AntennaWeb.org Help
Welcome to AntennaWeb.org- Introduces AntennaWeb.org and describes its purpose
Antenna Type Color Codes- Explains the color-coded labeling standard that identifies each antenna type
Using AntennaWeb.org - Explores how to use the AntennaWeb.org site
Stations Page - Describes the contents of the Stations page
Stations Table - Covers the Stations Table section of the Stations page
Map Feature - Reviews the contents of the map section of the Stations page
Contact Information - Lists contact information
Troubleshooting - Provides instructions that may resolve most commonly reported problems
Welcome to AntennaWeb.org
The correct antenna will maximize your reception of free, over-the-air television channels from your local broadcasters.
With an antenna that is too weak, you may not receive all of the local channels available to you. An antenna that is too powerful may lead to poor reception on some channels due to interference from distant stations.
AntennaWeb.org is co-sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the preeminent trade association promoting growth of the U.S. consumer electronics industry, and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the premier trade association for broadcasters, promoting and protecting the interests of local radio and television broadcasters nationwide.
Optimal television reception relies on a clear line-of-sight between your location and a station's tower. Typically, the closer you live to the tower, the better the reception of its signals. However, many variables, such as distance, terrain or nearby structures, may impact which antenna you will need to receive those signals.
To simplify choosing the correct outdoor antenna, the CEA and the NAB have created a color-coded labeling standard for classifying antennas by type. Antennas labeled for a particular type will share common reception capabilities and directional qualities, regardless of manufacturer.
AntennaWeb.org is designed to take the guesswork out of choosing the correct outdoor antenna type for your location and your viewing needs. Once you have determined the proper antenna type, visit your retailer to select the desired antenna within that color-coded type according to your personal preferences about features, price, manufacturer, etc.
This site is hosted by TitanTV, the most trusted source for free, online television listings.
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Antenna Type Color Codes
When purchasing an antenna, look for the color-coded antenna mark for outdoor antennas. The labeling standard for antenna types are:
| Yellow - Small Multi-directional1 Type |
| The smallest, least powerful antennas. Designs may include novel shaped disk and patch antennas as well as those that attach to satellite systems. |
| Green - Medium Multi-directional1 Type |
| Larger and slightly more powerful. These antennas include novel stick, wing shaped or disk antennas with long elements. |
| Light Green - Large Multi-directional1 Type |
| Bigger in size, these antennas receive more signal power. Better for greater distances from signal source and areas with low signal strength. Styles include element antennas. |
| Red - Small Directional2 Type |
| These antennas perform much like large multi-directional on channels 2-6. But on higher channels, these antennas start to have useful ghost reducing effects. Multi-element rooftop antennas. |
| Blue - Medium Directional2 Type |
| The most popular rooftop antenna because of its modest size and ghost reducing characteristics. Multi-element rooftop antennas. |
| Violet - Large Directional2 Type |
| Used in weak signal areas for maximum possible TV reception. Multi-element rooftop antennas. Can also be used in any color code area. May require an amplifier and roof mounting for blue and violet color codes. |
1 - Multi-directional antennas are capable of receiving signals equally well from all directions.
2 - Directional antennas receive signals from the direction it is pointed while also deflecting or blocking other signals from the periphery.
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Using AntennaWeb.org
Over-the-air TV reception is determined by location, the size and type of antenna being used and the direction it is pointed.
To determine the proper antenna type for your viewing preferences, enter your ZIP Code into the field on the Address page. It is used to calculate the signal strength of each station that may be received at the center of the geographic area covered by that ZIP Code. From that location, which channels each antenna type is capable of receiving is then calculated and displayed on the Stations page.
For many locations, the ZIP Code covers a relatively small area and this level of precision is sufficient for calculating reception and determining antenna types. Where such locations are relatively flat or not heavily forested, signal strengths and antenna recommendations generally will not change significantly over a few square miles.
If you live in a location where the ZIP Code covers a large geographic area or if the surrounding terrain, forests or other tall structures nearby are likely to affect your television reception, enter your address in the optional Street Address field. The additional information is used to further refine the reception calculations and antenna type recommendations for that specific location.
AntennaWeb.org returns a conservative prediction of the stations you are able to reliably receive over-the-air at your location. You may also be able to receive additional stations that do not appear in this list.
Antenna Height
When making signal strength calculations on this site, an antenna mounted outdoors at a height of 30 feet above ground level is assumed. This height is the standard used by the broadcast industry when estimating television signal strength at a given location.
If the antenna you plan to install will be higher than 30 feet, select the Yes radio button at the Antenna Height prompt. A height of 60' is then used for the signal strength calculations and resulting antenna type recommendations. In the residential areas of many communities, an antenna height of 60' approaches the maximum generally allowed by local zoning regulations.
If you plan to install the antenna in an attic, a more powerful antenna is required to overcome the roof structure's interference with the incoming signals.
About Indoor Antennas
Due to numerous factors that can impact television reception at a location (materials used in the structure's exterior and partition walls, an antenna's location within the structure, electrical interference from other devices and so on), no recommendations regarding indoor antennas are made by this site.
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Stations Page
After your ZIP Code/address has been processed, the results are displayed on the Stations page. The page features two sections:
- Stations Table - Lists the stations that may be received at your location and the antenna type needed to receive them
- Map Feature - Displays your location and its proximity to the surrounding stations
The contents of these sections are inter-related. Moving the location pointer on the map may also update the contents of the Stations table. The information in each section and their use are discussed in more detail in the sub-topics below.
If the ZIP Code/address you entered cannot be processed for any reason, a message will be displayed onscreen. Please review the information you entered and try again.
If a Loading message remains onscreen for an extended period, please review the information in the Troubleshooting topic below.
Should the same ZIP Code/address fail again, enter a nearby ZIP Code. After the map is drawn for that location, you may move the pointer on the map to your desired position. The channels at that location and the antenna types needed to receive them will be recalculated for the new position. The contents of the Stations table will also be updated accordingly.
The Map Feature sub-topic below contains more information about fine tuning your location and the corresponding antenna type recommendations.
Stations Table
The Stations table displays the stations calculated to be received at your location. The table is a conservative prediction of stations received. You may be able to receive stations that do not appear in this list
To determine the right antenna type, review the table to select the channels that you wish to view. Each station is listed according to its ease of reception with the stations requiring the smallest multi-directional antenna at the top and those received by each progressively more powerful antenna type below.
The list also contains additional reference information about each station's call sign, channel number, RF channel, primary network affiliation, its distance from your location and the station's direction in degrees, according to magnetic North.
The colors in the Stations table also correlate with the lines radiating from the location pointer on the map. Each line corresponds to a station in the list and also reflects its direction from your location and the color of the antenna type needed to receive that station. As you move your mouse over each station in the list, the corresponding line on the map will be emphasized to highlight its relationship to your location. Click on a desired color-coded indicator to view more information that antenna's type.
Click the Print Stations Table and Map link to print a copy of the Stations page containing the current contents of the Stations table and the map to take to your antenna retailer.
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Map Feature
The Stations page incorporates the Google Map® service from Google®. The map provides visual feedback about your location, the direction of each station from that location and the antenna type needed to receive a particular station.
A pointer icon identifies your location on the map. For most locations, one or more colored lines will radiate from the pointer. Each line indicates the relative direction to a station and its color corresponds to the antenna type needed to receive that station.
Fine Tuning Your Location
To adjust your location and recalculate the antenna recommendations, the pointer may be manually moved to another spot on the map. To change the location,
Move the mouse over the pointer
Click and hold down the mouse button
Drag the pointer to the desired location
Release the mouse button to drop the pointer
The map will redraw to reflect the location change. Depending on factors such as the zoom level, intervening terrain and the distance the pointer was moved, the map may contain new information regarding the channels received, their relative direction and distance to the new location, and the antenna types now needed to receive them.
The location pointer on the map may be moved and dropped six times per visit to the Stations page before it will stop recalculating reception and antenna types.
The map feature also contains controls that allow you to pan around the view, zoom the map in and out and toggle between Map and Satellite views.
Click the Print Stations Table and Map link to print a copy of the Stations page containing the current contents of the Stations table and the map to take to your antenna retailer.
Google and Google Maps are registered trademarks of Google Inc.
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Contact Information
AntennaWeb.org is dedicated to serving consumers by providing information that allows them to make informed decisions about choosing the correct antenna type for receiving free, over-the-air television broadcasts.
Unfortunately, we cannot respond to every question, suggestion or comment that is submitted. Please be assured that we review your correspondence and will update this site accordingly to add enhancements and/or provide solutions to reported problems.
Click here to contact us by email.
If you need help installing an antenna, you may find www.TechHome.com a helpful resource for obtaining a list of professional installers in your area that are members of the Consumer Electronics Association.
For more information about the Consumer Electronics Association, contact them at:
Consumer Electronics Association
1919 S. Eads St.
Arlington, VA 22202
For more information about the National Association of Broadcasters, contact them at:
National Association of Broadcasters
1771 N St., NW
Washington, DC 20036
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Troubleshooting
As mentioned in the previous topic, this site may be updated periodically without notice.
When you visit a web site, your browser stores much of that site's elements in a special folder on your computer. This folder is called a cache. It is used to reduce the amount of data that must be transferred between a web site's server and your computer on later visits to that site. The browser can retrieve information much faster from its cache than downloading it from the site's server.
If you have recently used AntennaWeb successfully but are not able to do so now, the problem may be caused by outdated code from a previous visit that is still present on your computer. The old code may be incompatible with the latest version of this site.
For most browsers on Windows-based computers, press the Ctrl+F5 key combination while in AntennaWeb to instruct the browser to retrieve the most current data and files from AntennaWeb's server.
In the Safari browser on a Mac or PC, click the browser's Tools menu then select either the Erase Cache or Reset Safari... option (depending on browser version) and follow the onscreen prompts.
For other browsers, please refer to its documentation for information on deleting the contents of its cache folder.
If you continue to experience a problem on this site after clearing your browser's cache, please contact us and provide the address/ZIP Code information you have entered, the browser version you are using as well as the device type (desktop, tablet, smartphone, for example). This information is vital in helping our investigations. If we are able to duplicate the problem, we will identify its cause and release a solution.
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