How to clip an antenna to a TV?

We want to be able to move a TV around, including outside. I'm probably going to run up to Target today and get a TCL Roku TV so my kid can watch YouTube workout videos. Now my wife tends to watch local channels, which we can easily get with an indoor antenna since we have a good line-of-sight to Mt. Wilson. This means somehow I need to mount an HDTV antenna to the TV itself.
- Either some kind of clip to the bezel of the TV itself...hmm is there even enough bezel on newer TVs?
- Or something that could screw onto the wall-mounting points. That's like a standardized thread size, isn't it?
- Or ???

 

Bump...no ideas? Duct tape to the back of the chassis?

 

It's not really something that people have done in awhile.

I can recommend this antenna,and the mounting options are flexible enough that you could probably come up with some way to attach it to the back of the television.

Monoprice Active Indoor/Outdoor HD6 HDTV Antenna, 50 Mile Range - Monoprice.com

 

Ah yes I need an antenna. Interesting that they all seem active these days-used to be there was a cheaper passive and a more expensive active. I was kinda thinking I can use the mounting screws on the back of the TV to somehow attach an antenna.

 

Replace one of the regular screws holding the back on with a much longer one. Or use the venting on the back and loop a cable tie in one slot and out the other.

 

The VESA mounting holes are pretty safe. They're metal and sturdy. They're metric, but you may have the right screws kicking around from a mounting kit or other monitor. There are also right angle telescoping antennas (~$8) with an F connector that would just screw onto the F connector on the back of the set, but they're really not at all optimized for UHF HD TV. But, that might work for you if the signal levels are very good.

 

Does the TCL have an antenna input?

 

It does. And some of the models have a USB port that will allow you to plug in a memory stick and it will work as a DVR for live ATSC TV.

 

I have a straight line view to Mt. Wilson, such an antenna would have really great appeal instead of rigging up some kludgy thing. Can you point to a particular model? Or what would that be called so I can search for it?

The main thing here is to get KCAL 9 and Univision 34...news or Liga MX games outside.

 

Oh reeee-allly? I had no idea. I wonder if this one does. That would be an extremely interesting feature for my brother.

 

Velcro?

 

Except in rare cases, all digital TV channels are UHF, and the antennas needed are fairly small. The old "rabbit ears" were to pick up VHF channels 2-13.

 

This is somewhat of a misunderstanding. Here's the Los Angeles lineup of TV stations, with the second number being the actual RF channel. You can see right away that ABC 7 and Fox 11 of the big 4 are on VHF (2-13). And there are others there as well.


Call sign Channel Networks
Virtual RF

KCBS 2 31 CBS, Start, Dabl
KNBC 4 36 NBC, Cozi, LX TV (April 2020)
KTLA 5 35 CW, Antenna, Court TV, TBD
KHTV 6 22 Spanish religious, HSN, Jewelry
KABC 7 7 ABC, Localish, Laff
KFLA 8 8 NewsNet, Country, AMG, BizTV, Jewelry
KCAL 9 9 KCAL Independent, Stadium, Circle
KIIO 10 10 Armenian
KTTV 11 11 Fox, Light TV, Decades
KTBV 12 27 religious
KCOP 13 13 MyNetworkTV, Buzzr, Movies!, Heroes & Icons
KSCI 18 18 Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese
KNLA 20 32 SBN, Korean, Spanish
KWHY 22 4 Spanish
KVCR 24 5 PBS Empire, FNX, KVCR Desert Cities, Create
KNET 25 32 HSN, Torrance CitiCable, ShopHQ
KSFV 27 27 Jewelry, Spanish religious, Arabic
KCET 28 28 PBS, Link, NHK World
KPXN 30 24 ion, qubo, ion Shop, QVC, HSN
KVMD 31 23 LATV (Spanish), Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish religious
KMEX 34 34 Univision (Spanish), UniMás (Spanish), Bounce, Justice, Super TV (Mandarin)
KHIZ-LD 39 2 Court TV, Laff, Grit, Stadium, Shop LC, CBN News
KTBN 40 33 TBN
KXLA 44 30 Ethnic Independent (Spanish), Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean
KFTR 46 29 UniMás (Spanish), getTV, Court TV Mystery, Grit, Quest
KOCE 50 18 PBS, Daystar, World, PBS Kids
KVEA 52 25 Telemundo (Spanish), TeleXitos (Spanish)
KAZA 54 22 MeTV, Decades
KDOC 56 12 KDOC, MeTV, Comet, This, Charge!, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean
KJLA 57 30 Azteca (Spanish), Vietnamese, Mandarin
KLCS 58 28 PBS, PBS Kids, Create
KRCA 62 7 Estrella (Spanish)
KBEH 63 4 Retro, Spanish religious
KILM 64 24 ion Plus

What is commonly misunderstood is that, yes, UHF frequencies are better servers of digital television, but there are plenty of stations that have been relegated to the VHF band in a lot of markets. I used to live in Philadelphia where ABC 6, and PBS 12 were both VHF. Since I left there, I understand they have a MeTV affiliate down on VHS 2.

Currently I live halfway between Tampa and Orlando. Fully three major network stations in Tampa are relegated to VHF: NBC 7 (moving to 9), CBS 10, and Fox 12. Only ABC is on UHF 28.

Orlando is a bit better with all of the major networks on UHF with the exception of NBC 11.

I have no answers regarding mounting an actual antenna onto a semi-portable television. Depending on your location, you might need more precise positioning of the antenna in order to receive certain channels. The farther you are away from the signals, the more accurate the pointing of the antenna needs to be. I have certain Orlando stations that demand precise aiming or they're just not there at all. A couple of millimeters one way or the other can nuke the signal at our TV,

 

Try searching at Amazon for "telescoping antenna F". There were several, and one was $6.99 with free shipping (Prime). Again, not ideal for TV, but I've received UHF and VHF on literally just a 15" piece of 22 gauge wire shoved into the F connector on a television. It might be worth checking to see if the F connector on your TV is recessed; that might limit whether a right angle antenna could ever be vertical.

EDIT: Again, these are not ideal for TV applications, but if you've got plenty of signal it might be sufficient for some stations and save some grief as far as mounting.