RCA Signal Finder

My antenna was taken down when my roof was replaced. I climbed my roof many times and tried directing the antenna every which way with poor results. I was at my wits end when I found a reference to this app in a blog. The app turns your smartphone into a compass and helps you orient the antenna like a pro would. Best of all is free and all it needs is your address. One critical fact you need to find out is what side of the antenna is considered the front as that is what need to face the direction that the app provides. This app saved me hundreds of dollars as was considering buying a larger antenna. Try this app first! :-)

It’s easy to use, but it’s not too handy unless your geography knowledge is so poor you don’t even know where you are; if you have even a vague idea of what state you’re in and where a city big enough to have TV stations is, you don’t need this. It’s nice not to have to enter details into the app other than your address, so there’s no need to look for confusing device specifics. The map is fun to watch and has satellite and hybrid options. It’s unclear if the app keeps and monetizes your information. In the help section, it’s irritating to see that a professional company doesn’t know the difference between “to lay” and “to lie” or between “was” and “were,” as in this example: “...with phone flat in front of you as if it was laying on a table.” While the map is fun, it’s not a really useful tool, and the bad grammar is cringe-worthy.

First, the app performed as advertised... to an extent. Here are the drawbacks I found: -It left out some stations I know are out there -The call letters and not the channel are listed. If you want to know the channel, you’ll need to go to the station’s website. The relative signal strength is listed in decibels (db). Unfortunately, the app doesn’t explain the the more negative a signal is, the weaker it is. (A -20db signal is weaker than a -10db signal. Also, the measurements are logarithmic.... -20db is NOT half as strong as -10db.) -You are asked to enter a complete address, which could be sold to junk mailers. I put in an address of a nearby government building. On the positive side, the app did not ask for any kind of model number to be entered. If the app Dev would update the database and include channel numbers, and get rid of the address requirement, this would be really good app.