When I was into Amateur Radio Big Time I spent most of my time with HF frequencies, but also dabbled in 2 meter FM Packet. I tried just about every antenna known to humans back then to increase my range on RX and TX. J-Pole, Dipole, Windom, Sloper, Zepp, Vertical, even some experimental designs I dabbled in. I also ported most of these to my FM Tuners as they were available and I decided I wanted to experiment with FM Stereo broadcast RX as well.
My conclusion is that FM is obviously line of sight for the vast majority of the time, and the higher your antenna, the better your reception. Nothing can compete with height AGL. Not even the best amplified antennas. 75' high on a tower or mast beats an amplified antenna in the attic any day with regard to pulling in some weaker signals, assuming your house is not built on a nice hill or mountain.
Today I use three different antennas. J-Pole, Dipole, and Discone. They all work great because they are all specific to my locations and at a height that gives me the RX I want for the stations I want to receive. I don't personally worry too much about selectivity as I don't have that issue with any of my locations, so a highly directional antenna is not important to me. I'd love to be able to pull neighboring islands in Hawaii but unfortunately I have huge volcanic mountains in the way toward both neighboring islands. Both are probably within the horizon azimuth for me to get LOS to the transmitting towers, but I'd have to be up another 1,000 feet to get above the mountains.
