Forum Discussion

Mary9124's avatar
Mary9124
Reel Rookie
4 years ago
Solved

Not getting my local channels with indoor digital antenna

I followed the procedure to set up antenna and then went to the channel guide.  It said I got 31 channels but I don't see my three local news channels.  I bought an antenna with a 80 mile range.  Tha...
  • Streamer317's avatar
    Streamer317
    4 years ago

    Indoor antennas rarely work due to obstructions. This has nothing to do with your Roku TV by the way. You can try moving the antenna to the window. Some actually stick to the window.  Is this a TCL? Hisense or Sharp? Before you got an antenna did you see what was available in your area? An outdoor or roof mounted antenna are usually the best. But again it all depends where you live and what is blocking your signal. Even if you bought an 80 mile range unless it has a clear line of sight it will be useless. Similar to a cell phone signal. In the end antennas don't work for most people. You could look into a live TV streaming service such as YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, DirecTV Stream and FuboTV. Yes those aren't free like OTA channels. But if you live in an apartment, condo or have an obstructed view for your antenna it won't work. I also know you can manually enter channels into your line up. 

    https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps

    https://support.roku.com/article/115005469427

Streamer317's avatar
Streamer317
Roku Guru
4 years ago

Indoor antennas rarely work due to obstructions. This has nothing to do with your Roku TV by the way. You can try moving the antenna to the window. Some actually stick to the window.  Is this a TCL? Hisense or Sharp? Before you got an antenna did you see what was available in your area? An outdoor or roof mounted antenna are usually the best. But again it all depends where you live and what is blocking your signal. Even if you bought an 80 mile range unless it has a clear line of sight it will be useless. Similar to a cell phone signal. In the end antennas don't work for most people. You could look into a live TV streaming service such as YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, DirecTV Stream and FuboTV. Yes those aren't free like OTA channels. But if you live in an apartment, condo or have an obstructed view for your antenna it won't work. I also know you can manually enter channels into your line up. 

https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps

https://support.roku.com/article/115005469427

  • Bigmaneric973's avatar
    Bigmaneric973
    Reel Rookie
    2 years ago

    I just replaced an existing TV with a new Hisense 40" TV. Same Antenna that didn't move. One group of stations in our area is UHF and those stations are no longer available, although they were with the older TV. This tells me there is something in the tuner that is different in the fact it may not handle UHF signals very well since they tend to be harder to tune in. They are not necessarily weaker signals, just harder to tune since the higher the frequency they shorter the signal will travel. Think about how the bass part of song can be heard further away than the high end of the song.  Not sure if this is something Roku can or is interested in working on or not.

     

    I do understand how broadcasting a signal works, I used to be a broadcast engineer for a group of radio stations, And I do wireless communications as well on networking using microwave communications for long distances.  Not everywhere has fiber.

    • RokuEuniceL's avatar
      RokuEuniceL
      Retired Moderator
      2 years ago

      Hi Bigmaneric973,

      Greetings from the Roku Community!

      We're glad to assist you with your inquiry. We'd like to know more about it so we can further assist you. Is your Hisense TV a Roku TV? If not, what Roku device are you connecting to your Hisense TV? Please be advised that if it's not a Hisense Roku TV, you'll need to reach out to the Hisense Roku TV support for more assistance since a Roku device being connected to a Hisense TV does not do anything with the over-the-air local channels. If it is a Hisense Roku TV, kindly check out this support article on how to set up and watch live TV on your Roku TV system.

      We hope this helps.

      Kind regards,

      Eunice

      • Bigmaneric973's avatar
        Bigmaneric973
        Reel Rookie
        2 years ago

        It is a Hisense Roku TV. We also have an ONN Roku tv as well that doesn't have the UHF channels, but does get weaker VHF channels. I'll look at some these links, but I'm pretty sure it's something with the tuner.

         

        Thank you