OTA TV signal fades 50 min into program

[TBDonnelly]

I asked my antenna questions here:

Antenna Talk • HDTV Labs Forum

I followed their Antenna Guru's(screen name:tigerbangs) recommendation with great results.

I bought from Solidsignal.com. They are within driving distance of my place. I went and picked up the antenna I had purchased. The Solidsignal warehouse was nice, clean organized and appeared to be well stocked.

Don

 

[charlz]

Charlz,
Yes I am aware of the govt sale of the analog bandwidth. I imagine a lobby campaign to rival the pharmaceuticals and much graft was in play.

Not to sidetrack your thread but right on que:

Cell phone mania forces scramble for more airwaves - Yahoo! News

The cell phone companies are 'scared' that 'we' are going to run out of available spectrum Time for congress to put on their super-suits and 'rescue' us

 

[jinman]

Are there any other antennas in your area that could be transmitting info hourly and causing the noise level in the background to rise? Especially on weak signals, the background noise can cause auto-gain control to bring noise up to higher levels. Your converter box has signal level displays and you may be able to see if the signal seems to fade or if there is a sudden drop. Contacting the TV station gurus might be your best first step in finding the problem. They could tell you for sure if they modify their signal for any reason on an hourly basis.

 

[Skyco]

Your converter box has signal level displays and you may be able to see if the signal seems to fade or if there is a sudden drop.

Neither my convertor boxes, Magnovox IIRC, nor the Vizio LCD tv I recently purchased have any signal strength indications. IMO that really stinks. As we know digital can be "perfect" but on the edge of the antenna pattern meaning a slight degradation destroys the picture. Sure wish I could peak my antenna so it would tolerate fade better....good enough can be far from best but one can't tell by looking at the picture!

 

[RedDirt]

jinman,
Hourly interference is something we have suspected but have not known where to go to find if this is indeed the case. Everyone I know and all my neighbors have satellite TV so there is no reference point for local info. or comparison. (I do find it amazing that even the public assistance and low income families all have satellite TV (no cable here)...I'm a working stiff and prefer to spend my earned dollars elsewhere...(property, tractor stuff, shop equip)...health insurance...so WE can afford to insure them!).

Checking the local broadcast stations would be a good place to start. Thanks for the tip.

 

[tanglefoot]

My signal strength here in northeast Texas varies from day to day, but it never registers above 50%. We are 63 miles from the tower farm. Sometimes the signal shows to be 0%, but we still have two or three channels that come in. I suspect that the TV stations are using a lot less power to transmit their signals than they did with analog.
Butch

 

[winston1]

I'm a long ways off in East Texas but also have a little of your problem. I have a small (22") dish type antenna mounted on about a 35' mast. This antenna has a built in rotor. The direction is very important with it. In certain weather I can pick up Dallas stations which is around 120 miles as the crow flies. Normal stations we watch vary from 30 miles to 70 miles as the crow flies. Even some of these stations will cut out on me at times. I can normally regain them with the directional control. It seems digital signals are good pictures or "no" pictures. This antenna also has a booster built in it. Worst feature of the antenna is the directional controller doesn't let you know what direction you are pointing. It just has limit arrows that let you know you have gone each way to the end. I'm not advertising the antenna. I believe digital signals are helped by good antenna, booster, direction control, closeness to signal. Don't believe there is anything out there to help with atmospheric conditions. Hope you find a way to improve your reception, Winston

 

[jinman]

Neither my convertor boxes, Magnovox IIRC, nor the Vizio LCD tv I recently purchased have any signal strength indications. IMO that really stinks. As we know digital can be "perfect" but on the edge of the antenna pattern meaning a slight degradation destroys the picture. Sure wish I could peak my antenna so it would tolerate fade better....good enough can be far from best but one can't tell by looking at the picture!

I guess I made a wrong assumption. I bought my converter box at Radio Shack and it has a beautiful signal strength display that you can easily access with the remote. My Samsung digital TV also has a similar built-in display. However, I set up a new Sony Bravia for my in-laws last night and didn't notice that same type of display. It may have it, but I didn't see it. They sure are handy to give you a reference for how strong the signals are.

 

[RavensRoost]

To the OP:
I bet the tuner in the digital TV has more sensitivity than one in outboard converter feeding an analog TV. Borrow a digital TV with onboard tuner that is small enough to carry and try at your place?

Does not really explain the near-hourly issues you describe, but as digital is an all or nothing deal, signal strength is key. Plus, digital TV with onboard tuner makes it easy to check signal strength.

RavensRoost

 

[Highbeam]

Sounds like the preamp, the second one due to a faulty first, is getting hot and conking out. Once it cools, it works again?