IIRC, you cannot have the signal strength meter displayed while the antenna is doing it's search.
Also, the setting in the receiver can be critical to the success of the search. Go into the receiver setup menu and ensure the receiver is set to 18" round and Multi-Switch. I don't care what you have read elsewhere, those are the settings that will make your antenna work properly assuming the receiver is activated and has been on line and watching DTV recently.