Am antennas I live in an area where am reception is weak, will using a third party antenna help?

Mobile Signal Boosters: There are various mobile signal boosters available in the market designed for improving cell phone reception indoors. These boosters typically consist of an outdoor antenna, an amplifier unit, and an indoor antenna. The outdoor antenna is placed outside the housetruck where there's better signal reception, and it captures the weak signal. The amplifier unit boosts the signal, and the indoor antenna rebroadcasts it inside the housetruck. Brands like SureCall, weBoost, and Wilson Electronics offer such products.

Television signals are at such high frequencoies they will be reflected form buildings and other objects, and attentuated by moisture in the air and through the leqaves of trees, etc. In large cities yourt TV singals can arrive from different paths Digital TV signals bounce as di the old "analog TV" signals but the technology allows the receiver to ignor singals that are out of phase so the picture is "clean" despite multipleversions of the signal arriving at the antenna at slightly different times. That said, if the signal is weak, there is little you can do other than experimanet with positioning the receivng antenna. Typically, building walls attentuate televisoin signals so locating the receving antenna close to a window often provides for stronger signal reception.

Amplified antennas cannot amplify what is not there. Moisture in the form of fog, rain and snow will attenuate television signals and if thre signals are marginal in good weather, they may be virtually not-existent in wet weather. Digital TV signals are threshold dependent. When they are toow eak, you won't see anything. Back in the old analog TV days, you could see a "snowy picture" but digital TV doesn't allow for that. The signal is either strong enough to be viewed or it is not.

You have few real options if you do not subscribe to cable or a satellite tv provider. Amplified antennas can help but if you need them you live in a marginal TV reception area to begin with and more prone to the vagaries of weather and the seasons.

If you are using an indoor Antenna:
1- the most probable reason would be the location of the antenna and TV in an area where the reception is very low. Indoors all houses are affected by the running electrical circuits which in turn generate magnetic field that together with the structure of the house obstruct or weaken the wave signals of wireless and TV reception. Also this issue may be aggravated by the vicinity you are live in. Where you are living may not have the optimum reception from some services including TV signals. Your best bet is to try moving the (Indoor) antenna closer to the outside (such as windows, or better to a balcony) and try all four directions of the house.
2- One other possibility, is the antenna jack being disconnected from one of its wires (or a de-solder) at an internal part of its circuit). This problem can be detected by trying another antenna that is working good when used with another TV (and preferably at a different location) thus testing for the possible weak signal at the same time.
3- The last possible issue is the antenna receptacle built onto the Tv set. This may have a problem of some element of it disconnected internally on the board or de-soldered..
If the Antenna is external, all the above points are still valid, but the probability is higher, for some hidden disconnection on the receptacle, the antenna plug or at the connection of the co-axial cable with the external antenna. (Once I found a co-axial cable with disconnections of its central copper wire within the protective insulating coat- probably due to defects in the plastic coat that had microscopic holes that allowed air and humidity into the central wire and caused it to corrode and have those discontinuities)..

maybe the reception in your area is weak, tried with an outdoor antenna.

First of all check for any nearby source of interference.....Move your unit away from all computers, fluorescent lights, neon lights, microwaves, cell phones, and cell phone chargers. These devises tend to produce noise in the medium frequency band, where AM radio is broadcast.
If the unit plugs into the wall with a nonpolarized plug (where both prongs are the same size), try reversing the plug in the outlet. Moving the plug to another outlet might help, too.
check for fault in the antenna lead, (common) or bad earth on the antenna to body
If you don't have an antenna connected to your FM receiver,With a receiver or tuner, connect a wire-loop or T-shaped dipole FM antenna to the back of your unit. Move the antenna until you get the cleanest signal. Use a signal-strength meter or display to gauge signal strength if your unit has one.

Step 2 If you're still not getting a good signal, try an indoor amplified antenna, which you'll find at an electronics store. Don't buy one unless you get a guarantee that you can return it for full credit if it doesn't solve your reception problems.

Step 3 If your signal is weak because you live a long way from the transmitter, install an outside antenna and mount it as high as is practical. If you're primarily interested in getting signals from one station or from a group of stations in one direction, get a directional antenna and point it toward the transmitters.

Step 4 If you're using a portable FM radio where the only antenna is the power cord, stretch the cord as straight as possible and experiment with positioning again.

Step 5 Temporarily switch to monaural mode to improve a weak signal on an FM receiver.

Read more: How to Strengthen FM Radio Reception | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_114024_strengthen-fm-radio.html#ixzz0u9nhGXAL


If you're still not getting a good signal, try an indoor amplified antenna, which you'll find at an electronics store.
If your signal is weak because you live a long way from the transmitter, install an outside antenna and mount it as high as is practical. If you're primarily interested in getting signals from one station or from a group of stations in one direction, get a directional antenna and point it toward the transmitters. Make sure to Switch from stereo to mono.

Step 4 With a receiver or tuner, connect a wire-loop or T-shaped dipole FM antenna to the back of your unit. Move the antenna until you get the cleanest signal. Use a signal-strength meter or display to gauge signal strength if your unit has one.

Step 5 Alternatively, upgrade to a third-party passive or powered antenna.

Step 6 Install a rotatable roof antenna for the best possible reception. Connect your unit to an existing television roof antenna for the next-best alternative.

Read more: How to Improve FM Reception | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_5554_improve-fm-reception.html#ixzz0u9oTaz4Y

If you're using a portable FM radio where the only antenna is the power cord, stretch the cord as straight as possible and experiment with positioning again.

I assume you have tried to retune the TV & angle the antenna in different positions. Very often, due to the location of your home & the strength of signal in that area, you usually find that , no matter what you try, an indoor antenna is just not strong enough to pick up in a weak reception area. The only alternative is to try & add a signal booster onto it or much better still ( and a lot less future reception problems) is to rig up an outdoor antenna.

You'll need a better antenna to solve your problem. With the new digital broadcasting, signal strength is everything. With analog, a weak signal would give you a watchable but fuzzy picture. A weak signal with digital gives you nothing, or possibly a picture that freezes up or breaks into blocks (pixellation). The only cure is a better antenna, either an amplified indoor antenna or something outside.

Sad to say, there's no guarantee that will work. If you live too far from the station, or have hills, buildings or other obstructions that block the signal, you just may not be able to pick up some channels. In some areas people have found they get no reception at all.

At www.antennaweb.org there's a tool that will tell you what stations are around your area and how far. It's designed to help you figure out what kind of antenna you might need.

This could be a problem with weak signal strength of the channels in your area. You may need to get a amplified antenna to get better signal strength input into you television.You can buy these amplifiers already built into the antenna or use one as a add on to the input section of the antenna. Connecting the antenna to the television through it.They should be available in your local electronic stores like Fry's or the Micro Center. You can also buy them on line by using a search engine to find amplifiers for television antenna's. If you find that this is not your problem then you may want to contact the PROSCAN customer support at their website www.oncorpus.com and go to the customer support section.Give them the model number of your television and ask them for help with weak signal reception in the tuner section of your television. You can also call their customer support telephone number 1-888-977-6722. Give them the same information as above and they should be able to direct you to a service center, that can test and fix your problem. I hope this information helps you with your problem.

well it's the same as the days of old, the antenna has a range of reception. the further the sations antenna, the lager your antenna must be. just because you bought an amplified antenna does not mean you will receive the deep fringe station. also the antenna must be UHF and VHF to receive the broadcast in digital. most of the braodcasters have gone with the UHF band because it is more stable for the bandwith of digital broadcast. the UHF band is very directional as well, so you must be pointing to the broadcasters antenna. no set top antenna will work if you are further than 15 miles of the broadcasters antenna. the roof top UHF/VHF antenna with a preamp is the way to go. I have tested every compact antenna and unless you live in the city that the broadcast generates you will get no reception with these. terks are junk, and any small amplified antenna does not work if you are in low lying areas. roof top, roof top,.....ROOF TOP!!!!!

I have the same problem. Contacted 3rd party tech, take sharp pick or equal and there is supposedly a button in the very center of the antenna port of the phone. gently push the pick in the center of the jack and it will trip the switch. I tried it on my second damaged phone and it worked, so far.