How to Set up an External Antenna

November 13th, 2018

Here is a quick video on how you can connect set up an External Antenna to your TCL Roku TV. You can also refer to the step-by-step instructions below.

1. Connect a 75-ohm coaxial cable (not provided) from the device to the ANT/CABLE input on the TV.

Tip: If you are using an antenna with a 300 ohm twin-lead cable, you need to use a 300-75 ohm adapter (not provided) to adapt the cable to a connection that is compatible with the TV’s antenna input.

2. Make sure the TV is plugged into a power outlet and the power button is turned ON.

Tip: The first time you select the antenna TV tile, you have to set up the TV tuner. Setting up the TV tuner scans for active channels and adds them to your broadcast TV channel list. When you set up antenna TV, the TV scans the signals on its antenna input for channels with a good signal, and adds those to the channel list, skipping dead channels and channels with a very weak signal.

3. On the home screen, select the antenna TV tile.

4. Read the simple on-screen instructions and select start setup.

5. If prompted, select your time zone. You’ll only need to do this if the TV can’t figure out your time zone from your internet connection.

6. When prompted, select whether to add analog channels 3 and 4 (to enable you to connect older set top boxes, VCRs, or game consoles).

7. Wait while your TV scans for broadcast (antenna TV) stations...

Tip: Cable TV channels are channels from a cable TV provider that you can receive by connecting their cable directly to your TV (unscrambled NTSC, ATSC, and QAM channels, if you’re the kind of person who is interested in the details). In many cases, your cable provider probably requires you to use their set-top box and connect it to a different input, and then use the set-top box to tune your cable stations. In that case, you can skip scanning for cable channels.

8. When the channel scans finish, the TV shows the number of channels it added.

Scanning for channels can take several minutes.

Tip: Repeat the channel scan from time to time to make sure you are receiving all of the latest channels. Broadcasters add and remove channels, move channels to different parts of the spectrum, and change the power levels of their channels periodically.

Note: You’ll have to repeat the channel scan if you remove the Antenna TV tile from the home screen or perform a factory reset. To repeat the channel scan at any time, go to settings > TV inputs > antenna TV > scan again for channels. Your antenna reception and picture quality depend on the position of your antenna and on your location relative to the antennas of broadcasters in your area.

Now, you’re ready to watch broadcast TV!

Tip: While you’re watching, try the following:

Press (up button) or (down button) to change channels.
Press (left button) to display the channel list and then use (up button) and (down button) to select a channel to watch. Or press (rewind button) or (fast forward button) to jump through the channel list a page at a time.