Do I Need a Separate Antenna For Each TV?
I get a lot of questions from folks who want to get free broadcast TV using an antenna, but who have multiple TVs. There are several ways I know of to get an antenna signal to all of the TVs in your home. I cover them below.
Method #1: A Separate Antenna for Each TV
The easiest thing to do is to just have a separate indoor antenna (like the Mohu Leaf) for each TV. The problem with this is that some of your TVs might be on the side of the house that is away from the TV stations. Perhaps one of your TVs is in the basement, where reception might be bad. If you have strong signals in your area (enter your zip code into the Station Finder to see), you still might be able to get all of the channels you want everywhere in your home, so maybe it won’t matter. But chances are, some of your TVs will get worse reception than others due to the location in your home.
So, don’t go out and buy a whole bunch of antennas. Just get one, and confirm that it works with all of your TVs before getting an antenna for each TV. I recommend the Mohu Leaf.
Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. I test or research each product or service before endorsing. This site is not owned by any retailer or manufacturer. I own this site and the opinions expressed here are mine. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Method #2: One Antenna with Tablo or Other DVR
Tablo is a whole-home DVR (digital video recorder) that works with your broadcast TV antenna. Plug your antenna in, and watch live and recorded TV on any TV in your home that is connected to a streaming player such as a Roku. It’s kind of like a wireless distribution amplifier.
Basically, you hook up your one antenna to Tablo and it streams the signal to all of the Roku boxes in your home. Now, this requires that you have a Roku box or stick for each TV, which you probably want to do anyway. Check out my full review of Tablo Generation 4:
The bonus is that Tablo is a DVR that offers recording to a hard disk drive or internal flash memory.
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Method #3: One Antenna Using Your Home’s Unused Cable or Satellite TV Wiring
This is the most elegant solution. If you’ve ever had cable or satellite TV, your home has the wiring it needs to distribute free broadcast TV signals from an antenna! If you can find out where it connects to the cable company’s line and disconnect it, you can connect your antenna to this cable and use it to distribute free TV throughout your home!
This will require a little detective work. Look in your garage, basement, and outside of your home to see where the cable company’s cable connects to your home. There should be a junction box where it connects. If you had satellite, look where the cable from the satellite dish comes into your home. Note, you might need special tools to disconnect it, and it might be a violation of the cable/satellite company rules to mess with their equipment, just be aware.
If you are able to disconnect the signal from the cable company, you can now connect your antenna anywhere you see a cable TV outlet in your home. Probably the best place would be at an upper story, i.e., the highest point in your home.
Also, if you do this, I would recommend adding an amplifier (see below).
I recommend amplifiers from Channel Master (or see the Amazon links in the next section).
Note, you cannot use this method if you are using your coax cabling for Internet access. The cable has to be completely disconnected from any satellite or cable, whether it is for TV or Internet.
Method #4: One Antenna to Many TVs Using New Cabling
If your home does not already have coax cable running through it, you cable it up yourself. If you only have one TV, and your cable run is short (say, 30 feet or less), you can get away with connecting your antenna cable directly to your TV.
But, most of the time you’ll want to add an amplifier, and so you’ll want to use a distribution amplifier to split your signal to all of your TVs:
I recommend amplifiers made by Channel Master.
The distribution amplifier should be close to the antenna, so that the signal is amplified as soon as possible:
If you have a lot of cabling to run, you might want to invest in a spool of cable and a special kit that enables you to cut custom lengths and attach connectors at each end. Here is my set of tools and supplies for doing this:
Starting from the upper left, we have a cable stripper, cable crimper, and spool of cable. In the second row from the left we have an all-in-one tool that cuts, strips, and attaches the connectors, and finally the splitter.
This might cost less than buying pre-cut cable, and you’ll be able to make the lengths perfectly right instead of having a lot of slack (which is ugly and degrades the signal). Just be sure to get “RG6” cable! Cheaper cable will degrade your TV signal.
If you are going through all of this trouble, you should consider just going with a rooftop or attic antenna, if that is possible in your dwelling. A rooftop or attic antenna will get you the best signal quality and the most channels. An outdoor or attic antenna will be better than an indoor antenna.
Before doing any of this, I recommend buying a single antenna and trying it out at each TV location.
Here are my recommended tools and supplies if you want to run your own cable:
To Sum Up
Which solution you choose depends on your situation. The simplest thing to do is to get a separate antenna for each TV. But, each TV may not get equally good reception. If you have existing cable TV cabling in your home, you might be able to use that and just have one antenna. Finally, if you want recording ability and no messing around with long cable runs, consider Tablo along with streaming players for each TV.
Hope this helps! – Brian
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I’m a boomer and have no clue what to do. HAVE to cut the $225.00 a month cable bill.
my guest ion is about antennas. Live in a 2 bedroom Mobile Home. Have 3 tv’s. One in each bedroom. Should I go with All over Antenna or separate antennas?? I have to keep XFINITY’S wireless box to get the $30 a month line price. Definitely do not want to switch phone providers again. It was a Mess!! Happy with my iPhone service thru xfinity.
All in All, I need to know my best option for local channels. And if I get an app, like Starz. Will that share it on the other tvs?? Thank you kindly for your help! Debbie
34114
Hi Debbie,
You should have pretty good reception to the major networks using an antenna; all of their stations are pretty much due North of you.
A single outdoor antenna will get you the most channels, but it requires professional installation and running coax cable around your mobile home.
If you want to quickly try broadcast TV, you can get a cheap indoor flat antenna like the Mohu Leaf (or ask around your neighborhood; sometimes folks have extras).
That will get you local channels.
If your TVs are not smart TVs, then you can get a Roku device for each to pick up streaming services like Starz.
Best,
Brian
Can I use an extra router for tv signals as an extra wi-fi and would it interfere with my internet wi-fi. Also would the tablo work better with a roku stick and then use an external hd drive to download and play later
Hi Walter,
I haven’t really heard of anyone using two WiFi routers in their home (one for data the other for TV), but I suppose it could be useful to increase wireless bandwidth and keep the networks isolated from each other. I’ve never tried it so I can’t comment much on it.
If you want to get better WiFi reception throughout your home, I think what you need is a WiFi Extender (Google or check Amazon).
Tablo is a DVR which does require some streaming device such as a Roku stick to view your recordings. Note that the drive can only contain recordings off of live TV, not content that you download from the Internet.
Best,
Brian
I seen an article on using your direct v connections with an ota.Can you express some thoughts on this
Hi Walter,
Can you elaborate more on your question?
Thanks,
Brian
i am so confused Can I get by with 1 mohu leaf 30 indoor antenna ? Pls keep it simple This stuffs makes me crazy
Hi Diane,
Yes, you can use one antenna, but you’ll need other equipment, either cabling and splitters or other devices to make it work for all of your TVs. Or, you could buy separate antennas for each TV.
Best,
Brian
I have an onn digital antenna how do I hook up the power supply box to the back of my tcl tv
Hi Christina,
Some TVs have a USB port on the back where you can get power. If you can’t find it, your TV might not have it. In that case, you’ll have to use a USB power adapter that plugs into wall power.
Best,
Brian
OMG I need answers Just want free TV Is there a simple way for seniors like me I sure hope so or I am screwed.
your attention please. As somebody else also ask, I need to know if it is possible to hook up several antennas to one tv. The reason is that when I hooked/tried ONE antenna from my condo balcony in the second floor, I could get around 10 free channels when the antenna pointed to the west. Later on, when I pointed it to the south I could get different channels, among them channel 13 in which I like to watch Judge Judy. So, please, guide us to see if this is possible. And the second request is, is it possible to get free internet, since I really enjoy youtube in my smart tv and pretty soon our spectrum contract will expire and prices may go up.
Hi,
Yes, you can use two antennas if you get a coupler. See tip #16:
https://www.disablemycable.com/blog/antenna-tips/
I don’t know of a sure-fire way to get free Internet, but here are some tactics to reduce cost:
https://www.thefrugalnoodle.com/save-on-internet/
Best,
Brian
Hello Brian,
Thank you so much for taking the time to create this post. I have a question about Method #2. Regarding the bit about “If you are able to disconnect the signal from the cable company, you can now connect your antenna anywhere you see a cable TV outlet in your home.” What type if antenna do I use for this scenario? One like the Mohu Leaf, or something different? And I just need to connect this antenna to any cable TV outlet? Is there any other equipment I have to buy/anything else to hook up to each of my three TVs that I wish to receive the basic channels?
Thank you!
Hi Mich,
You will get the most channels if you connect your cabling to an outdoor or attic antenna.
It would also be good to use an amplifier to drive your cabling (see the same article above).
But, before buying anything, I would recommend doing a test to make sure your cabling is good and not connected somewhere to the cable company’s equipment (which would stop it from working).
Connect your TV to your cabling, then at another cable outlet connect a length of coax cable with the tip touching anything that is metal, like unplugged extension power cord or unplugged lamp power cord. Holding that in place, do a scan on your TV to see if gets any channels. If it gets even one, the your cabling is good.
Best,
Brian
This was very enlightening. Can I plug the antenna into the cable line outside my house, there is a connection from the cable company line to the line going in to house. the splitter is in a bedroom closet. So I want to attach the antenna on the side of the house and run the cable to that outside line. Is that possible or do you have to connect the antenna directly to a tv?