Guide How To Position or Hang A Flat Indoor TV Aerial or Freestanding Television Aerial / Antenna

Alright… because I couldn’t get my roof aerial that comes into the house extended up through from one floor to the one at the top of the house – or out of one room all the way up the stairs to another via a massively long cable – I decided instead to research some other solutions.

First off I checked out (and was almost about to buy) a set of 2 (1 send 1 receieve) expensive wireless HDMI boxes for £90-150 to send the roof’s large and strong aerial signal from downstairs to upstairs – until – I stumbled across someone saying “the best thing they bought recently was an $8 flat portable aerial.” I didn’t quite believe it, so did some research and bought 2 myself (so I had all the parts I might need including an singal booster) and I was pleasantly surprised – no amazed when I took the plunge!

Second off I bought this; Chaowei Freeview High Gain TV Aerial-Portable Indoor TV Antenna 120miles with External Signal Amplifier, Large Magnetic Base, 6.5ft Coaxial Cable. Now there are LOTS of these all branded differently and I spent ages checking to see if they were knock-offs of the big brand I saw recommended – or the exact same model from teh same place but with a different logo – and discovered it was teh latter – They are ALL THE SAME.

Then I looked at the Easing Indoor TV Aerial, 50 Miles Digital HDTV Antenna ( 4K 1080P HD FM VHF UHF Window Aerial. Now – this is where things got interesting. When this indoor aerial was delivered I got no useful signal !!!BUT!!! – when I took the AMPLIFIER from the other aerial and used it on this – I gt the best of all results. But beware… you have to spend a lot of time getting the signal as strong as possible The way to do this is NOT to move it around and then re-tune the channels as the videos say – but get the signal strength window up on the screen and move the aerial around in real time – THEN re-tune the channels. This is by far the only way to get the best results. Bizarly I also got a stong signal (but not as good) when I laid the aerial flat on the Youview box!

What were the results?

Even when I used the Chaowei Freeview High Gain TV Aerial Portable Indoor TV Antenna with the amplifier provided – no matter where I placed it – The flat black Easing Aerial (Indoor TV Aerial, 50 Miles Digital HDTV Antenna) was the best for me by some way (I could only get the Chaowei Freeview High Gain TV Aerial-Portable Indoor TV Antenna to give me poor – to fair signal) – as long as I used the amplifier from the white free-standing aerial (Chaowei) with the Easing flat aerial – the results were eventually great!

After getting ‘poor’ and ‘fair’ for ages – I decided to NOT attach it to the window as suggested – but on a wall just a little higher that the window and hey presto – I went from a ‘fair’ signal to ‘good’ – then I re-tuned the channels on the Youview box and now I have a stronger signal than from the roof aerial we use downstairs!!! (56-60%).

Also little things like wrapping the cable from the aerial around the end of curtain rail (see red circled on photo above) made quiet a differences – as did hanging the cable up off the floor on the flower pot! You have to experiment – then tape everything down once you get the sweet spot!

Now – do these indoor TV aerials work for both Freeview and Youview?

This is another question I struggled to answer but eventually found it – the answer is YES!

Then I ran into a few videos about some of the new modern indoor aerials to see if any of them were any good.

Of course all the YouTube videos all said they were wonderful, but I wasn’t sure as they all had links to buy them (I have also put links to the two I bought below – because they both worked – but one was just enough better for me than the other – I’ll tell you which in a moment)