Subject: DTV Reception Problems (1/2)
Well, old mail I created and somehow got back in a mailburp this
morning. I've added some comments at the end.
-=> BARRY MARTIN wrote to ALL <=-
BM> Hi Folks!
BM> Awfully quiet around here! Hope someone is around who can either
BM> give me an answer or point me in the right direction.
BM> Attempting to switch over from basic cable to OTA (over the air) television
BM> reception. The big problem is the signal strength is constantly
BM> fluctuating, not just some, but some stations have
BM> such a huge fluctuation they go from an almost "Good" signal
BM> strength to "Bad" and pixelate or drop out completely. (S-meter
BM> built into the TV or Converter Box, depending on the set.)
BM> Have a amplified omnidirectional antenna mounted about as high as
BM> I can get it inside the storage area (~25' above street level,
BM> and the neighbourhood sits on a roughly 50' bluff. There are
BM> trees around the house -- repositioning the antenna helped a
BM> little bit - maybe.
BM> Adding a passive antenna helped -- using an old Radio Shack
BM> splitter/combiner. (Says so on the case.)
BM> The data on the local stations:
Note: some of the technical data has changed; I didn't update
BM> SORTED BY
BM> Call Virtual Actual Transmitter site
BM> WHBF 4.1 4 Bettendorf No problem
BM> VHF 33.7 KW
BM> WQPT 24.1 23 Orion Occasional pixellation,
BM> UHF 80 KW some drop outs during the
BM> day.
BM> KQIN 36.1 34 Orion Frequent pixellation and
BM> UHF 250 KW drop outs.
BM> KWQC 6.1 36 Orion Rare pixellation.
BM> UHF 1,000 KW
BM> WQAD 8.1 38 Orion Infrequent to occasional
BM> UHF 1,000 KW pixellation. (2nd ant.
BM> helped.)
BM> KLJB 18.1 49 Orion Occasional to severe
BM> pixellation
BM> UHF 1,000 KW to drop out. (2nd ant.
BM> helped.)
BM> The Bettendorf Antenna Farm is about three miles from here; the
BM> Orion Antenna Farm is about 15 miles from here.
BM> Vinyl siding, no metal stacks except for a vent stack, might be
BM> some metal flashing on the lower few feet of the roof but I'm
BM> several feet above that. Traffic on the I-74 bridges??
BM> I can sort of understand having problems receiving WQPT and KQIN
BM> -- lower power but the distance isn't all that much. but KQIN is
BM> a PBS station supposed to be serving eastern Iowa -- I'm less
BM> than a mile from the boarder!
BM> KWQC, WQAD and KLJB are all essentially the same as far as
BM> transmitting characteristics: all 1 MW, same source site, same
BM> band, yet the reception is good - decent - mediocre.
BM> Any suggestions? Moving the/putting an antenna outside is pretty
BM> much going to be a "NO!", especially with the current reception
BM> issues.
BM> I'm thinking of building a folded dipole antenna (from twin lead)
BM> for KJLB and WQPT or KQIN to see what happens with a tuned
BM> (hopefully!) antenna. Might add WQAD to the mix to get an even
BM> number of elements.
I have revised and tweaked the antenna systems ==> ended up having two,
one for the Mythbuntu system I record and playback TV shows on, the
other for the Live TV to the televisions. I'm going to talk about just
the TV antenna system ans the Mythbuntu one is very similar.
Ended up with a different antenna -- AntennasDirect DB2, which is a UHF antenna.
Works fine in reveiving Ch. 4 (RF 4 - VHF) for the Mythbuntu
system but mediocre for the TV system. Not sure if because of location
---
■ ILink: The Safe BBS ■ Bettendorf, IA
■ RNET 2.10U: ILink: Techware BBS ■ Los Angeles, Ca ■ www.techware.dynip.com
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