Typically, that means that a bigger antenna is needed. Sometimes a TV channel has great reception and yet other times, you try shifting the antenna a little bit or even moving the coax cable. Maybe a new antenna would give better reception, but that can be a gamble since not all antennas provide the same performance.
You may remember the days when "rabbit ears" were on top of TVs or seen old photos of TVs with rabbit ear antennas. Sometimes folks would put a little aluminum foil on the antenna to improve reception.
Well, you can do something similar with a Mohu Leaf antenna to improve reception but instead of attaching aluminum foil to the antenna, you make a reflector.
I scrounged around and found a piece of compressed cardboard that was just a little larger than my antenna. Corrugated plastic, or presentation board would also work since it just needs to be stiff.
I had a metal template for spreading solder paste that was no longer needed that was just the right size. My metal sheet was four inches wider than the antenna and close to the same height. I centered the antenna on the metal and bent each side of the metal to a 45 degree angle or so.
If you don't happen to have an unused metal soldering template laying around then you can use any thin metal, even heavy duty aluminum foil will work. If you use window screen material, make sure that it is actually metal. Do not use chicken wire since the large spaces offer less reflection area.
After bending the metal, I used double-stick tape to secure the metal to the cardboard. Next, I punched two screw holes through the metal and cardboard that aligned with the two holes on the antenna. I guessed on the location of the third and fourth hole and just made sure that the would be under the opposite edge of the antenna.
The most important part of this antenna modification is the distance from the reflector to the antenna. Two inches provided the best results for me. Depending on the channels that are weakest in your area, you may want to adjust the distance slightly. More distance will improve reception for lower frequencies while shorter distance will improve reception for higher frequencies.
I 3d printed two inch standoffs but you could just as easily use wooden dowel or other non-metal materials. For the area of the antenna with no screw holes, I created a standoff with a lip to hold the edge of the antenna. Although it may be tempting, do not pierce the antenna!
So the real question is performance. Even if the mod was free, it's useless if there's no increase in performance.
I used a TiVo OTA unit to check the difference in antenna performance. It's not scientific or even in decibels, but it will display antenna signal percentage, which we can compare.
The weakest channel that I could receive measured 35% before the reflector and 60% after the reflector. I can now reliably receive that channel without screen garbling randomly.
Every other channel showed an increase of at least 15% with the stronger channels increasing by 25%. I used to loose some channels at night as their signal was weaker at night, but that is no longer an issue.
Even if you have to buy everything, it should be possible to make this reflector and improve your reception for only a few dollars.
