How to check if the TV antenna is working properly
In case of signal reception problems, before contacting a specialized technician, I recommend that you carry out a series of simple operations to check if the TV antenna is working properly. Below, I will show you the ones that, in my opinion, can help solve the problem effectively. Before proceeding, however, remember to check that the antenna cable is correctly connected to the appropriate input on the back of the TV, understood?
Check the signal quality
The first check you need to make concerns the signal quality received by the TV set: this check will help you understand if your vision problems (disturbed or missing) are due to an actual malfunction of the antenna or to the need to tune the TV channels again.
Many televisions and decoders, even the slightly less modern ones, have a built-in function to check the strength of the signal received by the antenna. Unfortunately, however, each lot has a menu structured in a different way and, therefore, it is not possible for me to provide you with detailed instructions for your model of television or decoder: the pages of my site would not be enough to analyze them all in detail!
Generally speaking, I can tell you that you have to go to the menu of settings of the TV / decoder, access the section relating toantenna / channel tuning and, from there, select the option for the signal test, there might also be called antenna test o receiver test.
To understand better, let's take a practical example: if you use a television LG equipped with the operating system WebOS, you can reach the section for the signal test in the following way: press the button of settings (identified by the icon ⚙️) on the remote control, use the directional arrows until you reach the item All settings and press the button OK.
Then, go to the section Channels, press the button OK and, after selecting the item Tuning and setting channels, press the button again OK. If everything went well, you should be in the area dedicated to channel tuning: then choose the voice Signal test, press the button OK on the remote control and wait for the signal quality to be checked for the various frequencies.
If the antenna is physically damaged, the strength of the detected signal should fluctuate between 0% and 10% or, in any case, have very low values. If not, you can try to improve the quality of the channels received by re-tuning the TV or decoder: I will explain in detail how to do it in the next section of this guide.
Re-tune the channels
If, from the previous check, you have noticed that the antenna signal is not excellent but still not as bad as you thought, you can try to perform a re-tune your TV (or decoder), so as to update the list of stored channels, avoiding the possibility of problems caused by the change in frequency of transmissions.
The steps to re-tune the channels vary, also in this case, from device to device, therefore it is not possible for me to provide you with a procedure valid for all TVs and decoders on the market. Generally, however, what you have to do is press the key Menu/Config on the remote control, in order to access the configuration area of the TV, choose the option related to channel management and go to the area dedicated to automatic tuning / scanning.
If necessary, you must then enter the PIN appliance safety (usually it is 0000, 1111, 1234 or again, 8888), set the antenna / tuning mode su DTV and, to start the automatic channel search, press the button OK remote control.
For example, if you are using a television LG, you have to push the button ⚙️ on the remote control and using the menu displayed on the screen, choose the item All settings (bottom) and press the key OK.
Next, you need to select the icon dedicated to Channels, Press the button OK, choose the item Tuning and channel settings e premere new il tasto OK. Once in the new screen that appears, make sure that in correspondence with the wording Program mode the option is specified Antenna (otherwise do it yourself), select the item Automatic tuning and press the button OK remote control.
At this point, put the check mark next to the item Antenna, select the button NEXT (bottom), press the button OK, then select the item Automatic sorting and press the button again NEXT. Finally, specify the type of search you want to perform (eg. Digital search only), press the button again NEXT and wait for the channel tuning to finish.
For more information about tuning channels on TV and decoder, I refer you to reading my specific guides on how to retune your TV and how to retune digital.
Check other appliances
Are you still experiencing signal reception problems? Then I advise you to carry out the checks I mentioned earlier also on all the other devices (TV or decoder) in the house. If reception problems do not occur on other devices, it is very likely that the cause is to be found in damage to the internal receiver of the TV or in a faulty antenna cable.
To make sure, I recommend that you connect the initially "non-functional" television to an antenna cable that is capable of picking up a signal. Broadly speaking, two things can happen.
- If, after re-tuning channels, the TV / decoder returns to normal behavior, you can easily conclude that the cause of the malfunction is the antenna cable to which it was previously connected.
- If, on the other hand, the TV / decoder still does not work, then the problem is certainly to be found in the device.
Failure to receive the signal from all the appliances in the house, on the other hand, would indicate a general malfunction of the antenna (or of the power supply "box" that accompanies it).
Consult the neighbors
Have you found out that the entire TV reception system in your home is not working? So if you live in a building with condominium antenna, you could consult your neighbors, asking them if they, in turn, encounter problems in using the television channels.
If the neighbors answer yes, then you can confidently conclude that the condominium antenna is probably damaged or badly positioned. If not, however, it is very likely that i Cavi extended in your apartment are no longer in good condition.
In any case, store all the information collected so far (including the list of neighbors who, possibly, encounter the same problems as you), since it will be essential to communicate it to the antenna technician.
What to do if the TV antenna does not work
You have followed everything I suggested for you to the letter check if the TV antenna works and, unfortunately, was the final outcome negative? Don't worry, you still have some opportunities to resolve the situation yourself.
If, for example, reception problems are limited to only a few channels, you may want to consider purchasing a amplifier for TV signal: it is a device that, connected to the television antenna, can solve the slightest reception problems, increasing the signal intensity by at least 20 dB (if you remember well, I told you about it in my guide on how to amplify the signal TV). Devices of this type can be easily found online, with prices ranging between € 15 and € 25.
See offer on Amazon See offer on Amazon See offer on AmazonIf, on the other hand, the problems you encountered are much more serious (for example the total lack of reception of the television signal), then you must necessarily contact a antenna technician qualified, who will have to intervene on the cables of your apartment or on the antenna located at the top of the building in which you reside.
During the interview, illustrate to the technician the results of the checks carried out previously (checking the TV signal, attempts to retune the channels, any problems encountered by neighbors and tests on the devices in your home), so that the latter has a complete overview of the question and is able to solve this annoying problem in the shortest possible time.
Clearly, if you live in a building equipped with a condominium antenna, you will have to communicate everything to thebuilding administrator, who will personally contact a qualified technician (and divide the costs associated with the intervention, if the problem is common).
To provisionally compensate for the malfunction of the external TV antenna, you could consider purchasing an internal antenna, used for receiving digital terrestrial channels: of course, the signal quality will not be equal to that of a "standard" system, but it is the cheapest (and fastest) way to make up for the lack of the latter, while waiting for the technician. Below I propose some devices of this type.
See offer on Amazon See offer on Amazon See offer on AmazonOnce you have the indoor antenna, all you have to do is connect it to the TV (using the supplied cable) and, if applicable, to the mains power supply. Once the antenna is connected, all you have to do is retune the TV channels to enable reception again.
How to check if the TV antenna works
