Televes Ellipse Mix review: A great small outdoor TV antenna

$169.95

The Televes Ellipse Mix is a good external antenna for anyone in an area with medium-strength or greater TV signals. In our tests, it delivered a stable signal that was good for its size. It's also designed to be responsive over the smaller UHF TV band that has recently come into use, and it helps reject local 5G signals that might interfere with your reception.

If you already have an antenna or are making the jump to free TV, an outdoor antenna is the way to go. You’ll get a better signal and likely receive more channels with an antenna mounted outside versus one installed inside your home.

The Ellipse Mix should be on your shortlist when shopping. Depending on your area, it will work great at bringing in local TV channels. Its smaller size also means it can be easily mounted on a balcony or on the side of house, which might save you the risk of clambering around your roof.

This review is part of TechHive's in-depth coverage of the best TV antennas.

The Televes Ellipse Mix has an onboard filter to block interference from 5G signals.

Martyn Williams/Foundry

This antenna is designed to work over RF channels 7 through 36, which is the high-VHF band and the remaining portion of the UHF band used for TV broadcasting.

TV stations recently concluded a years-long shuffle of frequencies so some former broadcasting channels could be used for 5G wireless service. If you live near a 5G cell tower, it could interfere with your reception, especially if you have an older antenna that picks up and boosts those signals. The Ellipse Mix reception falls off after channel 36, reducing the impact of 5G signals.

This antenna will not work well on low-VHF channels, but those aren't used by major stations in most TV markets. To check the situation where you live, head over to the Rabbit Ears website, find your city, and check the "physical channel." This is the channel the TV station now broadcasts on and isn't necessarily the number the stations announces on air.

Televes antennas have a unique design with three sets of director elements in the front half of the antenna. These help focus the antenna on signals coming from the space in front of the antenna and are part of the reason these antennas do so well in our tests.

A signal amplifier built into the antenna itself is another reason for their good performance. Locating the amplifier in the antenna, rather than in the house, is a smart choice because it boosts signals collected by the antenna before they can be affected by the coaxial cable run to your TV.

Televes antennas have a unique design with three sets of director elements in the front half of the antenna.

Martyn Williams/Foundry

The Ellipse Max performed surprisingly well for its size. We tested it alongside the much larger Televes Dat Boss LR Mix and it performed almost as well on strong and medium strength signals.

Major local stations in the Washington DC market and distant stations from Baltimore both came in well with stable signals. Compared to the larger Dat Boss LR Mix, however, distant signals were not quite as strong, but its performance was good enough under normal conditions. The Ellipse Mix failed to pull in a couple of low-power stations that the larger antenna received, but that's a tradeoff for its smaller size.

If you’re looking for a less visually obtrusive outdoor TV antenna, the Ellipse Mix should do the job—provided you live in an area with good to medium-strength signals to begin with. If you’re far from a broadcast tower and are battling weak signals as a result, try the pricier Dat Boss LR Mix.

The Televes Ellipse Mix comes disassembled, but it's easy to put together before you mount it.

Martyn Williams/Foundry

The Ellipse Mix comes disassembled in a box, but it's not difficult to put together. Televes says it takes 60 seconds, and while that might be true if you know what you’re doing, budget a few more minutes for the task. Most of the parts snap into place or are secured with bolts.

The amplifier comes with an indoor power supply. That's not an option, so be sure there's an electrical outlet somewhere along the path of the coax cable coming from the antenna. The amplifier has dual outlets, allowing you to connect a second TV if you’re so inclined.

With a street price around $170, the Televes Ellipse Mix won't save you a lot of cash compared to the larger and more powerful Dat Bos Mix LR. Its main attraction, therefore, is its smaller size and weight. It won't be as much of a visual distraction when mounted on your roof, and you’ll have the option of installing it in locations where the larger aerial can't go. If those size and aesthetic issues are relevant to you, the Ellipse Mix is a very good value.

Martyn Williams produces technology news and product reviews in text and video for PCWorld, Macworld, and TechHive from his home outside Washington D.C.. He previously worked for IDG News Service as a correspondent in San Francisco and Tokyo and has reported on technology news from across Asia and Europe.