If you are using a coaxial connection directly from the wall to the cable box, ensure the cable is tightly and securely screwed into both the box and the wall. Ensure the television is tuned to channel 3 or 4 to receive the stations. In order for your TV to find any stations, you must first be using the TV’s tuner and not a cable box. I've just tried to tune in a new Samsung TV in a room on the ground floor of my house but it's not picking up any BBC channels at all, radio or TV. HD channels seem to be missing as well. I'm in Edinburgh and the BBC channels should be on 27 and the HD ones on 21. Even a manual scan won't pick them up: it comes up with nothing on those. Hi, My TH-42PZ700A will not auto tune to locate Channel 90HD and also channel 78 (racing). My other HD TV (LG) does auto tune and find both these channels so presumably my antenna is okay. All other D read more.

So you’ve got your antenna setup and plugged into the back of your television set only to find your auto scan not finding channels, or at least the channels you were expecting. If this is happening to you keep reading! In this article we are going to take a look at what the likely causes of this could be.

Why Is Auto Scan Not Finding Channels?

There could be several reasons why your auto scan is not finding channels. To start, let’s make sure that you are selecting the right input mode on your television set.

Typically, this will be found under your Menu –> Channels –> Auto Scan. Of course not all television set manufacture menus are the same, so yours may vary from this slightly. You can see in the image below that my TV refers to it as “Auto Channel Search”. If yours is called something different, simply consult your user manual to see the steps your are supposed to take to get here.

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Once you’re in the “Auto Scan” menu there should be an option to select either “Cable” or “Antenna”. Unlock iphone free download. Be sure you are choosing “Antenna” or some variation of this ( I have seen it listed as DTV). This will start the Auto Scan procedure.

If after the scanning process is complete your television auto scan not finding channels persists, it’s time to start troubleshooting. Here are some things we are going to need to check:

Your TV Tuner is functional – it may be helpful to try a different TV if this is an option to ensure your TV’s digital tuner card is not the issue. This is as simple as plugging your coax cable into a different TV and running the auto scan on that.
Your antenna cabling is not faulty – we need to make sure that you are getting a signal out of your coax cable. More on this later.
Your antenna is properly aligned – obviously we will need to make sure your antenna is pointing in the direction of the broadcast towers in your area. Below will be some helpful tips to ensure this is the case.
Your antenna has sufficient range – this is going to be another important piece of the puzzle to ensure you are able to pull in the appropriate over-the-air (OTA) signals in your area.
Ensure proper noise mitigation – A noise margin greater than 0 is required at your tuner to display a channel on your TV set.

Let’s look a little closer at each one of these items to try to figure out why your auto scan not finding channels.

Check If You TV Tuner Is Functional

The first thing we should probably try to diagnose is whether your television sets TV Tuner is functioning. I should point out that if your television was made before 2009 it likely has an analog tuner in it. If so this is likely the reason for your television auto scan not finding channels.

If indeed your TV is pre-2009, you are going to need a converter box such as this inexpensive iDOO ATSC Analog-Digital Converter Box on Amazon. With this box you can conveniently convert the over-the-air (OTA) digital broadcast received from your antenna (not included) to your analog TV, digital TV, projector, computer monitor, smart TV, HDTV, LED TV, LCD monitor,etc.

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Okay, assuming your television set was made in the last 10 years or so, you should have a digital tuner installed in your TV. That means it’s time to try something else. As mentioned, probably the easiest thing to try is to plug in the coax cable coming from your antenna into a different TV. Admittedly, this can be easier said than done, however, you can split your antenna signal using an Antenna TV Splitter to a room where you have another TV to try.

If plugging your antenna’s coax into another TV is not an option for you then you may want to look at investing in the KING SL1000 SureLock TV Antenna Signal Meter. This meter offers a fool-proof way to locate the strongest available TV signal(s) no matter where you are. If your TV antenna can receive the signal, the SureLock SL1000 can help you point your antenna to maximize it!

Check Your Antenna Cable Is Not Faulty

If the signal meter above is a little out of your price range or you happen to have a digital multi-meter hanging around your house, you can use it to check to see if you have a signal. Let’s do a check to ensure this is not the reason for your television auto scan not finding channels.

Just like any radio transmission your digital antenna receives radio signals that is transmitted via small electrical impulses to your television tuner. This means that you can use an electrical multi-meter to test whether or not a signal is traveling down your coax cable. If there is a problem with your cabling, such as a cut or short in the wire, this will cause the signal to be disrupted. Download city maps for minecraft 1.12.2.

In addition, if the antenna is not properly grounded, the signal can pick up interference from the electrical potential of the antenna itself. If you are interested in How To Properly Ground A TV Antenna, be sure to check out the article.

Let’s perform a couple of checks using your digital multi-meter to ensure your coax cable is good.

Set your multi-meter to measure ohms, which is represented by the “Ω” symbol.
Remove the antenna cable from your television set.
Touch one lead of the multi-meter to the metal part of the connector and touch the other lead to the metal “core” or “stinger”. The ohm reading should be infinite.
Now short one end of your antenna cables metal “core” or “stinger” to the coax connector. On the “un-shorted” end touch one lead on the “stinger” and the other lead on the coax connector. The ohm reading should be zero.

Rather see it in a video. Check out the YouTube video below that will walk you through how to test your antenna coax cable.

Make Sure Your Antenna Is Properly Aligned

Direction, direction, direction! Perhaps one of the most important aspects of any antenna installation. This could be the reason your television auto scan not finding channels. What you need to do is figure out which channels are available to you and in which direction the TV broadcast towers are located. You can use an online location tool such as TVFool.com or check out our very own TV Station Locator page.

This YouTube video will walk you through everything you need to know when using our tool. It will show you how to find TV stations available in your area and in which direction the TV towers are located.

You will need a compass or at least a smart-phone compass app. Once you use our TV Station Locator tool and have your bearings, head to your antenna and rotate it so it is aligned in the direction of your broadcast towers. If your antenna is on a roof you may want to have someone at your TV end to help with the fine tuning.

Alternatively, if you’ve been reading other articles on this site you will know that must “cord-cutting” enthusiasts rarely bring their antenna signal directly into their television set. Rather, they stream their antenna signals indirectly to their smart TVs, tablets, ph