How Can I Make My Antenna Work Better – Getting great reception with an indoor digital TV antenna can be a daunting task. It’s like playing mole: when the antenna is in one location, you get certain channels; move it to another and another channel comes in and your original channel now disappears.
The best place to put the antenna is outside, for example on the roof, but most people cannot put the antenna on the roof.
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The location of the indoor antenna in the room has a greater effect on the number of channels you can receive than any other factor.
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The best place to mount a planar antenna such as a Mohu sheet is usually against a window or outside wall. From these locations, start searching for the main channels on TV. I want to use tape to temporarily position the antenna during scanning.
To help you determine which direction the TV signal is coming from, go to the Station Finder and enter your zip code or address. When the results are displayed, click on the station call sign in the left column to see which direction the signal is coming from:
So if you have problems with a certain channel, move the antenna to the wall of your room facing the tower.
Technically, extending the antenna cable slightly reduces the level of signal reaching the TV, but if the longer length allows you to reach a window facing the tower, then it’s worth it.
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If you have a long cable, you can try moving the antenna outside temporarily to see if an external antenna helps. Do not use unnecessarily long cables as this will reduce signal levels!
I have found that the angle at which the antenna is placed can make a big difference. Consider this map of Los Angeles:
All of Los Angeles’ transmission towers are in one place: Mount Wilson near Pasadena. I can’t get CBS when I hold the antenna against a north facing wall (the east facing wall is not facing out). When I point the antenna to the northeast, I can receive CBS with no problem.
Check out the Station Finder app and click on each station’s call letter to see where to point the antenna. Once the antenna signals reach your antenna, you need as large a surface as possible for them to land on (if you’re using a flat antenna like a Mohu sheet).
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One day I taped my Mohu Leaf antenna to the wall of my former third floor apartment and it fell to the floor. To my surprise, the reception was better on the floor than vertically on the wall! Some readers said it worked for them too! So try placing your flat antenna horizontally and see if it helps, even if it’s on the floor!
I have a friend (and several readers) who had the best reception with a leaf antenna taped to the ceiling! So try to place it in a sensible way first (close to windows and outside walls), but try to place it horizontally, especially if you live near mountains, tall trees or tall buildings. These interferences can cause TV signals to enter your home in strange, unclear directions.
I get 50% more channels on the second floor with the Mohu Leaf antenna than on the first floor. Place the antenna as high as possible, in line of sight with the transmitter as much as possible.
Do you have a sunroof I moved the magic leaf to the sunroof for better access! This is the closest thing to an outdoor antenna that uses an indoor antenna!
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Since the cable from the light to the TV is quite long, I plug it into the Tablo and watch live TV through the browser or the Tablo app.
The Mohu Leaf (and the antenna you use) comes with “RG59” cable. Printed directly on the cable:
Many users have reported that they get better reception (more channels) when they replace this cable with a stronger “RG6” cable:
Someone told me that Mohu customer service also recommends RG6 cable! This makes sense because RG6 has thicker conductors, better insulation and better shielding than RG59 and is designed for higher frequencies.
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If you are serious, read more about RG59 and RG6 cables. You will see why RG59 is so bad and RG6 is so good!
So if you have a Mohu Leaf or any other antenna with RG59 cable, replace it with RG6! Here are some examples from Amazon:
Note that the cables used by the cable companies are usually RG6, but are not always marked. Try it and see if it helps.
Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link and purchase the product, I will receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.
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Nearby electrical equipment can interfere with TV reception. As a test, turn off all nearby computers, VCRs, DVD players, set-top boxes, stereos, Wi-Fi routers, and any other electronic or electrical devices. Fluorescent and LED lights can also cause problems. (A reader reported that an electric clipper caused her TV signal to drop out!) Disconnect everything from the TV except the power and antenna. Then take the test again. If you notice an improvement, add additional devices one at a time to isolate sources of interference.
Thank you very much! ! ! ! Suddenly I could only receive two of the 15 stations I got with the old indoor antenna. But thanks to your article, I just realized that the old VCR I added a few days ago still works! ! ! After I turned it off, all my stations came back… Thanks again.
We got… the “new device” is a new motorized recliner! Channels are normal when turned off. so what? ! ?
If you have a lot of electronic equipment near the TV, it may help to move the antenna to another room and use a longer cable to isolate it from interference from the equipment. Wi-Fi routers can be particularly tricky.
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Sometimes it helps to connect the faulty device to the same distributor. Sometimes plugging into a different outlet helps. For example, if the affected device is connected to the TV via HDMI, an HDMI cable with a ferrite core (or a separate connection) can be used to block the interference.
This is actually a subset of the previous point, with electronic interference removed, but it happens to so many people that it should have its own element.
Some Amazon Fire TV sticks emit a lot of electromagnetic interference. With the Stick on, try tuning to the channel causing the problem and remove the Stick or put it to sleep. If the obstacle is removed, the stick is the culprit.
A very effective solution that has been confirmed by many people on the Internet is to wrap the rod in foil! Yes, it really works! There have been no reports of problems using the remote or Wi-Fi after this, but if they don’t work, you may need to make some space in the foil. Alternatively, connect the joystick to a 10-foot HDMI extension cable and move it away from the antenna.
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If you are using an antenna setup with a power amplifier (also called a booster), try removing it.
If you have a powerful station, an amplifier will make things worse. Amplifiers can cancel weak signals from strong stations and reception can be poor. If your antenna has an amplifier (ie plug it into the wall power supply), try turning off the amplifier and see if the reception improves. Many readers have reported that their antennas are picking up more channels without an amplifier! So if you have an amplifier, try removing it and connecting the antenna directly to the TV.
Conversely, if you live far from a station (more than 20 miles), an amplifier can really help. The amplifier works best if all your stations in the Station Finder are yellow or red, or if all your stations are blacked out. I recommend the Channel Master line of amplifiers:
If you have a group of strong stations and want to pick up a few more weak stations, the booster will not work well. In this case it does more harm than good.
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If you’re in an area with cell towers (many parts of the city do), an LTE filter can help. To be clear, LTE filters may not introduce channels that did not exist before. Instead, they are exactly what you got, but flaky, pixelated, etc. It can help improve channel reliability. I recommend a basic LTE filter for this channel:
Note that some active antennas have LTE filters, so make sure yours doesn’t before purchasing.
If all TV signals are coming from the same direction (as is the case in the Los Angeles area), then
