FTA interfeers with OTA?

[Shawn95GT]

Let me preface this by saying that all of the cable runs are separate. No diplexed/shared cables.

Today I turned on the livingroom TV and the local Digital Fox station was breaking up badly. I checked the other Tivo and it was doing the same thing. The cable is split right behind the Tivos so I kind of expected similar performance. The Signal meter was reading low for many channels but 10-1 was breaking up badly. I noticed the Coolsat was on so I turned it off. Immediately the signal strength came right back on the OTA tuners.

A similar problem is what put my FTA setup into hibernation for a while before. I had it setup in my home office, diplexed on the same line that my cable modem was connected to. It didn't do it at first, but after a while the cable modem would drop connection when the FTA box was on.

So... Is my Coolsat electrically noisy or if this some freakish cabling issue? Grounding issue?

I'm going to try to better isolate the cables in the Demarc box outside and I can probably re-arrange what wall plates the satellite signal comes in on and see if it helps.

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

 

[Anole]

odd, but possible:

Is the lid off the FTA receiver?
Is it possible the switching power supply is emanating electrical noise?
Is the original ferrite core on the power supply cable, inside the receiver?

Are other OTA channels affected?
edit: I guess you said yes.

What is the actual frequency of 10.1 ? May need to go to TVfool.com to find out.
How about the other affected channels? UHF or VHF ? (real freq, not how they are labeled)

 

[Shawn95GT]

10-1 is on RF channel 10.

The FTA box is in tact, never cracked the case. Once 10-1 breaks up but I noticed the signal level was degraded on 12-1 as well (RF 12).

 

[Mr Tony]

KU Band is way higher than OTA so they shouldnt interfere

 

[Anole]

Here are the actual frequencies of those channels:

VHF HIGH 10: - 192-198 Mhz
VHF HIGH 11: - 198-204 Mhz
VHF HIGH 12: - 204-210 Mhz

The signal from the LNB coming down the coax isn't this low.
950mhz is the bottom end for FTA LNBs.
So, the interference may be direct from the receiver, power supply, etc.
.. but the LNBs do have a local oscillator, and it might be radiating into the cable...
edit: or radiating into the outdoor TV antenna! How are they oriented??

Check all your connectors are solid/firm/reliable, etc. Might have a broken shield somewhere.
Could debug by leaving the Coolsat on, and disconnecting one cable at a time.
Also, monitor interference while wiggling first cables, then twisting connectors.

edit:
Don't think this'll help, but if you have a good noise-filtering outlet or power strip (most aren't), put it between the FTA receiver and the wall.
Plug the FTA receiver into an outlet away from the TV set.

 

[Shawn95GT]

fun stuff - I'll play with it this weekend and report back.

 

[PALL MALL]

10-1 is on RF channel 10.

Unless the channel is remapped?

For some reason my mixer caused magnavox dtv converters to pixelate. They were even on separate breakers. Im not sure what problem was?
I got digitalstream boxes and now there's no interference from the mixer.

 

[Shawn95GT]

I checked

The last number is the RF channel

*	yellow
vhf	KPNX-DT	12.1	NBC	MESA, AZ		162°	23.5	12
*	yellow
uhf	KPHO-DT	5.1	CBS	PHOENIX, AZ		162°	23.5	17
*	yellow
uhf	KPAZ-DT	21.1	TBN	PHOENIX, AZ		162°	23.5	20
*	yellow
uhf	KTAZ-DT	39.1	TEL	PHOENIX, AZ		162°	23.5	39
*	yellow
uhf	KASW-DT	61.1	CW	PHOENIX, AZ		162°	23.5	49
*	yellow
vhf	KAET-DT	8.1	PBS	PHOENIX, AZ		162°	23.5	8
*	yellow
uhf	KNXV-DT	15.1	ABC	PHOENIX, AZ		162°	23.5	15
*	yellow
uhf	KTVK-DT	3.1	IND	PHOENIX, AZ		162°	23.5	24
*	yellow
uhf	KTVW-DT	33.1	UNI	PHOENIX, AZ		162°	23.5	33
*	yellow
uhf	KUTP-DT	45.1	MNT	PHOENIX, AZ		162°	23.5	26
*	yellow
vhf	KSAZ-DT	10.1	FOX	PHOENIX, AZ		162°	23.5	10
*	yellow
uhf	KPPX-DT	51.1	ION	TOLLESON, AZ		162°	23.5	51
*	green
uhf	KAZT-LD	7.1	IND	PRESCOTT, AZ		162°	23.5	27
*	green
uhf	KEJR-LD	40.1	IND	KINGMAN, AZ		162°	23.5	40
*	green
uhf	KDTP-LD	39.1	DAY	HOLBROOK, AZ		162°	23.5	46

 

[Mr Tony]

If its KSAZ in Phoenix they do broadcast on RF10

lots of VHF Hi (7-13) channels at the conversion went back to their analog spot. Here in Mpls Fox & NBC went back to 9 & 11 respectively

I guess we posted at same time

 

[Anole]

Unless the channel is remapped.

That's why I asked.
But just now I checked on TVfool.com for Phoenix Az, and he's right.
10.1 is on 10, and 12.1 is on 12.

 

[Cadsulfide]

what are you using for an ota stb?

 

[Shawn95GT]

2 Tivo Series 3s and 1 TivoHD.

Two of the Tivos (the S3s) are in the Left pier of the entertainment center and the FTA box in under the TV in the center riser. The right side pier has a c-band receiver and the Nintendo Wii in it. The 3rd Tivo is upstairs.

 

[gillham]

Reproduce the issue, but instead of turning the Coolsat off, turn off power to the LNBF via the menus. That might help isolate if it is the power to the LNBF triggering interference or the receiver itself.

If the problem doesn't go away maybe a component is failing on the Coolsat. There is a pretty common problem on the Coolsat 6000 with a capacitor in the power supply going out. If it is failing it could cause problems with anything plugged into that outlet or out the RG6. As Anole suggested maybe run a drop cord over from another outlet.

My 6000 was having a problem with the IR not working when it was plugged in near all my other gear, but IR worked fine in the next room. Of course that didn't help as the TV & RG6 were not in that room. I replaced a couple parts and it is working now.

I wasn't sure from your statement, did the 3rd / upstairs TiVo have the same problem?

Are OTA & FTA sharing a common ground at your demarc?

 

[Shawn95GT]

Well - the big clue was that the 3rd Tivo upstairs was having zero problems. Fox was booming in at 90+ on the signal meter and downstairs it was fluctuating all over the place from 30-60. This morning Fox was unwatchable and the FTA box wasn't even on!

So the problem was isolated to the living room TV, and now even without the FTA box on it was acting up. This is looking like a cable problem.

So, I go to the wall plates... Ribbon cable to the c-band dish isn't a factor, it isn't even hooked up outside. I got to the wall-plate where the OTA and FTA come in and remove the top cable as I can't which is which and I want to inspect the OTA RG-6 cable to look for damage. I pull the top cable figuring I'll either lose signal or it's the FTA run. Upon removing the cable, not only do I not lose signal but the signal jumps to 90 and it coming in perfect. In the name of science I put it back... and the signal stays fine at 90. I check the other cable and the signal drops again.. The OTA cable is loose at the wall plate. I pull the cable and inspect it to make sure the pressed on fitting isn't loose and to be sure the cat didn't eat the cable or something. The cable was fine so I re-installed it.

I snug both cables and go switch on the Coolsat.... it works fine and the OTA signal is not affected in the least bit.

So, for whatever reason... the OTA cable being loose at the wall-plate was the culprit. Why the the Coolsat was a factor I don't really get but it's all working now :up.