What is the best antenna to use with the Tablo?
Aren’t you starting backwards.
Most people use one of a few WEB sites that takes your street address to determine what, if any channels, are available. They also indicate broadcast tower distance, direction, UHF/VHF, etc.
You use that information along with other possible reception characteristics to pick an antenna and amplifier.
Tablo itself does not require a specific type of antenna. Any OTA antenna best for your environment and local reception is okay with the exception of a rotator antenna. OTA DVRs and rotator antennas don’t play well together. There is antenna discussion in other threads here. In addition, the Reddit /r/Cordcutters wiki resource for Antenna info might be helpful.
We also have a buyer’s guide that should help:
You can also try www.antennaweb.org and www.tvfool.com.
With nocable.org you enter the address of the location you want the information for and it still wants to determine the location of the device you are using.
DO NOT USE www.tvfool.com . It is severely outdated (last update was in 2012). A better alternative would be www.rabbitears.info .
1 Like
While it might be outdated, generally speaking, the tower info is still probably ok, betting that there haven’t been too many major tower moves.
User need to be able to use information from various sites.
Regardless of site, some information is valid and some not. Since most repack didn’t actually change the tower location I use tvfool for relative direction and LOS.
Since I live close to the Mexican border most other sites don’t include those stations.
It appears to get information from fcc.gov DB, in the end, just use https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps and get the same information without an abandoned outdated site.
Users continue posting, but the “owners” seem to have little to no interest keeping it up… if they don’t care
I live in a metropolitan area and the FCC site hasn’t been correct for years if ever. And because it’s U.S. FCC it doesn’t include any of the 5-8 Mexican stations broadcasting across the border. One of which use to be the CW network.
It does nothing for providing antenna directional information.
That’s why users should take a peek at what other sites provide. Which may include antenna industry color coded antenna suggestions.
When I put in an address it show direction. It’s the source for other “antenna” web sites API for broadcasters records. Of course it has nothing for accross the borders.
I guess they don’t expect signals to get over “the wall”. 
Disallowing foreign interference in our channel selection.
Is the direction information provided by the FCC site magnetic north or true north. And if it’s magnetic north has it been adjusted to the magnetic deviation for my address.
I just click on a station, and look at the line on the map - “oh, that way”
Considering some of the question asked from new users… what type of antenna, “HD antenna” – degrees north or magnetic north is a bit facetious.
A good one. Any piece of metal will “work”. You might want to visit Taylor (the antenna guy) on YouTube. His recommendations for models are correct. I even use ones he recommends for my situation and I bought them long before he had a channel but he does confirm my results.
www.antennaweb.org is only good for telling what TYPE of antenna you need. The recommendation for me was medium range with amplification. It will tell you nothing beyond that but from there you can then determine which antennas match using a another site or Taylor’s picks from that type. He also review related equipment including the Tablo but his review was pretty missing on specifics. It operates differently depending on how your system is set up and a LOT different of you decide not to pay the monthly fee. There are NO reviews or video of that situation. I have shot extensive video of all configurations. Hours worth covering every aspect and many problems and inconsistencies.
I believe it is true north. I have 15.5 degrees of declination if I was using a compass.
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.