[Rangerdbs]

I live in Mansfield, MA which is between Boston, MA and Providence, RI. I live in a two story colonial house that is pretty much surrounded by tall trees. The TV is in my first floor family room.

At the time the conversion to HD took place several years ago, I hooked up a digital converter box to my TV and continued watching it using my existing radio Shack VHF/UHF antenna, preamplifier, and rotor that is installed in the rafters of my garage. The Providence stations are mostly about 10 miles away and the Boston stations are mostly about 20 miles away. The number of stations that I receive and the signal strength (which I can display on my TV) varies from day to day. Sometimes I can get a good consistent signal from only a few stations, but other times I am able to get channels 2,4,5,6,7,10,12,25,28,44,56, and 64.

I am planning to get a new HD TV and want to improve my reception so I can consistently get all those stations. I do not want an outdoor antenna so I am thinking that I will install an antenna in the attic of my house (the roof is normal wood and asphalt shingle construction). The attic can hold a larger antenna, and while the antenna will still not be above the trees at least it will be higher than the one in the garage. The cable to the TV will probably be about 40-50 feet long.

I am also considering using a splitter and running a cable to my basement in case I want to add a TV there in the future, but will not do that if it will significantly degrade the signal to my family room TV.

What antenna and preamplifier would you recommend? Any other suggestions?

Thanks