Problem with one channel

[Blizz]

I have a Dish 622 and a Channel Master 3017. I get 28 channels in the SW burbs of Chicago. One station, WCIU 26 Is only 15 miles away with nothing in the way. The signal strength meter on the 622 shows a strength of 99, yet the signal breaks up frequently. This station carries some of the local White Sox games in HD so I would like to clear this up. All other channels come in clear. Any ideas?

 

[mdovell]

as retro as it might sound try moving the antenna. check antennaweb.org to find out what direction it comes from. It seems like for my OTA that I have one part straight up and one to the right....for some others I move the straight one forward. It can make a huge difference in a gain of six stations for me.

 

[Jim5506]

Probably multi-path.

Now, how to fix it. Try reorienting the antenna clockwise a few degrees at a time. See how it affects both the problem channel and your good ones. Look both clockwise and counterclockwise for a point where the multipath is minimised. This is all trial and error, be patient.

Another solution would be to replace the antenna with one with a narrower beam (more directional). The CM3017 is not Channel Masters highest quality line of antennas. If you try another antenna look at the CM3600 series, but try the orientation first.

 

[Rick0725]

I have a Dish 622 and a Channel Master 3017. I get 28 channels in the SW burbs of Chicago. One station, WCIU 26 Is only 15 miles away with nothing in the way. The signal strength meter on the 622 shows a strength of 99, yet the signal breaks up frequently. This station carries some of the local White Sox games in HD so I would like to clear this up. All other channels come in clear. Any ideas?

ok...what are you using to get the signal strength this high (99) with a cm3017???

the dish 622 ota tuners are overload sensitive.

 

[Blizz]

I will try to aim the better but I think it is close now. The Channel Master is new. I used to have a Winegard that came with the Voom install. but that wuold not receive WBBM which is VHF. I am not using any signal amplifier with the 622. All the stations are over 90 on the meter because in Chicago the broadcast come from only two towers and they are 15 miles away and within 1 degree of each other. all other chanels are great.

 

[Blizz]

Moving the antenna made no difference. I then ran the feed to the tv tuner and all digital channels are good. I guess the 622 just doesn`t like the WCIU signal. I will put in a splitter and run the antenna to both tuners and switch to tv tuner when the games are on WCIU. Thanks

 

[Rick0725]

the analog wicu is adjacent at 5,000,000 watts.

maybe it is causing issues

what does the analog side look like. check the analog channels and peak to minimize ghosting and fine tune on digital.

Sometimes users have antenna aimed a little off in the wrong direction.

 

[Blizz]

Analog is good also. I will try again with pointing the dish, but I can see the towers from my roof top. I should add that WCIU did the same thing with the Winegard antenna with the 622. I had a 942 before and did not have this problem. I did have to add a small in line signal amp form Radio Shack to boost the signal to receive the weaker UHF and the one VHF channel and did not have any break up problems. It is only with the Dish 622 and either antenna.

 

[Rick0725]

I did have to add a small in line signal amp form Radio Shack to boost the signal to receive the weaker UHF and the one VHF channel and did not have any break up problems.

if you can see the towers, you should not have any problems with a cm3017. just get the ghosting out if present on analog and it will help the multipath if you have any there. Aim the antenna there by eye fine tune a tadd and you should be fine.

the dish 622 tuner does not like the 99 signal strength its getting. its dropping out because of overload.

if you need amplificaion a winegard hdp269 preamp installed at the antenna would work great at your distance from towers. the radio shack inline amps are rather noisey.

-Is the ota antenna coax diplexed with the satellite line?...if so a separate coax for ota is better.

 

[Blizz]

I no longer need the amplification with the cm3017. The coax is not diplexed, the sat dish is on the other side of house. There is no ghosting on analog so I guess it is just a case of over load. I have split the line from the antenna and it feeds both the 622 and the tv tuner and it has worked so far. Thanks for the help