TV Signal Breaking Up
Discussion
New aerial fitted 2 years back which looks very much like this -> https://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-27885lab-megabo...
When I went into the loft, the cable from the aerial went into a 4 way booster box. I can trace the aerial cable back to the hole in the wall, there is nothing else the cable goes into before this -> https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B077S35BB3/ref...
Lying on the insulation in the loft, doing nothing was this -> https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LGWN84Q/ref...
When I went into the loft, the cable from the aerial went into a 4 way booster box. I can trace the aerial cable back to the hole in the wall, there is nothing else the cable goes into before this -> https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B077S35BB3/ref...
Lying on the insulation in the loft, doing nothing was this -> https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LGWN84Q/ref...
Also check which transmitter you are on here http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/operations/about_the_co... click detailed view.
This will tell you which transmitter you are on and which channels are HD. You may we'll find the HD channels have moved and are lower power. It could be possible you existing aerial is no longer any good, say it is a group 'A' aerial and it now needs to be a group 'T' or 'wideband' . For example this is the case with the main London, Crystal Palace, transmitter. There is a scheme to have your aerial upgraded FOC if that is the case.
This will tell you which transmitter you are on and which channels are HD. You may we'll find the HD channels have moved and are lower power. It could be possible you existing aerial is no longer any good, say it is a group 'A' aerial and it now needs to be a group 'T' or 'wideband' . For example this is the case with the main London, Crystal Palace, transmitter. There is a scheme to have your aerial upgraded FOC if that is the case.
Ok, might have figured this out! The Youview box upstairs appears to have been auto tuning to East Midlands whereas the one downstairs has been tuning to West Midlands. I only found this out when going into some deep settings section. Oddly, despite being in the East Midlands, the signal is very poor when tuning to that transmitter, so changed to West Midlands and both downstairs and upstairs were at 100% strength, 98% quality. So I plugged in a variable gain thing and dialled it down a bit and things seem a lot better. Still the occasional dropout so might need to dial it back a bit more but too much more will result in CBeebies HD going which will annoy the kids 
Dropouts are massively less than they were though.
Dropouts are massively less than they were though.Still not got to the bottom of this, last 2 nights, just as bad with signal dropping out! I've tried everything now, attenuator appeared to work but last 2 nights it hasn't and is just as bad, no matter how strong/weak the signal was. Tried new booster, tried direct aerial to tv connection, still same problem! So I've been recommended a local guy who is going to come out and diagnose what's wrong.
Another possibility is mains borne interference, perhaps from a fridge or freezer. When the fridge or freezer cut in there can be a spike through the mains which gives a momentary cut out from the TV signal. I had something similar with a small beer fridge and it would cause the sound to cut out on my AV amp. Took a while to figure it out as it was so random. There should be a suppressor on the motor, but sometimes these fail.
I suppose you could test this by opening the fridge/freezer door for a few minutes with it switched off at the mains. When you switch the mains back on (or a helper) see if the TV does it's blocking thing. Either that or turn the thermostat to max to make it cut in.
I suppose you could test this by opening the fridge/freezer door for a few minutes with it switched off at the mains. When you switch the mains back on (or a helper) see if the TV does it's blocking thing. Either that or turn the thermostat to max to make it cut in.
So I may have got to the bottom of this...
I'd put a call in to a local specialist last week who had come highly recommended. Unfortunately he was on holiday until Friday but promised he'd call first thing Saturday. 8am Saturday he calls and was incredibly helpful, asking various questions and suggesting some things over the phone. Told me to try these options and if they don't work, he'll come out. Top bloke so if anyone needs a TV aerial guy in Belper/Amber Valley, PM me!
Anyway, he told me that it's more than likely that my signal is too strong and the signal is likely boosting 4G interference. He suggested bypassing the booster in the loft, if that didn't work or the signal dropped completely, to get a 4G filter. If that didn't work, try an attenuater. He said that it was highly unlikely there was a fault with any of my equipment and it will be 4G interference being boosted and overloading my box. So yesterday I had a 4G filter delivered, I tried that and the old booster box and things improved but were still not perfect. So I tried a 4G filter, together with a variable attenuator. Things improved but only if turned down low which meant I lost a few channels. So I tried a 4G filter with the attenuator, through the new booster box which also has 4G filter (nothing works without the booster), together with a passive splitter out 1 output of the booster. I now have all channels and last night had no problems!
To clarify, the aerial lead now goes into a 4G filter, then a variable attenuator which is turned down slightly, then into a booster box with inbuilt 4G filter, then there's a 2 way passive splitter plugged into the booster, then 2 cables into the splitter feeding upstairs and downstairs. I know it sounds like a complete bodge of random connections, but it seems to work fine!
I'd put a call in to a local specialist last week who had come highly recommended. Unfortunately he was on holiday until Friday but promised he'd call first thing Saturday. 8am Saturday he calls and was incredibly helpful, asking various questions and suggesting some things over the phone. Told me to try these options and if they don't work, he'll come out. Top bloke so if anyone needs a TV aerial guy in Belper/Amber Valley, PM me!
Anyway, he told me that it's more than likely that my signal is too strong and the signal is likely boosting 4G interference. He suggested bypassing the booster in the loft, if that didn't work or the signal dropped completely, to get a 4G filter. If that didn't work, try an attenuater. He said that it was highly unlikely there was a fault with any of my equipment and it will be 4G interference being boosted and overloading my box. So yesterday I had a 4G filter delivered, I tried that and the old booster box and things improved but were still not perfect. So I tried a 4G filter, together with a variable attenuator. Things improved but only if turned down low which meant I lost a few channels. So I tried a 4G filter with the attenuator, through the new booster box which also has 4G filter (nothing works without the booster), together with a passive splitter out 1 output of the booster. I now have all channels and last night had no problems!
To clarify, the aerial lead now goes into a 4G filter, then a variable attenuator which is turned down slightly, then into a booster box with inbuilt 4G filter, then there's a 2 way passive splitter plugged into the booster, then 2 cables into the splitter feeding upstairs and downstairs. I know it sounds like a complete bodge of random connections, but it seems to work fine!
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