Use a TV Antenna? Don’t Run a Channel Scan in This Situation

[@AntennaMan]

Link to the Mediasonic DTV Box 👉 amzn.to/3Lngj75 Link to AVS Forum threads to check the status of local TV stations: www.avsforum.com/forums/local-hdtv-info-and-reception.45/ 📡 Reception problems? Sign up for my antenna recommendation service below: www.antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html

[@panachevitz]

@AntennaMan do you have a video about how to design a system inside the house? For instance, where to put a booster in the line between the antenna and TV, how to merge two antennas together to cover different sides of the apartment or house that have towers on them (like a set of towers to the north and a set of towers to the east or south), things like that. Thanks!

[@trainman-w7u]

@panachevitz I put my amplifier behind my tv and I tried to combine 2 antenna in my bedroom and didn't work on my coat hanger antenna I made so I'm using my short one now put my 4 ft one up in my closet try to put your antenna to the windows up high or a high shelf and see what happens

[@panachevitz]

@@trainman-w7u Oddly enough, that is pretty close to what I have right now, but I just feel like I have a gap in my knowledge even after trying to educate myself and work within my limitations.

[@redbaron474]

AH YES, use scare tactics to scam people into buying needless equipment. You need to climb up on the roof and do a swan dive!

[@elmofeneken4364]

Been awhile since someone said this: Thumbs up Antenna Man.

[@Razor2048]

I wish more TVs would add a common feature that was available on nearly all tuner boxes when the digital transition first started, which is a the Scan-Add option. Even the cheapest boxes offered it, and you could simply run it as many times as you want, and it will just add new ones without removing old ones.

[@foureyedchick]

THIS HAPPENED TO ME ! I live in Chicago and I moved from a location close to Downtown to the far North side. My favorite TV show (Columbo) was broadcast on COZI TV (NBC 5.2). After I moved, the TV was pixilating (breaking up) very badly on that channel. I tried re-scanning, and I lost the channel outright! After rotating the antenna and re-scanning a DOZEN times, I got lucky and got the channel back. I learned my lesson the hard way, and I won't push my luck again!

[@HariSeldon913]

Seems like not too long ago CBS Ch2 changed their signal and I had to rescan all of the televisions. A signal amplifier can also help with the weak signals.

[@trainman-w7u]

@foureyedchick put a amplifier on your antenna it will help it like a channel master or something

[@foureyedchick]

@trainman-w7u Actually, I already did that. I bought an 30dB antenna amplifier from Amazon and put it in series with the antenna and digital converter box. It helps me get channels I couldn't get before but the pixilating channels still pixilate. I recently even bought an LTE filter and put IT in series as well. It doesn't do any harm, but it doesn't reduce pixilating very much. I bought it from Amazon as well. Now, the back of my TV is a rat's nest of a million coax cables.

[@foureyedchick]

@HariSeldon913 For me, it is NBC that is breaking up on the TV.

[@horseathalt7308]

@@foureyedchick You have a likely problem with "multipath" this is when a signal is bounced around and reflected off metallic objects and then sent to your TV perhaps that reflected signal bounces into your TV tuner which confuses it, and causes the breaking up signal. There are specific antenna models that help to reduce that problem.

[@admirals818]

Yes! So many people are channel scan-happy. I always recommend slowing down and first checking to see if you can direct-tune an RF channel on your TV.

[@AntennaMan]

Hopefully I explained the RF channel approach to some of my non technical viewers.

[@NonLegitNation2]

My mom actually just almost had this potential disaster. The true crime channel she watches all the time was losing reception really badly on a cloudy rainy day. She told me that channel always is bad but never that bad. She was just about to do a channel rescan when I stopped her. I ended up giving her the antenna I use for my TV. At first i couldn't find a spot where the reception was good, until I noticed a switch on the signal amplifier. The switch was set to short-range. I flipped the switch to long-range and like magic the channel came in clear and she hasn't had any problems with that channel since. The only bad thing Is I now don't have an antenna and the antenna i gave her is no longer available on Amazon. Hopefully i can find another one like it.

[@AntennaMan]

The flat antennas with built in amplifiers typically don't work well. Try the Channel Master FLATenna: amzn.to/40PtA1h

[@NYfan2004]

The Mediasonic DTV box you mentioned in the video can actually also be used as a DTV converter box, which converts digital signals into analog signals to watch on old CRT TVs. Analog signals aren't being broadcast anymore due to the DTV Transition of 2009, so you can't pick up channels on an old CRT without one of these converter boxes. The box has RF and AV outputs in addition to an HDMI output. I know a lot of people use CRTs for retro gaming nowadays. They can still be used to watch over the air TV ya know. Also thanks Tyler for the great content! Been watching you for a while now.

[@gr8dvd]

Thx, may reconsider retiring my old CRT TV..

[@NYfan2004]

@@gr8dvd Don't! It can still go to good use. The DTV Transition of 2009 is why they started making those converter boxes in the first place. So that any TV could get the new digital signals. You could easily still use it as a backup. Plus if you're into retro gaming, you'll practically need it because with newer flat screen sets, the low resolution of retro consoles cause a lot of lag which just doesn't happen on a CRT

[@gr8dvd]

@@NYfan2004 Actually used it for years with converter but maybe getting too old to mess with heavy/bulky CRT as its flatscreen replacement is starting to fail. Hopefully someone else’s treasure (not trash).

[@NYfan2004]

@@gr8dvd Yeah you can't stop yourself from getting older. And yes, don't throw it out!

[@mackjay1777]

Great advice. I've been thru this. Most often, if I move the antenna it will fix the problem. I'll try your lock-in advice next time

[@MarjaMariachi]

I made up a game plan for scanning channels. First, sit very still and surf through all the channels to see if the signal is strong. Sitting still is important -- I have channels that go away if I stand up or walk around! When all is good, start scan. Also, I have better luck at this time of year, when the trees have sneezed off their leaves.

[@alkelenson648]

Oh those naked trees have no shame!😃

[@CARLiCON]

great tip, thanks. I learned this the hard way, doing a scan when weather was bad it wiped out all my channels. Could not get them all back until conditions were perfect. Sadly most newer TVs don't have OTA signal meters anymore because the tv makers want you to watch their "smart" tv content, not free OTA. Not only that, I also noticed that my newer smart TV now rolls my OTA channels into their content channels lineup so they are actually tracking my OTA since it's connected via wifi

[@glasslinger]

Yes. This has another extremely irritating consequence as well. Since now all your channel changing goes through the WIFI you can get a nasty delay when pushing the button on the remote! It can be 5 to 10 seconds (or more!) for the channel to finally switch!

[@PC4USE1]

Good advice as always. The Mediasonic box is worth it's weight in gold when it comes to OTA tuning.

[@AntennaMan]

The Mediasonic Box is definitely worth the money for the manual search and signal meter.

[@ScratchGlass9]

Antenna Man, Happy Thanksgiving 🇺🇸 Many thanks from Detroit 🇺🇸

[@eugeniaruggiero5451]

This has happened to me a few times. I didn't know & did a channel scan & the channel was removed! But a while later or the next day I scanned again and it was back. I've never lost a channel for a long period.

[@CCJ1998]

I found doing a channel scan at night gives me the most channels. Since a few channels I get only come in at night.

[@tomschmidt381]

Good advice. Some TVs have an Add Channels option that simply adds any channels it finds and does not delete or erase settings you have previously set to ignore certain channels that are not of interest.

[@AntennaMan]

The add channels option is feature that used to be more common on TVs about ten years ago but most sets no longer have it now.

[@realbbbb6930]

Yup. I have several tvs that do this and thus, don't overwrite the existing channels.

[@markdeckard7651]

This video changed my life.

[@RonaldHeld]

I long for the days of the old analog signals. 😁

[@davidg4288]

Analog didn't look that good in the first place, had ghosts, and the sound especially would cut out. I agree with you that digital has worse range. They should have implemented better redundancy and error correction in the system. Low flying aircraft and windy days seem to destroy my TV reception.

[@robertw31968]

@RonaldHeld I miss analog channels also. Where I live we got everyone of the channels in my area with rabbit ears. Now even with a outside antenna we can't get but half of them.

[@akshonclip]

ALL TV manufacturers should add the ability to manually add channels. This is extremely important for people between markets that use a rotator. Some sets wont allow this

[@GeorgeVCohea]

Most, if not all, have had such a function for decades.

[@spacemissing]

@@GeorgeVCohea Not any more.

[@TomCee53]

And then there are TVs without tuners. Rare, but probably will gain momentum as streaming continues to grow.

[@jeffaulik3980]

Sometimes I will wake up at 3 AM or so and check OTA reception for the heck of it. If oddball stations are coming in, I'll run a scan to capture these stations so they will be in memory later if I ever want to do some TV DX'ing.

[@AntennaMan]

Hopefully your TV has an "add-on" channel scan. This feature used to be more common in TVs about ten years ago but no longer is.

[@jeffaulik3980]

@@AntennaMan If the set has that feature, I don't know about it. We got a new Channel Master antenna to improve reception from Madison--we are in Rockford--but the old CM antenna would get Chicago frequently--the new one does not--front to back ratio must be different.

[@j95lee]

@@AntennaMan My TV has a "manual scan" option that let me add channels. Sometimes I have to rescan anyways, but it's better than nothing.

[@christopherboone9802]

​@@AntennaMan My LG has a manual tune where I can add or delete at will....plus I think the LG is scanning at night even when turned off ..I see added channels in the morning after a night with tropo active and I'm sleeping ..

[@donbest5024]

LG has great tv turners but tvs don't last,never had one more than 3 or 4 years.

[@MrCromocrunch]

My tv lost all of my channels randomly recently. I thought my antenna broke. Ran a scan and it fixed everything!

[@HariSeldon913]

Worst part about doing a new channel scan is you get back all of the channels you removed manually. I don't bother anymore, but I used to remove things like home shopping channels and some of the foreign language ones.

[@AntennaMan]

Good point!

[@tomg4030]

This is why TV's that offer a "scan for additional channels" are useful as they do not erase the existing channels

[@AntennaMan]

It's unfortunate this very useful feature isn't present in most TVs. It was more common about ten years ago.

[@poppunkpickersebaydemos]

Yep, one of the only things I like about my Vizio.

[@hectormiguelperezgomez6612]

At least that feature of adding extra channels while not deleting the channels you already have is also present on Sony TVs. At least all Sony TVs I have have that feature.

[@jamesslick4790]

@@hectormiguelperezgomez6612 Came here to say this. Both of my Sonys have this!

[@paulmitchell4421]

​@@hectormiguelperezgomez6612 yoy have old sony tvs

[@kensmith5694]

Another reason to not scan needlessly is that the Homeworx software deletes the recording schedule when you do that. At some point I need to set up my recording schedule again. It is a nice thing to do when stuff you want to watch is on at times you don't want to be in front of the TV. Where I am one TV station plays some good old movies in the small hours of the morning.

[@pandamikep2460]

Good to know. I’m new to your channel. Man you came in clutch, I didn’t quite understand the difference between UHF and VHF and using channel masters zip code guide to the location of the towers and identifying which bands they were and what channels they hosted. I was wondering why channels 5-8 were really hard to get. Thanks. Now I have some insight to the types of antennas I need to be using. As for this problem, you made a recent video about Roku tvs that I was also discovering, so what I did, was I saved all the scanned channels as favorites. Now I just scroll through the categories in the live TV guide to find the local channels again because it takes way too long to scroll through those and the 900 other channels Roku gives you. Because I’ve done some rescans recently and I noticed sometimes the lower channels would disappear and not come back. But thanks to Roku TVs favorite option, I can always keep them no matter what happens with rescan.

[@myranrivard5416]

Hi, I like your videos. I have been installing antennas and satellite dishes for over 30 years. My location is southeast of Detroit Michigan, in Canada, between Lake St Claire and Lake Erie. On the north side we get Canadian channels and the Detroit channels. From the middle to the south we get those same channels plus Toledo and Cleveland. The antenna I use in this area is the Channel.Master Digital Advantage 100. I have used it from Pelee Island to Windsor Ontario. I don't use any antenna preamps, as most new ones use a DC voltage in the coax to power the preamp. That is a problem when the outside coax gets moisture in the connections. The electrolysis eats the center conductor. I used to use one and hat had an AC voltage that didn't have this issue. I saw your video showing the Skywalker in line amplifier. I use these all the time. There isn't that much signal loss in the coax coming from the antenna. The Digital Advantage antenna has a high gain so use amplifiers if I connect 3 or more TV connections. The Skywalker amps work better than you stated in your video. If there is cell phone signals then use a LTE filter on the amp input. I live in the town of TECUMSEH near the south shore of Lake St Claire. I use an 8 way splitter to distribute signals at my home and detached garage. I am currently picking up 71 channels. This antenna and amplifier combination also work when the antenna is mounted in an attic. Hope this info will help. - Myran

[@Ephemeral2023]

Also, I hate doing a channel scan because 20 - 25 bad channels show-up. Then, I have to go into each of the bad channels and delete/hide them.

[@generatorjohn4537]

Thanks for this advice Antenna Man!

[@rodgerhatfield3068]

Love your videos and thanks for all your hard work. I’ve been a Cable cutter for years now!!

[@stevencole7331]

This happened with me and metv but it came back after a scan i did awhile down the road . Definately helpful to be able to do a specific station and not needing a complete scan

[@marcus813]

I didn't think about that, but it makes sense. Trying to pick up a signal when it's already a bit weak means it won't get picked back up without some adjustments.

[@KaydeGRules2010]

Thx for that info. Also that thumbnail looked a bit scary in my opinion. I honestly might get that converter box some day although I do have a smart Vizio tv

[@frankm496]

Thank you, Tyler, for the great advice as always. I really appreciate you and your channel. I had very bad luck with the Mediasonic. I had two of them die on me in about 6 months. They were both ver2 units. Great tuner, but very bad quality. Very dated menus too, Never buy again. They are dirt cheap though. I have been very pleased with the ADTH tuner. Works well and nice interface/menus. They are always trying the make improvements with periodical software updates too. Nice build quality and has NEXTGEN. I know it's more money around $90, but I think it is worth it. I haven't tried any other but the Tablo that I hated. Not sure about the 4th gen. Anyway, thanks again and keep up the great work

[@curtisray6710]

Always the best advice on cutting the cable. Thanks!!

[@wmayo44]

Don't forget that atmospheric conditions can make a difference. Colder air aloft will bend the signal upward. Warmer air aloft bends it down. It's called tropospheric bending. Amateur radio operators know all about this. This all means, for marginal signals, a station may go in and out over time.

[@AntennaMan]

Interesting, thanks for the insight!

[@frankireland2524]

I love my Zapper Box external tuner. It has an option for "additive" channel scans so a scan will add more channels if it finds them but will not remove any existing channels. A "must have" feature if you use an antenna rotator or you like to DX (search for distant stations).

[@gregrice1354]

I appreciate your expert level knowledge of the technical processes involved and web and TV issues. I hope you understand that people who attempt to use Channel scan are only acting as reasonably as they have been informed. I hope you realize that the logic of the manufacturers of TVs with Channel Scan and Set system as described is commercially corrupt and unethical. The need to buy an extra device to make a TV function may be considered criminal fraud. I hope you don't think people are stupid for using the labelled tool that most closely resembles what they want to happen. TV manufacturers have behaved like this for decades. They specifically lobbied Congress to grant them exceptions from basic civil rights laws that require equal access for all TVs to have captions, by getting a "waiver" declared on TV screen sizes that the TV Industry deemed "too small". There was no evidence, no research, and no legitimate legal basis for being granted the exception. That is only a single example, the similar criminal acts of fraud upon the entire TV buying number of US and global citizens is in the billions, as are the profits of the TV makers. Thanks for your help.

[@KeithCooper-Albuquerque]

Thanks! Your channel and expertise are invaluable!

[@onehitsword6800]

Yep I made that mistake but never had issues getting it back especially when scanning at night time.

[@thatShadowKat]

I had "come from" Satellite where it was crucial to have the signal meter. I was absolutely perplexed why Digital TVs do not offer this as well. Took me a while to ensure I had the proper position to receive all my locals, so maddening.

[@dval59valletta79]

Got a lot of advice watching your channel, so much so that I cut the cable and have an outside antenna. It works good mostly, but I have to go and turn it a little from time to time to get METV

[@tommywalker742]

Thank you for the information that you share. Very informative and useful.

[@davidaaaa4611]

Thanks for the video Mr Tyler. I ordered a Mediasonic DTV box. I hope I can get more channels.

[@AntennaMan]

The manual search feature and signal meter will definitely help you lock in more channels with your antenna or at the very least improve reliability of existing channels.

[@davidaaaa4611]

@AntennaMan ok thanks

[@Nicholas_Chris]

In my experience I can receive weak OTA UHF TV stations and Satellite KU Band TV stations on STBs than TVs. TVs don't have good tunners like STBs, TVs in general can receive Strong and Medium signal TV channels and in some cases Medium to Weak TV signals, but Weak TV signal even with a good antenna you have reception problems. STBs have no problem with weak TV signals as long as you use an antenna with more elements and a preamp. Or a larger satellite dish with a good LNB for KU Band a 120 - 150 cm will have stable reception on weak transponders.

[@donbest5024]

Blind scan on fta satellite equipment works same way,channels come and go.

[@chefhomeslice2663]

Thanks for the info. I’ve got all the channels I want and watch. I will definitely not throw the dice and try to get a few more channels that I probably won’t actually watch.

[@brianinct4631]

I believe LG still makes TVs with a "manual tuning" option. I wish more brands did the same. As someone who has a rotor and receives TV signals from three different directions, it's nice to manually go through the RF channels and save the ones you want whether or not you are getting a signal at that moment. I don't think I've ever used the "scan for channels" option for those TVs.

[@BobUeckerRocks0]

I have a LG TV and just got an antenna and did that auto scan. Got 0 channels lol. I’m sure I’m doing something wrong.

[@dean5263]

It might just be me, however, early morning channel scans seem to produce the most desirable results when other times will not.

[@hcmv007]

I made that mistake. It took me a week to get things back to normal.

[@fastsetinthewest]

Hahaha, great video. It happened to me. I can get 90 channels on good days in the DFW area. It's crazy.

[@videobandit]

Using an Antennas Direct ClearStream MaxXR indoor antenna, which looks like a figure 8 with a horizontal bar at top, I can attest to the fact small movements make big difference. I have the antenna mounted indoors on top of a computer desk with hutch on top and it puts the antenna about 7’ high. Turning the antenna upside down made the biggest difference. I get 57 channels + 6 next gen channels most of the time. An antenna booster helped as well. I live in Northampton PA area and wish the next gen channels were more consistent with regard to signal. CBS out of Philadelphia is the hardest to get, and the one I wanted to receive the most as Sling doesn’t have CBS local in their lineup. 😢 still experimenting though

[@AntennaMan]

Try using a signal meter. See video below: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5CmqmNurZqkm7s

[@williamvelazquez659]

Anthenna man you are the best 😊😊😊😊😊

[@ChrisSmith-rm6xl]

Informative and interesting, as usual.

[@melainkinney7213]

u have gave me ideas on my antenna choices I thank you i sorta ditched to rotor i have old extreme max antenna on rotor with a channel master 80 bowtie antenna aimed at my major market used channel master antenna joiner at 34 bucks it was a good purchase i"m getting 89 channels spring time i"ll ditch extreme for another channel master 80 really happy with your tips thought about boss but thought it waste now that used antenna joiner by channel master

[@LarcR]

My main TV lets me choose either of 2 ways to run a channel scan. One adds new channels if there are any without deleting any existing ones. The other does a clean scan.

[@trainman-w7u]

I rescan my channels at night to see if any added but no luck yet hopefully I'll get more next year with my antop signal gain booster adjustment is doing a fine job my channels as you mentioned comes and go probably because of weather I got mine on my entertainment system and does fine I'm getting 54 channels now with aluminum foil on the long hangers I'm using a Toshiba tv back in 2010 with signal meter built in does a good job even though it's old

[@thistlemoon1]

I live halfway between 2 major cities. The antenna web site says I shouldn’t get any channels. I currently get 50+ with an antenna in the attic. Before when I had an antenna on the roof I had even more but the neighbor cut a tree and took out both my antenna and the roof. It was a 20ft tall antenna!

[@gregorypetka8799]

yeah, i get like 85 channels of LA and San diego on a mountain top, and need to see if any channels that have added recent, but sometimes a cloud goes by (during the Scan) and i can loose 30 channels and gain 3 new, so i have Scan again when the weather is best, but Summertimes is usually is best, but sometimes cloud cover can help the bounce stay in for the 300 miles from the station in the next city

[@Dennis-uc2gm]

Yeah this pretty much means you need more antenna or a reorientation. Being around when analog was king if it was a little weak you could still watch a station with some snow, how I miss those days.

[@sped6954]

Another downside to running a scan when you're missing a few channels is that you run the risk of losing more of your channels, since the very first thing that happens during a channel scan is that the software completely cleans out your current list of stored channels and starts over from scratch. I live in an apartment complex, and they don't allow outdoor antennas, so it's either cable TV or an indoor antenna, and since I refuse to pay a monthly charge to watch TV, my option was clear. For a long time, I had a set of RCA amplified rabbit ears for the upstairs TV in my bedroom. Around six months ago, for some still unknown reason, it stopped picking up everything, so I started changing its orientation a little bit at a time, tried moving the extendable aerials in small increments, but no amount of adjustments worked. I turned the TV and the antenna off and unplugged both for however long, I don't rememeber. I started doing something else and lost track of time, but anyway, I plugged both in, turned them on, and still nothing. I tried fooling with it a little more, but finally gave up and channel scanned it, which brought up like nine or 10 channels, a far cry from my original 40+, so I went and bought a new antenna, connected it, threw it on the windowsill facing roughly wherever pointing in the general direction, ran a scan, and it picked up 49 channels without even trying to aim it. This new one is another RCA amplified, but it doesn't have any extendable aerials. Last weekend, I had this genius idea to connect my old antenna to my living room TV, but nothing worked, no matter how I aimed it. I know all of the channels in my market are Southwest of me, so there's really only so far I can change it before I know there's no way it's going to pick anything up, and because of the way the apartments in my building are layed out, and where the TV has to be because of where other furniture has to go, southwest is through three interior and one exterior wall. Not good at all. The living room has a high, vaulted ceiling, and at the top of the stairway to my bedroom is a landing that looks over and down into the living room. The wall across from the top of the stairway is around 3½' high including two small, I'm going to call them two knick knack shelves because that's about all you can really do with them. I put the antenna on the top one, oviously, wrapped its cable around it twice just so there's no way to accidentally knock it over, plugged it into the wall outlet, connected an extension to it so it would reach downstairs, which is probably 13'-14', fastened the cable to the wall, and then about four more feet to reach the TV. I placed the main antenna panel pointing straight ahead, and the two aerials up and pointing sowewhere in a V shape. The only scan, through one interior and the exterior wall, 49 channels, just like the bedroom TV. Of all the channels, I ended up deleting the two Spanish channels, and the two kids channels on PBS, which gives me a total of 45 channels to choose from, AND THERE'S STILL NOTHING ON!!!🤣🤣🤣 I'd have to say that my favorite channels are the nine that fall under the MeTV umbrella

[@tpl608]

My man Tyler, please do your side to side head bob and Bla Bla Bla on every video as your signature. It was glorious

[@henrytupper6959]

I have realized this without making the mistake. Lucky me.

[@mikewilliams2251]

great vid~! thank you and greetings from pottsville~!

[@kellyobrien8599]

That Mediasonic box is also marketed under other brand names. Mine is a Sylvania. What I don't understand is why when you do channel scans, on the right side of the screen, it mentions radio stations. I'm assuming it's digital FM, but it never receives stations, nor do I understand how to access radio stations on this device. The instructions were vague on some topics.

[@richy581]

Thank you what is the exact model of that antenna

[@AmazedStoner]

Probably the one feature I’ve seen not being a guarantee is a signal strength meter. The tv I have is an old Samsung from somewhere around 06. The power supply needed to be recapped when the set was given to me. Otherwise it has been working flawlessly since. The missing remote has never been an issue seeing how an own a Logitech harmony 650. The only thing this tv truly lacks is hdmi ports and screen size. If I remember right it’s around 17 inches. Probably the most surprising feature is how the vga port achieves a better quality over hdmi than the actual hdmi port with my pc. It even has Picture in Picture however if there is a way to get it show something other than analog broadcast in the Picture in Picture I haven’t figured it out yet. If I’m not mistaken I believe it has a manual add section though I’ve never really thought of using that as I tend to use certain stations that come in to look at their signals and improve that before doing another channel scan during a fresh setup. One subject I wouldn’t mind seeing a video on is tv tuner cards for pc as it would be neat to have a networked broadcast television pvr system. I’ve done this in the past but have found that my hardware has actually unable with windows 11 because of driver issues. Guess that is the true struggle attempting to use something with support for windows xp through windows 10 😂😂😂

[@nicksavage4763]

Don’t let the Boxes Overheat. They use Cheaper Capacitors in Them that end up leaking and May stop working. Ended up Running small Fan on the boxes to Prevent Failure. They need adequate airflow

[@horseathalt7308]

BINGO. Very important thing to remember, you'll dry up electrolytic capacitors that have a gel substance in them...

[@gene2200]

My old rabbit ears and circle combo setup works great around St Louis

[@mooveeluver]

I had a converter (I can't recall the brand) that allowed me to scan for new channels without clearing the ones already saved.

[@TomCee53]

I found some tv have similar capability. It would be nice if the information on these features was readily availability.

[@Markimark151]

I ran a rescan because my local PBS station has realigned their subchannels, they removed Cozi which moved from 9.3 to 44.4, which instead we got PBS Plus, which is a rerun network of older PBS shows. I just hate subchannel realignment more than bad reception from the antenna that doesn’t need rescanning.

[@kirok3184]

I like COZI and ANTENNA tv. Unfortunately, they only broadcast in 480i, the picture sucks, and it's not the antenna. 😢 That, and soooo many commercials. Just like H&I.

[@Markimark151]

@ because most of the shows are really old, it wouldn’t make much of a difference watching Little house on the prairie and Carol Burnett show in HD, I just don’t like COZI is now a subchannel under CW, which has slight worse reception.

[@Earcandy73]

I just ordered the converter 🙂

[@joshuapowell1868]

God bless you God loves you everything proven what you do causes problem's on your thinking now days

[@diyi75]

Made this mistake a few months back... never again👍🏽

[@TheButterZone]

Our older Vizio E190VAs have an "Additional Scan" option in the menu which preserves all existing channels & only adds new ones when it finds them.

[@AntennaMan]

This is a great feature that used to be more common on TV sets about ten years ago but is no longer available on most Smart TVs.

[@k4sbb829]

I’m a amateur radio operator and commercial two way radio repair technician uhf and vhf is line of sight the main thing in a antenna system is the coax rg6 has 4.3 db loss at 400 MHz and at 900 MHz it is 6.8db loss at a 100 foot run for a 50 foot run those losses are half and plant foliage leaves also affects uhf signals tha old analog tv the sound was fm and the picture was AM for weak signal areas they need a high gain antenna with low loss coax and it is expensive I have access to that equipment and coax I live in a weak signal area my self I experiment all the time with home made antennas my amateur radio station i use extremely low loss coax hard line 1 inch heliax for hf vhf uhf and ota tv

[@JonBruner-p7x]

Okay.

[@jackdemus7890]

Has Homeworx improved the sensitivity on their tuner for this box? I have a much older model by the same company and unfortunately the tuner is quite weak, compared to my Digital Stream box.

[@slugo915]

Do you have any videos about living in a apartment? On second floor and another tall apartment bldg right next to mine. I can't add a optional outside antenna. Where i lived before i got tons of channels in the same town now i only get about 4. Thanks goodness someone got myself a 6 month gift card for Netflix. Miss my grandparents they had a outside antenna way up on a mast and a box that your turned the knob to rotate North, South, east ,west. That was the best .

[@AAA-o4g]

I got a antenna that you suggested with a thick thick connecting wire with an amplifier (forgive me on not know the exact name) you said it will keep the reception in better on the way to the tv. We saw no difference from the one we had replaced. I have a question, if I were to get a X splitter and put 2 more amplified antenna on that X would that extra surface area make the reception better ?

[@w4baham]

Tyler, do you also do modem/router reviews and post them on KZbin?

[@htbboats]

Sure enjoy the information you provide. But I’ve got a question you just may know the answer to. I’ve got a Vizio tv that is not hooked to cable service. Just internet and a small antenna that is in my attic. The internet portion works just fine but everyday trying to get the antenna channels it sometimes takes several attempts to get a signal. It says “loss of signal”. Would this be the signal or a tuner issue? Thanks

[@acme9538]

Thanks Tyler !

[@RichardMack-y5h]

Does the time of day or the position of the sun affect reception?

[@AntennaMan]

Atmospheric conditions are typically better at night but the biggest impact on reception is your antenna

[@techguy9023]

Old tv repairman here. Why do we need to do any scans? Why aren’t all channels tunable? Should be able to lock out what is not used in your area but have all channels available like conventional tuners did in the past.

[@AntennaMan]

We have to run autoscans on the TV now because the digital transition (AKA selling half the TV band to cell phone companies) forced many TV stations on different RF channels than the analog era. To avoid mass confusion, they simply use a virtual channel that's shown after running a channel scan.

[@donnaten2]

as usual, great advice!

[@dannyrock5919]

I still have my old outside pole mounted antenna from 30 years ago. I have had cable for 30 years and recently discontinued cable and have a streaming service now. The cable company over the years of service have left lines of their coax in the crawl space of the house. My question is can I use that coax cable to connect the old antenna up again if it’s long enough? Thanks

[@Robb403]

Have you evaluated the Channel Master CM-7779HD PreAmp? I have read some complaints in the last few months about a defective batch of them on the market and I wondered if you had heard anything. They were saying that it refused to switch from low to high at the antenna. There's supposed to be LEDs that indicate green for low and red for high and they would only stay green. They also complained about a lack of support from Channel Master, but I suppose it's just not the company it used to be.

[@sa3270]

I miss being able to selectively add/remove channels. Though it would probably be too confusing for most people due to virtual channel numbers.

[@ap101081]

I have 6 TV's. Tried to do this but it's easier to stream now and cheap too. Not free but all TV's have great pictures and share apps with a bunch of people.

[@paulmitchell4421]

vhf and uhf propagation conditions can change periodically sometimes depending on weather also weak signal reception depends on local interference/ noise floor. do not run your blender while scanning and TURN OFF ALL CHARGERS. modern tvs no longer have add only scan and scanning deletes all previously found channels. this is incredibly stupid. instead of spending more money you should persistently complain to the manufacturers and demand they bring back "add only channel scan" option which does not delete previous scans. they can do that with firmware update you will also be shocked how useless their customer service systems and reps are. Antenna Boy should make a video showing ways to find and eliminate local interference using pocket radios...

[@chifan7]

Hey Tyler, two questions, can I use this New version of Mediasonic or the old model? My Clear Stream 2v antenna is in my attic. I was thinking of getting one of those small 7” screen TVs and use it upstairs to use the signal meter? Your the Best, Thanks.

[@AntennaMan]

You can use either version of the Mediasonic tuner connected to a small TV in the attic to use as a signal meter. If you don't own a small TV that will fit up in the attic, the 7" TV is probably a better option. See video below: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5CmqmNurZqkm7s

[@katherineaustin2477]

Thanks for this information

[@warpspeedpower]

The vast majority of flat screen TVs that have a built-in digital receiver (ever since the manufacturers began including them 10+ years ago) don't have a manual input feature for channels. It's completely dumb and absurd. Once your TV captures all of the channels that are available in your area, don't scan anymore. Just adjust your antenna ever so slightly. Not just inches, but even centimeters can make a difference. The absolute best solution is to put a big antenna on your roof or chimney if are able to. If you live in an apartment and have a balcony, then attach an antenna to the railings. The big flat ones work the best.

[@DugEphresh]

Do you recommend the 4-5G filter? I'm just starting out and watching all of your videos, really appreciate your time and knowledge.

[@AntennaMan]

Yes, see video below: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4bbaXx4oMqKaqM

[@daledial7980]

Yep, I learned that one the hard way.

[@WiSeNhEiMeR-1369]

HOWdy A-M , ... Thanks COOP ...

[@jeffgilbert2763]

This is very true

[@kittykattlady1058]

Great to know this as I'm guilty of doing this. Does that box work with a Tablo?

[@kenteagle2918]

This happened to me with WPVI 6 in Philadelphia. Lost both the standard and NextGen channels, and have yet to get them back. :-/ Live and learn.

[@AntennaMan]

Order the Mediasonic DTV box below and use the manual search feature as shown in the video. You'll likely be able to get it back with it. amzn.to/3Lngj75 Also, make sure that you are using a low VHF capable antenna for 6ABC. If your antenna doesn't have an element about six feet wide, it's not low VHF capable for 6ABC.

[@TRLTheRandomLab]

I feel like a lot of these issues could be avoided if TVs had a "do not delete" checkbox when running channel scans

[@AntennaMan]

Some TVs have an "add on channel scan" option where it won't delete existing channels but unfortunately this feature is no longer present in most smart TVs.

[@jefferyb304]

Doing a channel scan when a channel drops out during an E Skip event can be downright amusing. I logged stations well over 100 miles away perfectly watchable for several hours a few years ago. I live in West Virginia and have seen stations as far away as Michigan before.

[@AntennaMan]

I agree it's fun to run a channel scan during tropo or E-skip if you understand it, but for the average non-tech savvy antenna user, it might result in confusion thinking they lost their local channels forever when it's only temporary.

[@horseathalt7308]

YES! I've done this and been able to watch channels coming in from Southern Florida here in the upstate of SC.