Im looking for an antenna thats doesnt cost to much, like under $50 and can reach at least 40 to 50 miles and can get HDTV. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area but im in the east bay and there are a few hills and about 30 to 40 miles between me and the tower unless there r others. any ideas? if possible i want to get one with a rotor on it.

I live in Santa Clara and I have my antenna INSIDE my house, in the attic. I've tried a couple of plain old TV antennas and they do a fine job. I have some kind of ChannelMaster up there now (that I got at Fry's) but I had a RadioShack antenna up there before and it worked pretty much the same. It's a good idea to get an amplifier and put it up by the antenna to overcome the loss of the cable, and use good coax and screw-on connectors (no press-on).

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I can also be VERY, VERY dependent on your neighborhood and line of sight. I've got so much EM noise and so much crap in the way that I've had very little luck despite being less than 10 miles from the main local tower. I should get good reception with a stinking bent coathanger...

Talk about unbelievably frustrating...

That really sucks, ill let everyone know what happens with my setup once its finished. My plan is to go with my old file server and get a 200GB hard drive and install either knoppmyth or Red Hat. use the HD PC3000 tuner card and an antenna i got off of ebay, A-NEUTRONICS HDTV VHF UHF FM OUTDOOR ANTENNA w/ ROTOR that can go up to 50 miles and a built in preamp, im hoping its enough power to get over a cople of hills and 30 miles. Im hoping to have everything setup by next weekend.