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The Ultimate Digital TV Antenna Guide. This article details how to watch network television using over the air digital signals. For a more comprehensive guide on everything, you need to know about enjoying all the TV and movies you want without a cable TV subscription, check out my guide to cable TV alternatives.
Update: If you want to hear my account of what using a TV antenna entails, check out our TV Antenna episode of the Grounded Reason Podcast. Click this link to listen on i. Tunes. If you don’t have an i. OS device or i. Tunes installed on your PC check this show notes page for other options. Over the Air (OTA) TV signals are what many of us grew up watching before Pay TV convinced us all we needed cable.
Did you know you can still OTA TV for free? Furthermore, it’s free! Any television made after 2. U. S. Be aware you should ensure the antenna is properly grounded. If you don’t have an antenna or need a better one, read on. Click on any of the topics below to navigate to that part of the article.
Contents of this Guide. How to Choose The Best TV Antenna. When I chose our TV antenna I used the using this channel locator tool from Mohu. However, different situations may require different TV antennas. This article will consider those variables and help you chose the best TV antenna for you or your family.
Answers to our most frequently asked questions about TV Antennas, Amplifiers, pre-amps, splitters, antenna choice, mounting options and hardware.
First, you will need to get a signal report to see which channels are available to you. Get a Signal Report. Signal power is one of the most important factors when choosing a TV antenna. To discover the signal power in your area use this great tool from tvfool. Once you enter your address, you should receive a signal report like the one below.
While the report is color coded to see which channels require an indoor vs outdoor antenna, there are a number of factors that this color coding doesn’t address. I’ll go over the details of what this report means in this guide. However, I’ve put together an episode of the Grounded Reason Podcasts that walks you through using TV fool. For the purposes of this guide, you want to note the “Netwk” column. For every “must have” TV network in that column, write down the values below. Real TV Channel is in the “Real” column.
TV INSTALLATION: The Antenna Bloke can assist you to install your new flat screen TV on a wall or simply help you set up and tune in the television for you. Shop for tv antenna at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Ditching your cable- or satellite-TV subscription and going to a setup combining a streaming device along with an antenna to pick up over-the-air digital broadcasts.
Many things can cause signal loss and I cover that later in the article. Before covering my antenna recommendations there are a few things we should consider like indoor Vs outdoor, UHF\VHF, and the importance of direction and gain. Indoor Vs Outdoor. An outdoor antenna will always be better at receiving TV channels than an indoor TV antenna. I always recommend going with an outdoor antenna when possible.
- How to Install DIRECTV Satellite TV. DIRECTV provides satellite-based television services to customers in the United States. Since October 2005, the company has.
- Get sharp pictures from your local stations with TV antennas from Best Buy. Shop indoor/outdoor digital TV antennas or an amplified HDTV antenna for indoor use.
However, you will usually be able to pick up a TV channel with an indoor antenna as long as the noise margin or NM (d. B) column is greater than 4. That said, there is a reason I advise against blindly trusting the color- coding on TV fool. The biggest is the difference between UHF and VHF channels. UHF Vs VHFTV channels are split on to three different bands. Channels 2- 6 are on the VHF- Lo band.
Channels 7- 1. 3 are on the VHF- Hi frequency, and channels 1. UHF frequency. The majority of indoor TV antennas are designed to pick up UHF channels. Below is the chart from my TV fool that breaks down the spectrum. When it comes to indoor antennas, I’ve had the best luck with old fashioned rabbit ear antennas when it comes to receiving a VHF signal.
This is due to requiring long pole elements to capture VHF signals. To make matters worse, many signals in today’s digital world interfere with channels in the VHF spectrum. However, I recently did a review of the new Mohu Leaf Glide, which excels at receiving both UHF and VHF channels. Generally, I recommend using an outdoor antenna if you are dependent on receiving VHF channels.
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Although, there are antenna hacks like using a UHF/VHF signal joiner to combine your UHF antenna with a pair of rabbit ears for VHF channels. Directional Vs Omnidirectional. Directional TV antennas are antennas designed to pick up signals in the direction you point them. Omni- directional antennas are designed to pick up channels in all directions.
This tradeoff off is done by focusing the antenna gain, which is different from amplifier gain. With a directional TV antenna, the gain is built into the TV antenna to focus reception in the direction. This gain is measured by adding the gain value of the antenna to the noise margin (NM db). For example, a channel with a noise margin of 3.
TV Fool report can be read as 4. B gain toward it. Omni directional antennas balance their gain to pick up channels in all directions.
Click Here to Return to Table of Contents. The Best TV Antenna for You. Now that we have a general idea about the things that matter when it comes to antenna reception, we can get into the best antennas to consider for given situations.
Of course, if you want to know more about concepts like noise margin, I go a bit more in depth later in this article. UHF channels with NM above 4. BIn this situation; you should be fine with an Omni- Directional indoor antenna. My favorite is the recently released Mohu Leaf Glide. It does a great job of pulling these channels. Antennas like the Mohu Curve older Mohu Leaf and the Winegard Flatwave are also good options.
The Curve and Leaf are very similar in function. The choice here comes down to aesthetics. It’s possible for these solutions to work for VHF- Hi channels as well, given they are with no more than 1.
They are both available to purchase directly from Mohu. UHF channels with a NM below 4. BIn these situations, I recommend an outdoor antenna. The type of antenna really depends on the channel locations and the noise margin. It’s the one we use and it’s aesthetically pleasing to the eye. It’s also very easy to install and we get a couple of VHF- Hi channels with it. The noise margin also has to account for noise in the line (which I cover later in the article).
It’s multidirectional as is casts a wide arc and even adds about 9 d. B of gain to your noise margin. While the arc on this antenna is about 6.
B. You can even get a bit more gain with the DB4e Extreme. If you are having issues receiving VHF- Hi channels there are antennas designed to do a decent job with both UHF and Hi- VHF channels. For an indoor antenna, I would go with the Mohu Leaf Glide.
Check out my review of the Mohu Leaf Glide for more information. As for outdoor, the Antennas Direct Clearstream 2. V is a good option. It pulls channels within a 7. B of gain to the noise margin. While Antennas Direct considers this an indoor/outdoor antenna, it’s a bit too bulky for me to consider this an indoor antenna.
If you need a bit more antenna gain you can try the Winegard HD7. P. It requires more precise aiming than other antennas but will pull channels at long distances in the VHF- Hi spectrum. It offers a gain between 1. B depending on the channel you are trying to receive. Channels in Lo- VHF, VHF- Hi, and UHFSome areas of the country have digital channels in the VHF- Lo range. These are channels 2- 6 in the “Real” column. For longer distance channels, I’d try the Winegard HD8.
U. Click Here to Return to Table of Contents. Important TV Antenna Topics. Now that you know the type of antenna you will need, I wanted to point you to more information on common questions that come up in regard to over the air television. Over the Air DVR – Yes, you can record from your antenna. In fact, I strongly recommend it, and review several options in this guide to OTA DVRs.
More than 1 TV – There are easy solutions for connecting an antenna to more than 1 TV. I recommend an outdoor antenna for this in most situations, but check out the link for more information. Grounding the Antenna – This isn’t a concern for an indoor antenna.
However, you definitely want to ground an outdoor antenna. It will mitigate lightning strikes and other electrical anomalies that are possible, but unlikely.
Reception – For those that don’t want to read all the details and inner workings of TV antennas, I’ve put together a quick reference to help improve indoor antenna reception. Antenna Installers – I’ve had many readers ask about antenna installers in their area. I’ve discovered a great service called Home Advisor that finds trusted home improvement professionals in your area.
Simply click this link and “antenna” in the search. You can then select “Install or Replace Antenna.” Fill out the form and Home Advisor will connect you with certified professionals in your area to do the work.
If you want to get in touch with a live person to put you in touch with a local professional you can call Home Advisor at 8. Antennas and HOAs – Your HOA cannot stop you from putting up an antenna. I explain why in my article on TV Antennas, the FCC, and Your HOAClick Here to Return to Table of Contents. TV Fool: A Deeper Look.
For those that want a bit more information on what the TV Fool report contains, I cover that in this section. Path – This is a description of the signal path from the tower to the TV antenna. This is the last column under the “Signal” heading of the report. Below you will find the values found in the columns and their definition. LOS – This means Line of Sight.
Basically, there is nothing in the way of the antenna and the tower. Edge – When the signal leaves the tower it is “cut” when it hits a hill, mountain, or other well defined obstruction.
A value of 1. Edge in the “Path” column indicates the antenna is receiving the signal after being cut by this obstruction. The picture below demonstrates this concept. Edge – This is the same concept as 1. Edge, except the signal was cut twice before reaching the antenna.
As you may have guessed, this results in a much weaker signal than 1. Edge. Tropo – This is tropospheric scatter. An estimate of 3 d. B should suffice. Cable runs – Typically RG- 6 coax is used in the US. You have to count every output on the splitter whether it’s used or not. I go into more detail in this post on choosing a coaxial signal splitter.