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Robert Silva has extensive experience in consumer electronics and home theater product sales and sales supervision; he has written about audio, video, and home theater topics since 1998. Robert has articles published on HBO.com and Dishinfo.com plus has made appearances on the YouTube series Home Theater Geeks.
Updated on October 20, 2021Cord-cutting has boosted internet streaming and given new life to receiving TV signals using an antenna. Instead of paying high cable or satellite bills, you can receive free TV over the air. However, there is more to receiving TV signals than buying an antenna and randomly placing it somewhere indoors or outdoors.
Several conditions affect TV reception.
You may be too far from one or more TV station transmitters, which prevents signal reception. If you are too far, you'll experience the digital cliff, which is an abrupt TV signal drop-off. This is a by-product of the analog-to-digital TV broadcasting transition.
With analog TV signals, as distance increased between the TV transmitter and the receiving antenna, there was gradual fading. Although you could be too far to receive the best quality, you could still watch a low-quality signal with a fuzzy image if it didn't bother you.
TV signals are now transmitted digitally (1s and 0s), and there's no gradual fading as distance increases. You receive full quality all the time, intermittently, or not all. As you approach the digital cliff, the image may appear blocky, or it may cut out and come back.
If you're too close to a TV transmitter, the signal may overpower your TV tuner or DTV converter box and, in some cases, damage those devices.
TV signals are affected by physical obstacles, including hills and trees. Some materials used in home construction, such as stucco, concrete, aluminum siding, metal roofs, foil-lined ducts and conduits, and solar panels limit the effectiveness of indoor or attic-placed antennas.
Weather (such as wind and rain), interference from certain types of electrical equipment, and LTE cell towers sometimes temporarily cut off a TV signal.
At very long distances, the earth's curvature can affect TV signal reception.
You might have several station transmitters in your local area, but these transmitters may not be in the same location. One station might transmit from the north, another from the west, and another from the east.
If you have a directional antenna, it may not receive signals from multiple transmitter locations. If you have a multi-directional or omnidirectional antenna, interference is more likely.
If more than one TV is connected to the same antenna using a splitter, the signal loses strength. If three or four TVs are connected to an antenna, one or two might look fine, and the rest may only receive signals intermittently or not at all. You may create a homemade cliff effect.
The sensitivity of your TV's tuner or a DTV converter box also affects antenna reception.
Knowing what causes antenna reception problems, you can use one or more of the following options to improve your TV signal.
If you know the station transmitter locations, use a rotor to direct the antenna to the new channels and manually add those channels to your TV channel listings. Note the rotor position for the new channels.
If you move the antenna using the rotor and rescan the channels, the TV may no longer list the previously scanned channels if the antenna doesn't receive those channels in the new position.
Use a distribution amplifier for multiple TVs or use a separate antenna for each TV. If you have more than one TV, ideally, you should have a separate antenna for each. Splitting the signal decreases the signal strength, especially if the cable distance from the signal splitter and one or more TVs is long. A more practical solution is to use a distribution amplifier. You connect the main feed from the antenna to the input on the amplifier and connect the outputs of the amplifier to your TVs. Distribution amplifier prices vary depending on the brand, model, and the number of outputs provided.
If you can't improve the reception of your current antenna, another option is to change it out for a new one. However, before you buy, consider the following:
Don't fall for HD antenna advertising hype. All TV antennas receive analog, digital, and HD TV signals. Even those old rabbit ears can be used to receive digital and HD TV signals if the station transmitters are in range. However, newer antennas have better designs for pulling in signals but not because these are labeled HD antennas.
If you canceled satellite, you can't use the dish to receive over-the-air TV signals. The dish is not the correct shape and has internal circuitry that isn't suitable for broadcast TV reception. However, if the coaxial cabling that connected the dish to your TV is in good shape, replace the dish with a TV antenna if the location is clear of obstacles for receiving terrestrial digital TV signals. Check out an example of how to replace the satellite signal receptor with a TV antenna.
Find out if local stations broadcast on VHF or UHF. As a result of the DTV transition in 2009, most TV stations that formerly broadcast on channels 2-13 (VHF band) moved to UHF (channels 14-83) for digital broadcasting. Since it takes more power to transmit at higher frequencies, the effective range of the signals may be reduced.
With the FCC reallocating portions of the TV broadcast spectrum for other uses, it has authorized a re-pack program where select TV stations are changing their transmission frequencies and transmitter locations (some for the second time since the original DTV transition).
Switch from an indoor to an outdoor antenna. An outdoor antenna can improve your TV reception.
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If you have a directional antenna, consider switching to an omnidirectional antenna. This provides better access to TV signals from different directions. However, the antenna's sensitivity decreases for signals coming from a specific direction (the antenna is less focused). While a directional antenna may receive a station farther away in a single direction, you may lose it if you switch to an omnidirectional antenna that works well for closer stations.
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Antenna prices vary and range from less than $10 for a basic indoor antenna to over one hundred dollars for a long-range outdoor model.
Don't assume that the distance range listed or advertised for your antenna is accurate. Ratings may be based on optimum conditions.
