When people see a message that there is no signal on the screen of their TV, they usually assume that that’s why their television doesn’t start with the auto-setup activity. But, how can you be sure that your TV aerial is working or not?
Check If the Issue Is with Your TV Or Cable
Two options can help you find out whether your TV aerial is working. Both of them are very effective so choose the one that’s best for you and how to check If TV aerial is working, lets begin.
Test Your TV Aerial Cable
First of all, the simplest and most convenient way to test and check whether the aerial socket or TV are experiencing some problems is to check whether everything is fine on another TV. If you have a second TV in your home, connect it to the aerial point that you find problematic. After that, wait for the scanning of TV channels.
Another way to check the TV aerial is to take the TV to a socket that you are sure is working correctly and perform a test. If the TV can get a signal and identify the channels on another socket, you can rest assured that your TV is fine.
Test Your TV Signal
The following method is to test the television signal. This may be a more complicated option, but it works just fine. The answer to this problem is an aerial tester. TV aerial installers use these small devices, and they can conduct aerial and signal tests efficiently. There are many inexpensive home aerial testers that you can buy online or in electronics stores. A typical tester of this kind comes with LED lights that can show you the strength of the signal. You don’t need any special knowledge or training to use a tester like this. The only thing you will probably need is an F-plug because it usually comes with an F-plug connector.
If you’re having problems with your TV reception and you’ve explored all options, then it may be time to contact a professional. For all your TV aerial needs and wireless access points, please get in touch.
Test Your Aerial Signal Strength
Another thing you might need to do is to check the digital aerial signal strength. Here, you will be trying to find out whether the signal is low or high.
Low & Weak TV Signal
If you have a weak digital TV signal, the results are apparent. The television picture breaks, and you experience image distortion on the screen, and muted sounds, to mention a few. All these signs point to disturbing frequencies. To confirm the weak signal, you can check your configuration settings and at the signal strength information panel. You can also get a signal message on the screen. In some TVs, the signal strength is shown in percentages. So a lower percentage typically implies a weak signal. In other television sets, this is shown in dB. If this is the case, a signal strength of 50 dB is optimal, and anything less than 45 dB could cause problems.
First, try to find out what’s causing the weak TV aerial signal, and see how you can improve it using passive techniques, such as switching cables, aligning TV aerials, or a simple tuning solution.
You can also, you can connect a high-gain tv aerial or TV amplifier to improve signal strength. However, this isn’t recommended as it can sometimes lead to signal overload, which will be explained in the next point.
Too Much Signal – Signal Overloading TV
As the name states, signal overload is when the TV receives too much signal. This can overload TV tuners, other technical equipment and ultimately cause tv channels to break. In the end, signs of weak TV signal and too much signal are identical on the TV. Believe it or not, too much signal is a thing. Digital signals can be too strong in specific locations and weak in others.
The good part about signal overload is that it’s easier to resolve. You can do this by adding an attenuator, preferably within the signal path. Once you connect it, this reduces satellite signal input to the right level. Attenuators also come with an adjustment interface, onto which you can adjust to different levels of attenuations. You can drop to 3dB, 7dB, or up to 12dB, depending on the level you want to drop the TV signal. After this, your television should be working properly.
Use An Aerial Tester
Finding the right tv aerial signal can be very frustrating, especially when using an over-the-air antenna. But the process can be made easier in a couple of ways.
First, you could use a compass. This helps you in finding the right direction in which to face your Antenna. This process also involves the use of a mobile app.
The second option is to with an over-the-air signal strength meter. As the name implies, this meter indicates the strength of the signal based on the direction you point it, and this meter is plugged in line with the OTA antenna. This ensures that you are getting a strong signal from the transmitter, or at the very least, somewhere close to it. Position the tv aerial until the meter indicates the strongest signal. The LED lights will show this.
How Can I Make My Antenna Signal Stronger?
It is recommended to face your antenna towards the broadcast tower whose signal you want to strengthen. The signal strength highly depends on the angle that the Antenna faces the transmitter.
Before you check the Antenna, make sure that you reset your tuner. In most TVs, this process can take anywhere from 4 to 6 minutes. This may be the only thing required to strengthen your signal. This is because a tuner typically converts incoming signals into a signal easily recognized by your TV, and these signals change every so often, which can interfere with the signals.
Resetting your TV will rescan the channels and likely pick up relevant signals, which means less interference. If the channels don’t scan, you probably have a different service problem in your hands, and this may be time to contact help.
Check Your TV Antenna
If resetting doesn’t improve the reception, it’s time to check your Antenna. The main reason why there is a low signal mostly comes down to the Antenna. Your TV antenna shouldn’t be blocked or hidden under anything. There has to be a clear line of sight to the broadcast towers to transmit the frequencies easily. As such, make sure your Antenna is elevated and not obscured. It is recommended that your Antenna is raised from 10 to at least 20 feet from the ground. You can place it on top of a tall object in your house, a wall, or on the roof. If you have an interior television antenna, a wall will be fine. Also, make sure the Antenna isn’t faulty. It could also be that the plug is loose.
Extreme Weather Conditions
Sometimes the weak digital television signal could be the result of bad weather. Cloudy weather is very common when it comes to disturbing television signals. This is why watching TV during a storm is very difficult, if not impossible.
This is because the clouds interfere with the television signal between your Antenna and the satellite or transmitter. So if there is an overcast outside, you might need to wait for the sky to clear up.