger size and/or higher directivity (or antenna gain). Omni- or multi-directional antennas can be used at small to medium distances from the towers provided that there are no big reflective “ghost” producing structures near your location. In remote areas, even big multi-directional antennas can not provide adequate performance. In those areas, directional tv antennas should be used. If big reflective structures (tall buildings, mountains in rural area, etc.) are present in your area, using directional tv antenna is a good idea due to its ability to suppress “ghosts”, no matter what the distance is. Last, if you are very far from the broadcasting towers and the signal is really weak, you may have no choice but to complement your outdoor tv antenna with a pre-amplifier.

So, the question you should ask yourself is what broadcasts are available in your area and what are reception conditions with respect to each one of the broadcasts you are interested in. We are going to answer that question shortly. But first, we need a terminology to qualitatively describe the reception conditions of a particular broadcast in your area. Reception conditions are specified by a color code. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) defined seven color zones – Yellow, Green, Light Green, Red, Blue, Violet and Pink. Yellow zone is the one where reception quality is the best, pink zone is the toughest. Each color zone has an associated tv antenna type that the CEA recommends to use in this zone. CEA classification applies to outdoor tv antennas only.

What we are going to do now is to check what OTA broadcasts you can expect to pull in your location and what is your zone color with respect to the available broadcasts. AntennaWeb is a wonderful resource to do that. Just go to AntennaWeb, enter your ZIP code, address (not necessary) and submit the form. Here is an example of what I have got searching for the zip code 78703, Austin, TX.