Problem w/ OTA - Winegard Sensar III, D* in Chicago

[bairmik]

Hello all, new here so i am going to describe my problem as best as I can.

D* installed a new Wineguard Sensar antenna (the non-amplified model gs-1100 as far as i know) this last weekend. They installed the thing sandwiched between my house and the dish about 10 feet off the ground.

When I watch the hd channels they get really bad artifacts and lose sound off an on at irregular intervals. When i check the antenna signal throught the D* box the bars are jumping all over the place between 0 and 90+ and it sounds like a post modern orchestra. When I plug the ant. line into my hdtv tuner the image simply goes black every few moments.

My zip code is 60655 and from checking I am withing perfect range for this antenna to be working (about 13 miles from all important signals).

The distortion happens on all HD channels even WMAQ which i have read here is supposed to be the strongest.

I paid D* for this antenna and right now it isn't worth as much as the garbage can I am about to throw it into as far as I am concerned.

Will repositioning the antenna make any difference?
What would make the most difference - height or facing north?
What about an amplefied antenna?
Any other suggestions?

I am including a drawing aid for all you visual people out there (not allowed to link yet, so please cut and paste (maybe if someone was nice enough they could post the image after this post))

Thanks in advance for any help.

podform.net/uploads/images/antsetup.jpg

 

[Jim5506]

Well, it looks like you installer didn't know what he was doing. From your diagram, the radio waves must go completely through your house to find the antenna.

Mount that puppy about 10-15 ft higher and point it NNE (17degrees) and your reception should improve enormously.

Essentially your house is blocking the signal to the antenna. If your house is brick, that is an even poorer medium for UHF penetration.

Man, call the installer back and make him do it right!!

 

[bairmik]

Last night I scheduled with the installer (D*) to come back and fix the reception issue, then I get home last night and check the reception again thinking that since it was raining out it would be even worse. Now all the bars are steady between 80-90 for most of the channels.

But for the last 2 days when it was nice and sunny out the reception was garbage.

Any insight on why this might be happening?

 

[Proc]

Last night I scheduled with the installer (D*) to come back and fix the reception issue, then I get home last night and check the reception again thinking that since it was raining out it would be even worse. Now all the bars are steady between 80-90 for most of the channels.

But for the last 2 days when it was nice and sunny out the reception was garbage.

Any insight on why this might be happening?

Is there a diplexer connecting the dish and antenna feed into your place and then another diplexer splitting it back out and into your receiver? I had a simliar problem here in Detroit. Removing the diplexers and running the Winegard Sensar II right into the OTA jack in the back of the receiver helped a ton.

 

[bairmik]

There aren't any diplexers or splitters on the line, the line comes out of the antenna, connects to an existing line that runs throughout the walls and has a jack in the wall behind the tv. (its an older coax line that was for cable, but seemed to be the perfect solution for the antenna since it doesn't have any other signal running on it and the one end was right by the antenna and the other right behind the tv)

Anyway, I have been keeping pretty close track of the antenna signals since it was installed and the last 3 days have been in the range of 89-91 pretty continuously.

If it keeps up all week I think i will cancel the installer and see how it goes from there.

I really appreciate the help from you guys as I was pretty confused and upset about the whole situation.