RGTech Monarch 50 Indoor Freeview HDTV Aerial - Transparent

Like a lot of other people, I did not have much confidence in the idea of an indoor aerial, having memories of what they were like years ago. I remembered standing next to the television holding an old-style aerial high and trying to angle it so that it would work, boosted by the electricity in my own body. Forget all that! I set this one up easily and let the automatic tuner on the television run. It found 69 channels, all of which had an amazingly good picture. I did not have to take it to different positions in the room or even turn it at different angles. It just worked! I have it tucked fairly neatly just behind the television, on its stand. There are adhesive dots on it to fasten it to the window and the advice is to use it next to a window and facing the transmitter. I haven't a clue which way that is! Mine is sitting on a cupboard opposite the window. No doubt the distance to the transmitter makes a difference and (I think) ours are not more than twenty miles away. Anyway, for the price, this is a great piece of technology. It is very light and only time will tell whether it is fragile. However, I did drop it once while setting it up and it came apart from its stand a couple of times while I was fiddling about while setting up, with no noticeable damage. The stand is, however, a loose fit and not tremendously stable. It does stand up well in its present position, though. I have a lot of loose cable to hide because of its length, and it would, to me, be intrusive if I had to extend it across the room. However, this is a small problem and no doubt some people need that length of cable.As others have noted, this is a thin and flexible item with little noticeable weight, maybe like thin card. It seems unlikely that it would work or last, but it appears to do both. Excellent!

This is a tale of two parts......I recently moved into a rented ground floor property, directly opposite a school. I was disappointed to realise that the landlord had not installed a fixed exterior aerial.When checking my postcode online it shows that the TV mast that I'm likely to connect to is 37km/22 miles away so I decided to give this aerial a try.1. I ordered it in May, connected it, put it in the stand on the window sill and tuned my TV. I got decent reception however I quickly discovered that traffic could cause interference and, living opposite a school, this normally quiet cul-de-sac turns into whacky races! I used the adhesive pads to stick the aerial as high as possible on the window and problem solved. No interference although signal was low on a couple of channels but I was happy to accept that.2. A few days ago new windows were installed in the property. This is when the real problems started. If I stuck the aerial to the very top, right hand corner of the window I was only getting about 50% of the channels I did prior to the new windows. In any other location directly on the window I was getting 0 channels. If I put the aerial in the stand and positioned it on the windowsill I could get 70% however the slightest thing would cause interference, from traffic to my neighbour upstairs returning home. Not ideal so I contacted Monarch directly.They replied very promptly suggesting that the issue could either be caused byaluminium casings contained within the new window frames and/or a reflective coating on the window panes preventing the aerial picking up a signal. They suggested that I try to, as accurately as possible, position the aerial in the direction of the mast (if you're unsure have a look at the direction other people have their roof aerials pointing and try to mimic) and place it as high as possible but away from the window.I 100% admit I was dubious however I had nothing to lose so I got my ladders and stuck the aerial onto the wall, just below the ceiling, and I retuned my TV. Incredibly I now have full channel listing, an improved signal strength on all channels, HD and standard, than before plus I actually prefer the aerial on the wall as opposed to the window as the white cable is now less obvious.I highly recommend this piece of kit - it's amazing value and great customer service from Monarch. I would also strongly urge anyone who finds they're either only finding a few channels, are getting poor reception/interference or in fact 0 channels to try and position the aerial away from their windows.

Ordered this as a quick solution to get a Freeview signal after our Freesat box gave up on us. Just wanted a low cost, easy to fit aerial that would allow us to get the basic channels.Initially struggled to get a signal despite only being 13miles from the transmitter but with a coaxial extension lead and a signal booster/amplifier that I already had, I managed to pick up a decent reception from the window on the far side of the room. Had previously tried other aerials that failed to get anything at all.You will likely have to try a number of different locations to get the best reception. Initially, rather than stick it to the window with the sticky tabs provided, just use a short strip of tape for a temporary fix. Then use the sticky tabs once you've found the best location. Also be careful to make sure you try the aerial in both horizontal and vertical positions as which of the two positions works will depend on your transmitter. Try to avoid putting it too close to the window frame as any metal elements in the frame could disrupt the signal.It found 137 Freeview channels including the HD versions of BBC, ITV, Ch4, Ch5 etc. I think the signal would have been better if I didn't need to use a 15m extension lead in addition to the already generous built in lead. For neatness I ended up having to route the cable all the way around the back of the room to get from the window to the the TV on the opposite side. For some reason I could not get a signal from the window on the other side of the room despite it facing the same direction.Overall pretty happy with this. We have a decent TV reception without much cost or hassle. It also looks pretty unobtrusive on the window.