Aerial question (I think)
Discussion
Octogenarian MIL has recently started having a problem with poor reception on ITV & 5
Not too bad in the afternoons but very poor in the evenings when watching her soaps.
She lives in a block of flats sharing an aerial with booster, it's divided into 3 blocks of 6.
She's had a word with a couple of other residents, some are also having problems and some are ok.
I went round and retuned her TV no real change, I noticed when I was tuning it signal strength was @ 10, but this was during the afternoon, not many people at home.
Could this be an aerial/booster problem? She's not keen on calling the managing agents unless she's confident it's their problem.
Not too bad in the afternoons but very poor in the evenings when watching her soaps.
She lives in a block of flats sharing an aerial with booster, it's divided into 3 blocks of 6.
She's had a word with a couple of other residents, some are also having problems and some are ok.
I went round and retuned her TV no real change, I noticed when I was tuning it signal strength was @ 10, but this was during the afternoon, not many people at home.
Could this be an aerial/booster problem? She's not keen on calling the managing agents unless she's confident it's their problem.
Certainly shouldn't see any change in signal strength based on the number of people watching TV of the shared system. I guess there's a chance that somebodys TV could be putting noise back into the system when it's on and could therefore degrade the picture for others but it's unlikely.
If the signal strength is at 10 there is a chance that the signal is too strong and therefore saturating the receiver within the television. You could try adding an attenuator to reduce the signal level and see if that helps. Ideally this would be sorted out at the distribution system by reducing the gain but it's probably not possible to do that.
Problem is after the digital switch over they were able to increase the power on the transmitters, great for those in areas of sketchy reception prior to the switch and required for HD but if you already lived close to a transmitter you may now be getting too much signal strength. This causes problems is much the same way as a weak signal would.
If the signal strength is at 10 there is a chance that the signal is too strong and therefore saturating the receiver within the television. You could try adding an attenuator to reduce the signal level and see if that helps. Ideally this would be sorted out at the distribution system by reducing the gain but it's probably not possible to do that.
Problem is after the digital switch over they were able to increase the power on the transmitters, great for those in areas of sketchy reception prior to the switch and required for HD but if you already lived close to a transmitter you may now be getting too much signal strength. This causes problems is much the same way as a weak signal would.
You could be getting a Weaker signal on that Multiplex which is NOT your local ITV station. I get it on an aerial that can pick up channels on vertical and horizontal elements of the aerial. To summarise to stop this happening normally, close transmission aerials transmit so that one is picked up by aerials with horizontal "prongs" and the other vertical. If the further away is lower down the frequency band some TV's and boxes place them in the EPG where the real local ones go. In our case Belmont has the BBC at channel 22 and Emley Moor has them at CH47. The Latest boxes/tv's allow me to choose which to make the Main Channels. The Panasonic Plasma does not so I plug in a Attenuator which cuts out low signals. In the past I have had to manually move them around as they then appear as "800" channels further down the list. Hop that helps.
Okay thanks, I've just been round to have another look.
Most channels signal strength good
Some channels signal quality poor (these are the ones that break up and pixelate)
Some channels signal strength and quality poor.
Panasonic TV and a Panasonic DVR/DVD box both the same.
Is it worth trying an attenuator?
I can get to a Maplins I see they do 6db, 12db or variable, which one?
Most channels signal strength good
Some channels signal quality poor (these are the ones that break up and pixelate)
Some channels signal strength and quality poor.
Panasonic TV and a Panasonic DVR/DVD box both the same.
Is it worth trying an attenuator?
I can get to a Maplins I see they do 6db, 12db or variable, which one?
Edited by PositronicRay on Thursday 6th October 15:32
BBC's ok and and the signal strength is 10.
I've purchased one of these signal attenuator jobbies. Seems much better, TV's okay, although DVR sometimes breaks up, the DVR is quite old and picture quality not brilliant anyway.
I purchased a variable attenuator and set the signal strength to around 9.
Thanks for your help chaps.
I've purchased one of these signal attenuator jobbies. Seems much better, TV's okay, although DVR sometimes breaks up, the DVR is quite old and picture quality not brilliant anyway.
I purchased a variable attenuator and set the signal strength to around 9.
Thanks for your help chaps.
outnumbered said:
Still getting interference, and it seems she did get a card (about the same time as the problem started) but chucked it.I'll give them a call in the morning.
What transmitter are you on? Put your postcode in http://www.digitaluk.co.uk and tick detailed view, this will give you the transmitter and channels you'll be on.
Unless your up near Channel 60 I doubt 4G will be the issue. Unless there is a cell very close by.
Unless your up near Channel 60 I doubt 4G will be the issue. Unless there is a cell very close by.
OldGermanHeaps said:
4g masts nearby can overdrive the distribution amp causing a poorer signal to noise ratio across the whole range, it needs filtered before the preamp or ideally a 21-60 aerial fitted instead of a 21-69
Thanks, they sent out a filter to plug into the TV, it's improved things a little. I'll call them in morning and arrange an for engineer to come out. It could be that the amplifier has gone faulty and adding a lot of noise into the system.
We get them dying on a Knightsbridge apartment block, where they go noisy before giving up, so the levels on TV look good and strong but actually the noise they are also generating makes it a lot harder for the TV to decypher the channel.
V.
We get them dying on a Knightsbridge apartment block, where they go noisy before giving up, so the levels on TV look good and strong but actually the noise they are also generating makes it a lot harder for the TV to decypher the channel.
V.
es draws. outnumbered said:
Thank you Out, engineer out yesterday, filter fitted to the aerial amp. MIL happy, soaps watched without interruption. 
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