ANTENNA LOCATION OPTIONS for Over The Air (OTA) signals
If you have a good signal and want to install an antenna, you have several options.
The simplest is to locate the antenna right next to the TV. This might not work for aesthetic reasons, as it does not always look great. It also won’t help if you have multiple TVs unless you buy an antenna for each TV.
If you have a window near the TV that is faced in the correct direction (see Antennaweb.org for the direction of your broadcast towers), then putting the antenna on the window will improve reception. You can run a coax cable (available at any hardware store) from the antenna to the TV antenna input. Again, there are aesthetic considerations here.
If you have an existing coax cable to a satellite dish, you can easily repurpose this to be an OTA antenna cable! Just attach the new antenna to the spot where the dish is located, aim in in the correct direction, and the antenna signal should travel down the same cable to your various TVs.
In some cases, you can run an additional coax cable outside your home to connect to the outside cable connection on the side of your house (called a “demark”), and that will also distribute the antenna signal to all the TVs in your home. You may want to hire an outside service to do this part for you.
In both of these cases, you will no longer be able to use the satellite or cable equipment.
There is another option – which will be discussed in the next part of this series.
If you have any questions about Cord Cutting, or any other Home Automation advice, feel free to give us a call at 303-665-2238.