This $39 TV antenna did not get a Black Friday low cost. You should purchase it anyway

Like many different cord-cutters, I’d grown bored with the fixed value hikes for the largest streaming companies. So final 12 months, I selected to essentially lower the wire by switching to an old-school, over-the-air antenna. 

After a lot deliberation, I selected to go along with this mannequin: the GE Outside HD Digital TV Antenna, now promoting for roughly $39 on Amazon. I’ve been utilizing it for greater than a 12 months and find it irresistible, and I’d fortunately suggest it though it’s getting solely the tiniest of Black Friday reductions.

I needed an outside mannequin as a result of the cheaper, leaf-style indoor antenna I’d been utilizing couldn’t pull any indicators in my basement Brooklyn house. However I additionally needed an antenna that was sufficiently small to put in on the outside wall of my rental, provided that I don’t have rooftop entry (we do have a small again yard). 

This GE antenna checked each containers, and it was additionally simple to assemble (these lengthy, skinny aluminum rods slide simply into the antenna meeting) and set up (the mast and screw equipment are included within the field, though I opted for a unique mast as a result of quirky configuration of my out of doors wall). I grounded the antenna with some copper wire, then aimed it on the TV broadcast towers in Manhattan. 

Now, as a substitute of barely getting any channels in any respect, I get crystal-clear reception for about two-dozen channels, together with my native ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and PBS associates—that means no extra worries about streaming channel blackouts. I additionally get respectable reception for one more dozen channels which are a bit additional away, in addition to spotty reception for roughly 20 extra distant TV stations. General, I now have loads of over-the-air channels to select from. (I’ve beforehand chronicled how I paired the antenna with the HDHomeRun Flex Duo 2 TV tuner, whereas utilizing Plex as a DVR.) 

I put in the GE antenna greater than a 12 months in the past, and it’s been performing like a champ since then. Crucially, it weathered a complete 12 months of harsh New York Metropolis climate, together with a number of bouts of lashing wind and torrential rain. 

This antenna known as the GE Outside HD Digital TV Antenna, however there’s nothing inherently HD about it, neither is it solely for out of doors use. Sure, this specific antenna can obtain digital HDTV indicators, however so can antennas which are a long time previous. Additionally, the GE antenna is sufficiently small to slot in an attic if you’d quite not set up it exterior.  

Now, right here’s the half the place I’d usually inform you concerning the unbelievable Black Friday low cost the GE Outside HD Digital TV Antenna is getting; sadly, that’s merely not the case. As of this writing, it’s promoting on Amazon for $38.98, a mere 5-percent off its $40.99 record value. Checking camelcamelcamel’s value historical past, the all-time low for the antenna was $28.96 again in pre-Covid days. 

Even with that modest 5-percent low cost, although, I’d argue that this GE antenna is effectively value its present $39 price ticket. It’s simple to put in, it’s sufficiently small for house dwellers, it’s powerful, and most of all, it really works. 

Purchase the GE Outside HD Digital TV Antenna on Amazon

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