[…]of the leading antenna manufacturers. All are non-powered. Which was the best? My Testing Method In the past, I’ve taken a very clinical approach to testing, simply doing channel scans and recording the number of channels the antenna picks up. The one that picked up the most channels was the winner. However, that is not necessarily a true reflection of the usefulness of an antenna. What most people really care about are a small number of channels, like the major networks, local English language stations, and PBS. Most people don’t care if an antenna picks up a whole bunch of foreign […]
[…]of experimentation with where you put your antenna in your room. There can be a big difference in the number of channels you get depending on antenna orientation, location, height, and whether it is indoors or outdoors. Changing the antenna angle by a few degrees could change reception drastically for a particular channel. If you are using an indoor antenna, I suggest placing it near a window, then scanning for channels to establish a baseline. Write down the channels you get, move your antenna, and scan again. If you lost any channels, manually add them back in using your TV’s […]
[…]You will need to go through your TV’s settings menus to find where to do that. My TV is not finding any channels when I do a scan Did you use the Station Finder on the front page of this site to see if there are any channels in your area? If you have at least five green channels, it is worth trying to get broadcast digital channels. Did you securely attach the antenna cable? (It has a collar that has to be screwed in.) The most fragile part of many antennas like the Mohu Leaf is the cheap cable it comes […]
[…]might be on the side of the house that is away from the TV stations. Perhaps one of your TVs is in the basement, where reception might be bad. If you have strong signals in your area (enter your zip code into the Station Finder to see), you still might be able to get all of the channels you want everywhere in your home, so maybe it won’t matter. But chances are, some of your TVs will get worse reception than others due to the location in your home. So, don’t go out and buy a whole bunch of antennas. […]
[…]ended up using two RG6 cables spliced together, allowing me to insert amplifiers, splitters, etc. in the signal path. Doing this sacrifices a little bit of signal quality, so you shouldn’t do this. Just use one RG6 cable long enough to reach the ideal location, but not too much longer than required. My Second Antenna I have a second antenna (another Mohu Leaf) in the skylight of my condo attached to a Tablo for recording. This is the highest point in my condo and has good reception. If you have a skylight, definitely try putting your antenna in it! Using […]
[…]Leaf is an indoor TV antenna that you can hang on a wall or window, as shown below. It is made in the U.S. and has performance on par with or better than much bulkier metal antennas. You can simply hang it on a wall, and it doesn’t look bad! (See my comparison between the Mohu Leaf and a bulky metal antenna). Mohu has a variety of Leaf models, but the one I recommend is the Mohu Leaf 30. This is the original non-amplified version: In my testing, this model hits the sweet spot of price and performance if you can’t use […]
[…]no longer needed, especially with the plethora of streaming services available today. But, in the past year or so, I’ve been so glad to have access to free broadcast TV through my antenna. The reason is this: Broadcast TV is the most reliable medium for getting real-time news in times of crisis, surpassed only by a battery-powered radio (because that will work even if the power goes out). Cable and Internet Infrastructure is Vulnerable Cable and Internet service can be pretty flaky, even when there isn’t a disaster happening. How often does your Internet go down even when everything is normal? […]
[…]or attic antenna. If You Have Weak TV Signals… If your TV signals are weak (i.e., yellow or red in the Station Finder), then your best bet would be to use an attic or outdoor antenna, hands down. If, however, you are not able to do that, then an amplified indoor antenna might help. I would recommend one of these indoor amplified antennas: You can read my full review of the Antop HD Smart Bar Antenna here. If You Have Long Cable Runs… This case mostly applies to when you’re using an outdoor or attic antenna, and you’re driving multiple […]
[…]are usually mounted outdoors or in an attic. Practically speaking, however, I have had success combining two of the same type of indoor antenna when the TV signals are coming from different directions. You can use a coupler to attach two antennas to your TV and point them in different directions to get both sets of signals. Of course, this requires you to buy another antenna, plus a coupler to combine the signals, plus some more coax cable. You’ll get the best results if you use a “coupler”, instead of a simple “splitter”. A splitter is used to split the […]
[…]TV. There is usually only one plug where this cable will fit. If there is already a cable plugged in there, unscrew it at the other end and use it for this experiment. Leave the other end of the coax cable dangling for now. Turn on your TV and go to the setup menu to put your TV in “Antenna” mode (as opposed to “Cable” mode). This is what it looks like on my Sony Bravia: Next, go to the menu option on your TV that says something like “scan for channels”. Here is what it looks like on my TV: […]
