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When rabbit ears are put in a "V" orientation, the gain is a little lower. You also need to lengthen the elements a little more to get them tuned to the same channel.
You get the maximum gain out of rabbit ears when the poles are exactly opposite each other in a straight line (both poles at equal length). For upper VHF stations (i.e. ch 13), you'll want the tip-to-tip length to be about 40 inches. For lower VHF stations (i.e., ch 2), you'll want the tip-to-tip length to be about 110 inches. Most rabbit ears can only reach to about 80 inches, but that's close enough to work for all the lower VHF channels.
If you need to tilt the elements up because you lack the space for a horizontal dipole, then you'll need to make the elements longer by 30% to 50% to maintain optimum tuning to the channel you want. As the elements get closer together (narrowing "V"), the effective gain will decrease.
All TV signals are broadcast with horizontal polarization, so for optimum reception, you should also have your antenna in a horizontal position. It is not very sensitive to polarization (you can be off by +/- 30 degrees and hardly notice any difference) so anything roughly horizontal is good enough.
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