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Cemguy

Last reply Jul 28, 2009 · posted in Over the Air Television By RabbitEars.Info

Improved High-VHF reception when raining (whenever antenna gets wet)

I'm in central PA. I have a large 8-bay UHF antenna and a converter box for watching digital OTA TV.

I noticed that ONLY when it rained could I receive a strong enough signal on channel 27 (actually broadcasting on VHF 10) to make it "viewable". I thought it might have something to do with signal scattering, but...

I tried having someone spray the antenna with water from a hose, through a spray nozzle and am able to, very consistently and repeatably, get the same results (wet antenna - good reception on 27/10; once the antenna dries out, signal too weak for viewing on 27/10).

Anyone else have any idea what's going on here? Wetting the antenna elements definitely greatly increases the signal quality on that channel (ABC 27 - broadcast on VHF frequency 10).

At the same time, when the antenna is wet, reception on UPN 15 (actually broadcasting on UHF 23) goes from viewable to too weak to view).

Other channels do not seem to be affected.

I'll probably be adding a VHF antenna and a pre-amp, but I thought that maybe one of the "experts" in the forum could shed some light on what's happening here.

Thanks

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Tower Guy

Jul 27, 2009

Cemguy said:
I thought that maybe one of the "experts" in the forum could shed some light on what's happening here.

It may have nothing to do with antenna performance. If you happen to have power line noise, it tends to bother VHF more than UHF. Power line noise also tends to go away during rainy weather.

Jim5506

Jul 27, 2009

That does not explain why spraying the antenna with a water hose also helps.

Cemguy

Jul 28, 2009

The antenna is a brand new Terrestrial Digital DB8 (I bought it from Antennas Direct).

I suspect that "power line noise" could be a factor, but if that is really the case I don't think it would explain the enhanced quality of 27/10 when wet vs. the degraded quality of 15/23 (unless UHF is much less affected and a thin film of water on the elements reduces the power line noise effect???).

If the back grid is not properly "united", wouldn't that be a problem "across the board" for all channels, or could that just affect "weaker" ones?

I actually did use a continuity meter to make sure all the back grid sections were electrically connected.

Until I get an additional VHF antenna and a pre-amp, I've set up a ladder and duct-taped a hose/nozzle to it. Sounds screwy, but when I want to watch 27/10, I just turn on the hose; when I want to watch 15/23 I make sure the hose is off. Crude, but it works.

Jim5506

Jul 28, 2009

The DB8 makes no claims at being able to receive VHF, so anyhthing you are getting on VHF is serendipity.

I assumed you might have the CM, because the old 4228 does have some VHF capacity. When the back screens are tied together they approximate the 1/4 wave frequency of some VHF high channels giving it mild VHF capability.

Splicer

Jul 28, 2009

Nevermind...I read the OP wrong...

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"MysteryMan"

Pub Member / Supporter Cutting Edge

Last reply 2 minutes ago · posted in Computers and Gadgets

Windows 10/11 Download

I created this thread on the original Edgecutter Cutting Edge Forums site. It's simply a place for those to review the latest software available for those using Windows 10 and Windows 11. To date it has received 112,559 views. I have been asked by staff to continue this thread here.

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EarDemon

Oct 13, 2026

If it wasn't for what I want, I wouldn't need any of this.

Do I need a collection of handheld radios, scanners and speed enforcement countermeasures? Nope, but I want them. Very little, if any of the software used to interface with these devices is available on Linux.

WhiteBeard

Oct 13, 2026

EarDemon said:
If it wasn't for what I want, I wouldn't need any of this.

Do I need a collection of handheld radios, scanners and speed enforcement countermeasures? Nope, but I want them. Very little, if any of the software used to interface with these devices is available on Linux.

To each there own but I've found that Windows can't do much more than Linux can. Can't have everything.

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EarDemon

Oct 14, 2026

WhiteBeard said:
To each there own but I've found that Windows can't do much more than Linux can. Can't have everything.

For niche use cases, yes I agree. Kali for ethical hacking and security testing, and running a Cacti server for network monitoring are the two things I have experience in. Plus thousands and thousands of other things, but for every day use I just can't see it. The owner of the GMRS repeater that I pay to access is changing the Tx DPL tones tomorrow, while Chirp is available on Linux, the software to program my MXT500 is not.

I run Fedora and Ubuntu in VMWare, honestly I don't care much for the UI of either of them and I don't feel like spending days/weeks to customize the UI to make it look Windows-like when I could just use Windows. The cartoonish dock at the bottom of the screen reminds me of Apple products.

harshness

Oct 15, 2026

EarDemon said:
I don't care much for the UI of either of them and I don't feel like spending days/weeks to customize the UI to make it look Windows-like when I could just use Windows.

What is so fantabulous about the Windows UI? By many accounts, it has been going downhill since Windows 7.

There are Linux desktops that offer Windows or Mac UIs, yet you don't hear much chatter about them outside of questions about when the creators might get sued.

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EarDemon

Oct 15, 2026

harshness said:
What is so fantabulous about the Windows UI?

Because it's what I prefer. I know I've said this a few times, I use Open Shell to give me the cascading start menu a la WIN 95 and NT4.0. The only reason I went from Windows Vista to 7 back in the day was because of Classic Shell. I cannot stand anything other than the OG start menu from 30+ years ago. I'm using ExplorerPatcher to give me Windows 10 UI elements of the taskbar and right click context menus.

If you could take a look at how I set up Windows 95, you'd find many similarities to how I use 11.

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EarDemon

Oct 15, 2026

I could probably use that as a starting point, but I don't like the full size icons. If you have to click on each folder that's also a no-go for me, it has to be cascading.

I used to have Peppermint Linux in a VM, that was about as close as I could get to recreating a Windows NT4.0 style of menu structure, but I could never get it to scale properly in VMWare on a 4K display and eventually gave up.

Whatever the boot up time it's fine with me. The longest part of my bootup is the HP SureStart BIOS integrity check. Once that is done, it's only a few more seconds. I haven't done this reg tweak yet since the reformat, but I switched the bootup animation to the Windows 10 style spinning circle of dots, and it's two and a half rotations. I can live with that.

harshness

Oct 16, 2026

EarDemon said:
Because it's what I prefer.

I hope you don't believe that makes it wonderful (especially when you're using workarounds for Microsoft's malfeasance).

I use LibreOffice as opposed to Microsoft office (even in Windows) because it's UI is like the Office of old, so I'm putting my money where my mouth is (in a manner of speaking). The ribbon was one of the worst ideas to come out Redmond.

HipKat

Oct 16, 2026

EarDemon said:
I could probably use that as a starting point, but I don't like the full size icons. If you have to click on each folder that's also a no-go for me, it has to be cascading.

I used to have Peppermint Linux in a VM, that was about as close as I could get to recreating a Windows NT4.0 style of menu structure, but I could never get it to scale properly in VMWare on a 4K display and eventually gave up.

Whatever the boot up time it's fine with me. The longest part of my bootup is the HP SureStart BIOS integrity check. Once that is done, it's only a few more seconds. I haven't done this reg tweak yet since the reformat, but I switched the bootup animation to the Windows 10 style spinning circle of dots, and it's two and a half rotations. I can live with that.

I used to pin the C: drive to the Win Taskbar and it would open in cascading style

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2 minutes ago

2026-10 Preview Update Builds: 26300.9818 and 26200.9818 (KB5127936) has been released. Moderate time needed for those choosing to perform a manual download/install/restart. Quality improvements only. No new operating system features.

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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

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Scott Greczkowski

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge

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So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

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CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

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Another example:

Ride the Lightning -- Metallica

Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne

Get it?

An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....

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Dos cackleberrys over easy on top of 2 corned beef hash patties fried in skillet... Chocolate milk.

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