I won't try to convert you to seeing antennas as objects of great beauty. I can only assure you that the laws of physics apply, universally, without prejudice. In this case if you are trying to receive a moderate or weak signal, you will need to aim the right size antenna at it. Just as astronomers have to use big telescopes to see faint stars, you and I have to use a big antenna to receive weak radio waves (the math is identical, the physics principals are the same).
Amplifiers are easy to sell because they seem to promise something for nothing...
An amplifier is not an antenna. An amplifier is only useful for overcoming signal loss in the cables and splitters that come after the antenna. Amplifiers not only increase the amplitude of the signal fed into them, they distort the signal and add noise to the signal. If too much signal is fed into an amplifier, the output will be extremely distorted, virtually useless.
Adding a second amplifier downstream of the built in amplifier will very often result in that extreme distortion, leaving you with less or even no channels viewable.
If I lived next door to you, you would see two antennas on my roof, an Antennacraft HBU-22 (or larger) aimed south and an Antennacraft HBU-33 (or larger) aimed at Spokane (Winegard makes similar antennas that would be excellent choices as well). Some would use an A/B switch to select between antennas, I use
SiliconDust network attached tuners instead. I doubt that any amplifier would be needed unless I was splitting to several sets.
