Home > How to Increase Signal Strength on Digital TV Antenna?

Indoor TV antennas allow for free television without incurring hefty cable bills. But, this means ensuring you always get a clear signal. Sometimes the indoor antenna won’t come in more powerful on some days than it does on others. This can be frustrating.

So, how to increase signal strength on a digital tv antenna when it’s not coming in clear? To fix the problem, you will have to tinker around with it. This will include things like pointing and moving the device along with shifting the bandwidth or playing with the amplifier.s

If you want to avoid these problems, the Novawave TV Antenna can be your best bet. 

About Antennas

When you get an indoor antenna, the best way how to increase signal strength on digital TV antenna is to get one that can handle all potential interference. Your first consideration should be how far you are from a broadcast tower and what will obstruct your reception. Things like other houses, trees, buildings and even the materials comprising your home will be major influences.

Also remember that just because you pay a little extra for what you believe to be a quality antenna, doesn’t mean it will outperform less expensive ones. This is why it’s important to shop around and get a feel for customer reviews rather than basing quality solely on price.

If you don’t know where the broadcast towers are, download the  Novawave Digital TV Antenna from Google Play and the Novawave Antenna Signal Finder from App Store. You can find your favorite station’s tower and determine where the signals come from. You’ll also get an idea about the number of channels you can get and how strong they are. Weaker channels will be more difficult to access than stronger ones.

Methods ; Ways of How to Increase Signal Strength on Digital TV Antenna 

Read all the tips and techniques below before trying to fix the problem on your own. Think about the best way to approach it and come up with a plan of action.

Remove Obstacles

The first thing in increasing signal strength on a digital tv antenna is to stop interference. Obstacles, inside and outside, can degrade proper reception. Look out the windows for large trees, buildings, a garage, shed or any other obstructions.

Then, try to put the antenna in the spot that seems to have the least amount of possible blockages. Sometimes this means putting it up against an external wall because that’s the direction of the broadcast towers.

Playing with Bandwidths

When TV used analog signals, most channels were on VHF, which is a lower frequency. But, since the all-digital broadcast transition back in June of 2009, TVs now receive both VHF and UHF bandwidths. So, your digital indoor antenna should have the capacity to pick up both frequencies. This will offer the largest range of possible channels and help to increase signal strength on a digital tv antenna.

Some models have a switch or other mechanism to set the bandwidth. See if this works before attempting the other suggestions below.

Pointing

Many models are directional and you have to orient it toward the broadcast towers. Some devices are multidirectional, so you’ll have to check with your manufacturer’s instruction manual. If it’s multidirectional, you shouldn’t have to point it. But, it can’t hurt to try.

Also understand you may also have to reorient the antenna to pick up various stations. For instance, you may be able to pull in channel 12’s signal when pointing the antenna to the south. But, you get channel 24 when orienting the device to the northwest yet lose channel 12 altogether.

Moving

Since most indoor TV antennas are easy to use, you can try moving the device around the house to see where the best reception is. Go as high up as you can with it to get the strongest signal possible.

This means you shouldn’t try putting it in the basement either. If you can’t get it on top of something, try placing it close to a window. Ensure you put it in the direction of the broadcast tower.

If you find that you have to keep the antenna in a room separate from the TV, you will have to get an additional cable. This will be the only way you’ll be able to make it work.

Rescan for Channels

Most indoor antennas will require a rescan for channels after moving or pointing the device. It’s a good idea to do this at least once a month in any case. It refreshes the connection and may clear up your issue by proxy.

When looking at how to increase signal strength on a digital tv antenna, rescan the device before doing any other adjustment suggestions above. You may have to rescan several times throughout the tinkering process.

Use the Amp

If your antenna has a built-in amplifier, you can try adjusting this to see if it clears up the issue. It’s your last ditch effort on how to increase signal strength on a digital tv antenna to catch more channels. These are also useful if you want to split your antenna reception to feed two separate televisions.

However, not all amplifiers are going to help. In some cases, they can cause more problems than they solve. Sometimes, they can increase problems with noise and distortion or overload reception from channels that are closer than others.

Therefore, your problem may stem from the amplifier being on. Try turning it off to see if that helps how to boost TV antenna signal. If not, turn it back on, rescan and continue tinkering with the device.

Final Thoughts

Knowing how to increase signal strength on a digital tv antenna isn’t difficult, but it is something of a puzzle you’re going to have to figure out. You’ll have to be creative and resourceful about it too. This means rescanning your device for stations, removing obstacles in the way of reception and shifting bandwidths.

However, just because you play with these things doesn’t mean you will get results in how to increase signal strength on a digital tv antenna. It may come down to moving the antenna to another location, pointing it in a different direction or adjusting the amplifier.

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