Stable TV card + portable aerial advice pls

At present, I've got a basic WinTV card which has been useful but I often get freezes when using it. I have used a Maxview aerial (from Homebase) with it but getting decent reception took a bit of effort with positioning.

My sister wants to borrow the WinTV card for University but I would like to find her a better aerial to use with it without being too expensive. You can't really tell which is the best before purchase so if anyone's found a really good portable aerial then please let me know.

As the WinTV card is unstable, I'm considering letting my sister keep the card and buying myself a more stable one. Any recommendations that aren't too expensive? S-video in is important, but Nicam isn't essential.