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The latest Tablo news along with tips to maximize your free TV experience. 

Position Matters – Choosing Where to Place Your Over-the-Air TV Antenna

OTA ANTENNA POSITIONING

Today in our blog series for making an informed choice when deciding if Over-The-Air (OTA) HDTV is right for you, we’re going to talk about antenna placement. The quality of your Over-The-Air HDTV signal reception is highly dependent the placement of your Over-the-Air TV Antenna. The ideal location for yours within your home may be on the roof, your garage, your attic, a bedroom window or a myriad of other places.

*** See an updated version of this post ***

What are the key considerations for Over-the-Air (OTA) TV Antenna placement?

#1: Height

By far the most critical factor for antenna placement is height. The higher you can get the antenna either within our outside of your home, the better your reception will be. For outdoor antennas, test out spots on your roof or garage. For indoor antennas, your attic, or in the window of a room upstairs in a 2-story home may be best.

This means locating your antenna in the basement (even if that’s where your TV is) isn’t the best choice. For this very reason, Tablo was designed as whole home DVR and NOT a set-top-box that connects to a specific TV. With WiFi, you can locate your Tablo in proximity to your antenna (like in the attic) and not be restricted by the location of your home Ethernet router for connectivity. 

#2: Direction

Most antennas are uni-directional which means they need to be pointed at the source of the signal (ie. broadcast towers).

Find out where the broadcast towers in your area are located and direct your antenna towards their location. You may want to make small directional adjustments and use the ‘channel rescan’ option within the Tablo app (along with a compass if you have one) to help you find the angle that provides the most channels and/or the strongest signal for the channels you want most.

OTA towers map Detroit

#3: Obstructions

Anything big and solid between your antenna and the broadcast tower can impact your signal quality.

Placing your antenna near a window may be your best bet because walls and floors affect the signal reception. However, if you’re pointing your antenna out a window and your ‘view’ consists of a brick wall, you might want to look at a roof mount antenna.

Outside, large trees and other buildings are not your OTA signal’s friend so try to locate your antenna away from these potential barriers.

Now that you know more about how to position your antenna, stay tuned for our next post where we’ll introduce our signal locator service.

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How to restart your phone/tablet

Sometimes, just restarting your smartphone or tablet can clear up issues with apps. The links below will provide detailed instructions on how to force close your Tablo app. 

Apple iPhone

Android smartphones 

Most Android smartphones and tablets can be restarted by holding the POWER button and then selecting RESTART or POWER OFF and RESTART from the POWER OPTIONS menu.

NOTE: Newer Samsung devices require you to hold the POWER/SIDE button and VOLUME DOWN to make the POWER OPTIONS menu appear. On the Google Pixel 6, hold the POWER and VOLUME UP buttons.

How to force close your Tablo app?

Sometimes, just restarting the app can fix things. The links below will provide detailed instructions on how to force close your Tablo app. 

Apple iPhone/iPad

Android smartphones/tablets 

Need help with the final steps?

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.  Follow the steps in the video below for a full walkthrough of the remaining parts of the Tablo setup process.

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Getting your channels...

You can get channels for free!
( over-the-air channels and streaming channels )

This is an estimate only. Actual broadcast TV channels received may vary based on TV antenna location, reception, topography, and other obstructions. Streaming channels require an internet connection. View the Channel Details Report for specifics of each channel and to help determine what antenna is needed. 

Reception alert:  Based upon the location you entered, you may not get many of the major networks.  As a result, Tablo may not be the best fit for you.  Please enter your full address above for best accuracy. 

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