OTA drop out on 70+ signal on 211k

[rufwork]

I recently hooked my OTA antenna (a DB2) back up to the 211k, and I've had a difficult time getting a signal to one specific OTA channel and multicasts from that channel. Even though the 211k says I've got a signal from 68-72, normally enough to have a good picture, it'll cut completely out and tell me I've lost the signal.

The channel is on 7, both virtual and actual wavelength, in case that's useful. I would've posted on OTA, but figured it might be a 211k specific issue. ?? All that said, the 211k seems a bit more picky than my converter box in general.

 

[cditty]

I can speak from my 722K experiences when I say that Dish tuners are incredibly sensitive to multipath. I can almost guarantee you that is your problem. It took me a good amount of time aiming my directional antenna before I got rid of all of it.

Just remember a 55 signal with no multipath is better than 90 with it (on the Dish tuner). My television tuners dealt with it without problem, but Dish is just finicky about multipath.

 

[3HaloODST]

Agreed with the multipath comments but in my experience anything below the 80s on OTA is not going to be reliable at all.

 

[pamajestic]

The DB2 is a UHF antenna. You need a VHF antenna to reliably pick up channel 7. You can either add a small VHF antenna like an Antenna Craft Y5-7-13 to your DB2 joined with an UVSJ combiner or install a new combo antenna that covers both VHF and UHF. The Y5-7-13 and the UVSJ are around $30 delivered from Solid Signal.

 

[rufwork]

The DB2 is a UHF antenna. You need a VHF antenna to reliably pick up channel 7. You can either add a small VHF antenna like an Antenna Craft Y5-7-13 to your DB2 joined with an UVSJ combiner or install a new combo antenna that covers both VHF and UHF. The Y5-7-13 and the UVSJ are around $30 delivered from Solid Signal.

Right, good call & fair enough. The thing that bugs me so much, however, is that 7 comes in very strong on my converter box & the TV's tuner with the same antenna. The multipath deal cditty mentions is a fun thing to read up on. I hadn't run into that before. I'll see if I can't position things a little more reliably, and if I'm still out of luck, figure out if multicasts on 7 are worth $30.

Thanks for the feedback & help. I think one reliable take home is that the Dish tuner is likely a little more sensitive than many others.

 

[dare2be]

I have a Magnavox DVD recorder with an ATSC tuner with an amplified pass-thru, and it has no problem receiving and keeping locked onto any of my OTA signals. On even the weakest channels it reports signal of 34-38 and never cuts out. On my 722, the same channels will report signal of 68-72 and it will cut out sporadically. Seems Dish receivers are very poor at tuning OTA channels.

 

[dwarren2]

Those are not great numbers for ota. My 722 will loose the signal also at that level. The numbers for ota verses dish are different. AFAIK, from another thread. The ota numbers are actually the perct of the signal packets received, not the strength of the signal.

 

[rufwork]

Those are not great numbers for ota. My 722 will loose the signal also at that level. The numbers for ota verses dish are different. AFAIK, from another thread. The ota numbers are actually the perct of the signal packets received, not the strength of the signal.

But qualitatively, I'm able to get a good signal on my TV tuner and converter box with the same setup. So even if numbers are an apples to oranges comparison, absolute reception isn't. So that's weird.

I went ahead and bought the high VHF antenna. A little worried that when I combine the two with the combiner that my UHF is going to take just enough of a dip that I'll be in the mirror image of the boat I'm in now, however.

 

[rufwork]

The DB2 is a UHF antenna. You need a VHF antenna to reliably pick up channel 7. You can either add a small VHF antenna like an Antenna Craft Y5-7-13 to your DB2 joined with an UVSJ combiner or install a new combo antenna that covers both VHF and UHF. The Y5-7-13 and the UVSJ are around $30 delivered from Solid Signal.

Guess I should fess up that I ordered the Y5, it came in, and it was *ahem* lots bigger than what I thought I was getting for $25. Wow. A good 5' or so, just like I'm sure the Solid Signal site told me. So that had to go outside.

The good news is that made me finally dug the trench, run the cable, and set up the pole a ways away from my house for an antenna. Pulled the DB2 off of the entertainment center and put it on the pole outside. I tested the DB2 by itself before putting on the splitter and Y5 and, well, I was already getting 94+ everywhere, and mostly 98-100, numbers I'd never seen before.

*sigh*

So the morale is, I guess, that it's worth the trouble to put the antennas outside sooner than later. Anyone need a Y5?

 

[the mack]

I also experience the multipath issues on my 722k's. my pbs station has a signal level in the mid 90's but still cuts in and out all the time...at my cottage i can receive channels in the high 60's with no problems at all...

 

[cditty]

Agreed with the multipath comments but in my experience anything below the 80s on OTA is not going to be reliable at all.

I disagree on level. On my former 722K, my problem channel that had 100%, lots of multipath and pixellated... Ended up being rock solid reliable at 52% signal with the multipath tuned out.

 

[Mr Tony]

I find that hard to believe considering anything below 60 usually would pixelate out. When I had a 211k I had a few low powered stations that would hover around 60 and they would lock up the receiver.

 

[cditty]

I find that hard to believe considering anything below 60 usually would pixelate out. When I had a 211k I had a few low powered stations that would hover around 60 and they would lock up the receiver.

I assure you it was solid and it fluctuated between 50 and 55 at it's highest. I used a directional antenna and that was the only 'look' I had at the signal without any reflected signals (multipath). I could have just been lucky, I suppose, but I used that setup for over a year with absolutely 0 troubles after the reaim.