Todays Show:

MOHU Paper Thin HDTV Antenna

We've been talking about cutting the cord quite a bit lately. One of the primary components required is a TV antenna so you can pick up all the free digital goodness flying through the airways. If you are those lucky enough to live within 30 miles of your TV Transmitters then we have discovered probably the best thing you'll ever plug into your HDTV. Its the paper thin HDTV antenna made by MOHU and it goes for $44 (Buy Now) and its made in the USA.
The Mohu antenna looks like a lamented piece of paper with cable connected to it.


It is designed for indoor use only. If you use it outdoors it will eventually deteriorate.

Specifications:

  • Dimensions 9 X 11.5 (inches)
  • Cable Length 6 feet
  • Connector 75 ohm F connector
  • Pattern omnidirectional reception

Since the HT Guys live about 70 miles away from the TV towers for Los Angeles our tests we performed in Fresno CA. Ara's in-laws live 20 miles from the TV towers which is right in the sweet spot of the antenna's performance range.

Performance

We placed the antenna high on the wall behind the TV and then we connected the cable to the TVs antenna jack and hit scan.


The scan took about three minutes and found more than 50 digital channels.

It even found 6 analog channels which surprised us.

According to the MOHU instructions the antenna needs to be positioned with the cable pointing towards the floor. We found that this was the optimal as far as number of channels it could receive. However since Ara's in-laws didn't want the antenna hanging on the wall he simply threw it behind the TV and hoped for the best.


As it turns out, most of the channels still came through. Now Ara can watch football in HD when he visits his family.

Stress Test

For fun we did try to see if we could pick up any signals from our homes in South Orange County. We didn't have high hopes so we weren't disappointed when we only got one channel and that was from San Diego.

Conclusion

We have tested plenty of antennas, both indoor and outdoor, in our six years of doing this show. Many have made claims of being the best. Let the HT Guys be the first to tell you that the MOHU Paper Thin Leaf HDTV antenna is THE best indoor antenna we have tested!

 

Download Episode #489