Indoor Aerial TV Signal Loss
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The first thing you need to do before even attempting to set up your antenna is to identify the locations of the broadcast towers in your area. Ideally, you’ll do this before you even buy your antenna because this will help you better understand how powerful the antenna will need to be to pick up the stations you want to watch.
There are a couple of excellent websites for locating TV signals in your area – TVFool.com and AntennaWeb.org. Either of these online tools will allow you to input your street address and see a map outlining the distance and direction of the various broadcast towers in your area.
This AntennaWeb report shows that most of the transmission towers are located southwest of the home.
This AntennaWeb report shows that most of the transmission towers are located southwest of the home.
Why does this matter? Let’s say you’re having trouble picking up your local NBC affiliate. Using the map, you can see which direction the tower is located in and move the antenna to the outside-facing wall that faces that particular tower. It can also tell you what strength antenna you’ll need to pick up the channels in your area. For instance, if most of the towers are within 30 miles, an antenna with a 30-mile range should work. However, if you live further away from the broadcast towers, you might need a more powerful antenna with a 50-mile range or more.
2. Place The Antenna In Or Near A Window
The fewer obstructions between your antenna and the broadcast towers, the better. And make no mistake–thick walls and ceilings are certainly obstructions. That’s why placing your antenna in or near a window often yields the best results. Many times, this can give you the clearest line of sight to the broadcast tower, provided there isn’t a major obstruction right outside of the window, such as a big tree or your neighbor’s brick wall.
A couple of important notes about placing your antenna in a window. First, beware of heat absorption from the sun. With the Mohu Leaf, the manufacturer recommends making sure “the white side faces outside so the antenna absorbs less heat from the sun.” Also, if you’re using a flat antenna, make sure you securely tape all four corners to the window so that it doesn’t bend or warp over time as this will hamper reception.
3. Go High
One of the things you’ll notice when you use the signal finder tools on TV Fool, AntennaWeb, or other similar sites is that you’ll be asked to input the estimated height of your antenna. There’s a very important reason for this. Typically, the higher your antenna is placed, the better your reception will be. That’s why outdoor antennas tend to pick up so many channels.
Antenna height plays a key role in reception.
Antenna height plays a key role in reception. (screenshot TVFool.com)
With that in mind, you should try to place your antenna as high as you can in your room (keeping in mind that you still want it near an outside-facing wall and by a window, if possible). In some cases, such as when the TV is down in a basement or broadcast towers are far away, this may mean placing the antenna up on a higher story or even in the attic, and it may require a slightly longer coaxial cable. Just make sure that you don’t get an unnecessarily long coax cable because long cable runs can degrade the signal.
4.Keep The Antenna Away From Any Metal
Metallic surfaces near your antenna can cause interference with the digital signals and block your reception. For example, if you place your antenna in a window but there are metal burglar bars or a metal bug screen just outside the window, this could cause issues. Likewise, if you have a metal roof in your home, installing your antenna in the middle of the attic probably won’t yield positive results.
“Try to keep as much distance as practical from these [metal] objects (6 feet or greater is ideal),” Antennas Direct recommends.
5. Test Different Antenna Placements
While it would be nice to plug in your antenna and immediately start picking up every channel in your area in beautiful HD, the fact is you’ll probably have to test a few different locations for your antenna until you can find the position that offers the best results. Using the tips in this article, try out a few locations in your home. Each time you place the antenna in a new spot, run a channel scan on your TV and see which channels are picking up. If you’re using a flat antenna, I recommend using clear adhesive tape to temporarily place the antenna when running your scans.
Created September 9, 2019 at 08:06PM
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