Customer Reviews

RCA ANT121 Indoor Antenna

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

This budget-priced indoor antenna unit does the job. I received all the local HD channels available in my area with minimal adjustments to the antenna positioning.

The coaxial cable is part of the unit and cannot be removed. The cable itself is rather skinny. That being said, the unit performs, flawlessly.

I have the unit placed behind my 42" plasma with the antenna extended and hidden from view. The location of my flatscreen is top-floor of a house and about five feet from the window. I also used this unit in my bedroom and it worked, flawlessly.

I think the location of your home (relative to the broadcast towers) and positioning of the unit is what matters. Not the brand or price of the indoor antenna unit.

I just replaced a significantly more expensive Terk HDTVi indoor antenna with this simple and inexpensive RCA antenna. The Terk looked great, but had such a poorly designed base that it was nearly impossible to balance and position-I'll be sending that one back to Amazaon. I went over to my local Best Buy and found this unit, hooked it up-wala; picked up significantly MORE HD stations and this unit is stable and easy to position and move around (which is the objective in maneuvering for best reception). I'd highly recommend this unit-as far as I am concerned it does what it's supposed to do, easily outperforms (at least in my case) more expensive indoor antennas, and is just a great darn value!

Just as good as any other antenna I've tried. Its not worth it to buy the more expensive ones, they all work the same. The SIGNAL STRENGTH NEVER CHANGES, that is controlled by the tower location and your location. All you can do is get a bigger antenna!!.
So I got two of these, pointed them different directions, now I get all the channels I should without having to adjust (very much) the dipoles.

I finally made the leap to an hdtv, so I decided to see what was available over the air -- mostly out of curiosity, as I have cable with an hd package (although I hear OTA HD signals are better as they are not compressed). So last night I picked this up for $15 or so at a store two blocks from my home (paid a bit extra for the convenience, plus I like to support local merchants when reasonably possible). I live in a highrise in San Francisco, and the window behind my TV more or less faces in the direction of the Sutro Tower broadcast array, so I aimed the dipoles in that direction, and swiveled the UHF loop towards it as well. I did pick up several stations, but notably missing were two network affiliates (CBS and FOX - Channels 5 and 2 here), and KRON Channel 4 -- a local news station (it was the NBC affiliate until a few years ago) which has its station one block from my home! Also, no PBS affiliates came in at all (we have several in the SF Bay Area). I fiddled and fiddled with the dipoles and loop, faced everything in different directions, re-scanned several times, etc... I came up with several more obscure channels, but still these major stations were missing. Also, some channels displayed significant pixelation and freezing. I really don't know if it is the fault of the antenna, or just the luck of the draw as far as signal strength in my area, so I won't ding the RCA on effectiveness. However, on about the fifth repositioning, one of the dipoles snapped clean off at the base! I am fairly adept with technology and I fully understand how the antenna dipoles swivel -- this just plain snapped without me using any force or doing anything wrong. I still pick up stations with one pole -- my understanding is that most hdtv stations are in the UHF range anyhow (but I also read that this may be changing soon). I am not sure if the store will take this back -- will try tonight -- but I am sorely disappointed with the quality of this antenna.

Rabbit ears are the tried and true design that became popular for indoor TV reception 65 years ago, and this basic design still works well in the digital age. The RCA ANT121 is a slightly upgraded model from the no frills, but excellent RCA ANT110, and includes a knob to restrict/increase the signal. This is a non-amplified antenna which works fine connected to a digital TV in a suburban setting.

I purchased this product for a tv that is not connected to cable. I use it with a converter box. Quick hook up - just plugged it into the back of the converter box. So far, it has provided me with clear beautiful digital reception. I just set it up and placed it in back of the tv so I don't really see it. I have not touched or adjusted it since I set it up. It has a knob for fine tuning, but have not used that feature. I'm also very happy that you do not have to plug this antenna in to an electrical outlet like the amplified models. Apparently it's not necessary. Also, let's face it - you can't beat the price. I'm happy with this purchase.

I hooked this up to my HD TV in Alpharetta, GA and picked up 55 digital stations! I wondered if I'd need an amplifying antenna since I'm about 25 miles outside Atlanta, but this works perfectly. I get a great signal on nearly all of the stations, and get a particularly clear signal on the main Atlanta networks. For those wondering, of the 55 stations, most are worthless, but with this antenna I easily picked up all of the local channels including the ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates as well as other local Atlanta stations, such as 8, 17, 30, 36, 69 ... and several I'd never heard of.

If you are thinking about getting an expensive antenna, I'd try this first to see if it does the job. For me, I have no reason to try anything else.

I just got this antenna yesterday, and hooked it up to my Samsung 52" LCD TV. I live in the Bay Area and we had a horrible rain storms, but this antenna picked up over 40 channels; including some that the amplified Tivax antenna couldn't get. The fine tuning nob seems to be of little use, but might work for you. I do have to fiddle with the dipoles for certain channels, but that's because the network transmission stations are far apart. We don't have subscription TV, and generally watch programs streamed online on our home theatre PC that's connected to the TV, but when it's time to watch the local news or a ball game, this antenna does the trick.

This basic antenna looked good coming out of the box and the two antenna extend a satisfying length, but it only found four over the air stations regardless of how a positioned it or switched the little selector knob. I saw zero difference is signal quality (not good) with the four stations it did pull in regardless of what position I put the selector knob at.

At the same time I had ordered another over the air antenna from Imagine, the ICI-102 Hi-Def UHF Planar Antenna.

That one is very sleek and modern and only 8"x6"x.25" and there are no selector knobs to adjust, no antenna to extend and it pulled in 19 stations and it didn't seem to matter how I positioned it.

Obviously, I kept the Imagine and returned this RCA model.

The Imagine was $30 versus $13 for the RCA, but $30 for an antenna that works, is small and looks good is a bargain and $13 for an antenna that doesn't work is not.

I guess like many others I first wanted to try an inexpensive antenna like this one, and if the results weren't satisfactory then try a more expensive model. This one proved good enough for me. I live about 6 miles from most Washington, DC transmitters and the antenna picks them up all well. I like its relatively sturdy (heavy) base and the fact that the dipoles extend pretty far (39 inches). Unfortunately I need to adjust the dipoles and use the adjustment knob more than I would like to get particular stations (there's no setting that will get all or nearly all stations). It's important to be gentle with the dipoles as well as they appear somewhat easy to break if you're not careful while opening/closing/turning--a situation that is largely the same with most rabbit ear antennas however.