TV Antenna Compass USA

TV Antenna Compass USA is a compass app (for iPhone only) designed to help users in the United States point outdoor TV antennas. The app requires the user to enter a US address. Once the address is entered and the search button selected, the app will then analyze the address and display a tower map along with an antenna pointer icon overlaid on the map and a compass heading of the phone in the bottom banner.

Also, in the banner, there is a hamburger menu icon (three lines) that will expand a menu tree which will include options to view a list of channels and broadcast tower info, predicted signal strengths of each channel, a compass heading in degrees of each channel, along with the distance from the entered address to the broadcast tower.

If you already know the magnetic compass heading that you need to point your antenna, you can simply enter the address and use the compass to point your antenna by aligning the front of your iPhone with the front of your antenna. You will want to keep the phone at least 12" away from the antenna itself because the metal components can cause interference with the phone's internal compass.

If you do not already know the magnetic direction to point your antenna, you can view the channel and tower info located in the menu to see a list of the magnetic directions for each channel and use this info when on the map screen. Most outdoor antennas are directional, which means that you will need to find all of the major broadcast towers located in the same general vicinity and point your antenna in the direction of the weakest channels.

If you are in an area that has broadcast towers in multiple directions and you are using a directional antenna, you will want to choose the location with the best signal strength on all of the major broadcast networks and not expect to receive the channels in the other directions. If you wish to receive channels from multiple directions, you can consider an omni-directional antenna (this type of antenna will not provide as strong of a signal as a directional antenna in any one given direction) or you can consider using an antenna rotator which will allow you to point your antenna in different directions as needed. The last option would be to try combining multiple antennas pointed in different directions (combining antennas can be very difficult to achieve the desired results and sometimes it may just not be possible depending on the location and signal strengths).

The good news is that most locations in the US have all of the major broadcast network towers (ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS, NBC) located in one general area, making it easy for anyone to receive all of these channels with a good directional antenna. The app's reception predictions assume the use of an outdoor directional antenna installed at 15-20' above ground level to put it above interference from surrounding structures. The app's recommendations and predicted signal strengths are not relevant for indoor antennas and antennas installed inside an attic.

The TV Antenna Compass USA app can be a good resource for pointing an outdoor TV antenna, but it's important to remember that the predictions of this app are typically conservative, and more channels or higher signal strengths may be received. In some instances, there may be environmental or geographical conditions not considered by the app, which may lead to the data being inaccurate. In most cases, the data presented will be very close to accurate, but it is still suggested that the data be used as a general estimate only, as there are too many variables that can have an impact on actual signal strengths and channels predicted to be available.