We got this huge thing from Radio Shack that I put in the attic. I think that it was 10 feet long and five feet wide and that thing pulled in stations from Boston but we were also on a hill. There are a lot of factors that affect reception - at least back before digital.

After the digital transition, my son bought a big square antenna (don't recall the brand or model) and that pulled in a couple of stations but he was able to watch the show that he wanted to watch. This was also in the attic. We tossed everything five years ago and nobody watches TV shows anymore.

Signal quality is highly dependent upon many factors including your location relative to the station broadcasting the signal, local terrain, etc. That being said if you can get a good signal, OTA HD signals, unlike cable and satellite, are uncompressed so they provide a higher quality signal.

>Got any recommendations for a quality antenna?

It is more about your location than the antenna. There are parts of nashua where the best antenna on the market can't get a signal, and other parts where a $20 antenna will pick up 15 channels.