A friend is asking about some reception problems they are having and we thought it would be a good time to go over the best way to install and point your TV antenna.
No matter what type of antenna you get the location that you install it and how you point it will have dramatic differences in your reception.
When installing your antenna height really makes a lot of difference. If you are able to mount your antenna in your attic or on your roof you are always going to get better reception than you will in your home. First TV Signals need your antenna to be about 10 feet from the ground to get reception. If you are in a single story home you might want to move the antenna to the ceiling of your room or move it to the attic or roof. Normally if you are moving to the roof or attic you will select a different type of antenna than you would for at your television and then wire your home so you can use that single antenna to feed your entire home.
The next thing you need to know is that you need open line of sight to your broadcast towers. That means if there is a building or large tree in the way you should move your antenna to the other side of your home. Many people complain about installing an antenna in the fall and then when the trees get leaves on them their reception changes or fades completely. This is a real problem and seasonal changes should be expected.
Pointing Your Antenna
When you get to the point of actually pointing your antenna you should understand the span of degrees that your antenna can pick up reception. Remember it is always best to be 100% accurate when pointing and being off a few degrees will matter. Another problem you will have is that it is almost guaranteed that the signals in your area are not all coming from the same direction.
There are website tools out there that can provide you detailed information and even google maps showing your home and the direction that the signals are coming from. They are only as accurate as the information put in but they are a great aid in helping you find where signals are coming from and how you should point your antenna.
One website is www.tvfool.com and if you use their tools you should enter your coordinates and not just your zip code or street address.
After you have mounted your antenna you want to sight down the long rail of the antenna and point the small dipole collector end towards the towers that you want to receive.
Accuracy is important so use a compass or compass app on your phone and remember to hold the compass or your phone level and don’t get it near any metal or it will throw off the compass.
Once you are close you can scan for channels and see if you have done well.
You may need to adjust your antenna slightly for best reception and some televisions have a bar readout just like your phone. If you are lucky to have that you can read the bars as you adjust the antenna. You will probably need someone helping you or you will be running back and forth a lot.
Final Note
All antennas should give you their degrees of operation that they can pick up signal.. they should also give you the range of signal that they can pick up. Simply stating that an antenna is HD TV Ready is not enough.
Most flat antennas only do real channel 14 and above which is UHF. Even many antennas that say they do High VHF and UHF only perform well if the VHF Signals are very strong and then normally only for stations 11 and up.
Since there is a transition in television station broadcasts there will be a lot more VHF stations in the future. I would invest in an antenna that is specifically built to get Low VHF signals from 54mhz and up.