One For All SV 9390 Full HD Indoor Antenna review

Despite the name of this indoor antenna, there’s no such thing as an HD aerial. Put simply, aerials for TV reception are designed to pick up a specific range of frequencies, namely those in the Ultra High Frequency, the Very High Frequency range or both.

All TV broadcasts – both digital and analogue – are transmitted in the UHF or VHF ranges, and the aerial receives those frequencies. The aerial knows nothing about the format of the broadcast – whether analogue or digital – nor its resolution (either HD or SD for digital).

One For All’s amplified indoor aerial, then, is no more an ‘HD’ aerial than any other. Importantly, it claims to be able to receive signals from transmitters up to 18 miles away. Slightly larger than a placemat, it has ‘360 degree multi patch’ technology which supposedly means you don’t have to point it in a particular direction. It can be wall-mounted, laid flat, or positioned vertically on the included feet. It also has a separate touch-sensitive amplifier for up to 43dB gain.

Unfortunately, in our tests (with a distance of around 9 miles to the transmitter, and in a location on top of a hill) we found that reception did depend on the orientation of the aerial. We were also disappointed that it only picked up 35 channels, compared with the 70-odd we achieved with a basic £20 roof aerial. The SV 9390 – rather ironically – failed to detect the Freeview HD channels when automatically searching for channels on our set-top box.

The bottom line is that if you need an indoor aerial, our advice is to buy from a retailer that will accept returns after you’ve tried it out. If it can receive all Freeview channels in your location, it’s a fine buy, but if not, it should be avoided.