Nowadays, most people are cutting the cord because of the expensive cable. Therefore, they end up replacing their expensive cables with free over-the-air broadcast TVs. All you will need is an antenna. When buying an antenna, you should ensure that you purchase the type that will suit your needs. You can either buy an indoor, outdoor, or Attic antenna.
In addition, if you want to have a strong TV antenna reception, you should ensure you position your antenna correctly. Most people wonder if they need extra antennas if they have more than one TV in their homes. The article below will take you through everything you need to know.
Do I Need An Antenna For Each TV?
No, you do not need a separate antenna for each of your TVs. However, having more than one antenna for your TVs does not bring any harm. Though, you will incur extra costs in buying antennas for each TV. Therefore, you should find ways to utilize your one antenna to serve all your TVs. Doing so will save on cost and headaches when setting up many antennas.
Ways You Can Use One Antenna For Each Of Your TV In Your Home
There are good options available if you want to use one antenna for all of your TVs in your home. These options come down to personal preference and your antenna scenario. Here are some ways you can use one antenna for each TV.
Splitting The Signal
The most apparent and most elegant option is splitting your signal. All you need to do is run many coaxial cables around your home. Naturally, you’ll begin with just one antenna and stick it somewhere outside. It would help remember that the higher you place your antenna, the better your antenna reception will get.
Afterward, you will connect your antenna to your TVs using a coaxial wire. Since you only have one coaxial cable and a lot of TVs to plug it into, you’ll need some splitters. Splitters can divide the signal into three, four, or any number you want. However, splitting the signal may reduce your signal power. Therefore you will need an amplifier or two to boost your signal power. The good thing is that finding amplifiers, splitters, and various coaxial wire lengths is not challenging.
Even though it isn’t the prettiest option, this is the most cost-effective one. Moreover, it’s not too difficult to manage your cables and arrange them in an orderly way. You should ensure you plan a route for your wires before starting the process. In addition, ensure you place your splitters where they’ll have the most impact on reducing the overall cable volume.
For instance, take a situation where your antenna is at one end of the hall. Whereas your two TVs are in different rooms at the other end. You should ensure that you don’t run two cables down the hall from the start. Instead, it would be best to run one cable down the hall and split it at the last second.
Furthermore, don’t forget to stock up on cable clips, the tiny plastic objects used to attach coaxial cables to walls. It will help your cable installation not to look like a big mess.
Using Your Home’s Unused Cable Or Satellite TV Wiring
If you’ve ever had cable or satellite TV, your home has the wiring required for distributing free broadcast TV signals. What you should do is to locate where your home’s wiring connects to the cable company’s line.
Once you find it, you will detach the wiring and connect your antenna to that cable company’s line. You will then use it to distribute free TV throughout your home with one antenna. In terms of your antenna location, an upper level is perhaps the most excellent option.
Using Amazon Fire Tv Recast
You will use Amazon Fire TV Recast DVR similarly to Tablo since they all have the same principle. If you have an antenna, you will connect it to the Recast and watch it on all of your TVs. However, you should ensure you have Amazon Fire TV Sticks on all TV sets if you wish to use this method.
Steps For Connecting Your Antenna To Multiple TVs
The following are the procedures to help you connect your antenna to multiple TVs in your home using a splitter.
Install An Antenna
An HDTV antenna is a must-have piece of equipment. In addition, choosing between indoors or outdoors antennas will largely depend on your preference. An outdoor antenna can give you access to more channels. On the other hand, an indoor antenna should suffice unless you live a long way from any major broadcast towers.
Whatever antenna you choose, be sure to place it where it will provide the best reception. You should ensure you install the antenna high enough and close enough to the broadcast towers in your vicinity.
Connect Coaxial Splitter
Once you’ve connected your antenna, the next step is to install a splitter. You can use this device to split an antenna cable into several smaller cables. Therefore, it enables you to use one antenna for multiple televisions and watch your local channels on all of them.
The impedance of coax used by TV antennas is 75 ohms. Moreover, the inputs for TVs are the same. Therefore, RG6 coaxial cable best makes these connections, either directly or through a splitter. RG59 should also work fine, but its design cannot handle the high-bandwidth requirements of today’s HGTV programming.
Connect The Main TV
Do not connect the splitter to all of your devices at once, as this could cause problems. Instead, you should install one of the splitter’s outputs on your first television, the main one. Doing this will guarantee that your base system is working. In addition, it will also ensure that it would be easy to troubleshoot any problems that may arise.
You will then scan the channels on your TV once you connect your splitter. Doing this will tell you if you’re getting good reception from the media you prefer. Once you connect your main TV, you can plug in your secondary TVs.
Connect The Secondary TV (S)
Hook up your second TV once you have the first one working correctly. In addition, you should avoid physically separating the cables since it will lead to signal degradation. The two output signals will have half the input antenna signal power. As a result, the reception on your first television may get poor.
Once your second TV gets connected, you can do the same thing to your other TVs in your home. You will install amplifiers to boost your antenna signal in case of any issue like a poor signal.
Mistakes That People Make When Connecting Their Antenna To Their TVs
Improperly Positioning The Antenna
Before attaching the antenna to several televisions, ensure that the signal strength on one television is adequate. You should ensure that no coaxial cable splitters are in the line. The only thing standing between your TV and the outdoor antenna should be a grounding block.
Most people fail to get a good signal because of poor antenna positioning. Therefore, you should ensure you place the antenna in the best possible location and position. You can use the FCC to help you know which stations are available in your area.
In addition, you should also choose an antenna that will suit your needs. You may utilize an omnidirectional antenna like the Mohu Sky if TV towers in your area are in multiple directions. On the other hand, if the TV towers are in a single location, the best antenna to use is the 43XG Yagi antenna.
Using RG-59 Coaxial Cables
Signal degradation can occur as a result of the cable’s length. If the coaxial cable length is too long, it will have a higher chance of having signal loss. Cable installers in the United States traditionally utilized RG-59. In addition, many homes in the United States still use this cable. However, the RG-6U standard is better than the older RG-59 coaxial wire.
Compared to the previous RG-59 standard, RG-6U cable can reduce signal loss by nearly half. The RG-6U coaxial cable has a significantly larger diameter than the RG-59 cable. Therefore, you should stop using RG-59 and start using RG-6U.
Using Incorrect Splitters For Your Antenna
It would be best to remember that each cable splitter output weakens the signal. A four-output splitter will reduce the original signal strength by 25%. Therefore, you should avoid using the incorrect splitter. You should ensure you use a splitter with outputs that exactly match the number of TVs you intend to connect.
Is It A Must To Have An Antenna Amplifier?
Having an amplifier or not depends on your antenna signal strength. When you split your signal, the signal strength will reduce depending on the connected TVs. Therefore, you will need an antenna amplifier to boost your signal and improve the antenna reception.
Conclusion
If you have more than one TV in your home, it is not a must that you have an antenna for each TV. You can find various ways to use your one antenna on all your TVs. One method you can use is splitting the signal. In addition, you can also use Amazon Fire TV Recast. When connecting your antenna to multiple TVs, you should avoid the above mistakes to ensure a successful process.
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