Technical question

[andy_horton]

When the wind blows hard, I get a little pixelation on my outdoor clearstream antenna hooked up to a preamp and amp. Signal levels vary between 35-50. Clear nights are the best but on nights like tonight with sustained winds of 21mph occasionally it will pixelate a little on UHF. Ice is familiar with my hills and how hard it even is to pick up signals here. Rain affects it a little but not much. Is this normal? I don't think anything is perfect. Thanks, Andy (I have peaked all UHF stations. The CW, MYNET, and METV on 53.1-.3 and THIS is on 61.1 and Comet is on 61.2. I especially see pixelation when I can hear the wind blowing thru my door!!) Channels are watchable, however. Do have a few small branches in the way with no leaves. It almost makes me want to sign back up for Comcast, but they have major issues in this area with locals and various channels on different frequencies going out.

 

[ejb1980]

For what it's worth, I experience the same with wind. It causes CBC to go away (about 70 miles) and a little bit of pixelation on the VT channels (18 miles). Rain and snow don't really seem to bother reception, but an icy antenna is as useful as a satellite dish pointing north.

 

[larrykenney]

I suspect that the trees blowing in the wind are causing a little multi path, thus you're seeing the pixelation. The best way to solve the problem is to get your antenna mounted up higher so that the signals don't have to go through the tree branches to get to the antenna. In most cases, higher is always better. You get away from ground clutter that way.

 

[. Raine]

I've noticed that here on the New York channels that are quite far away from me, what Larry said about the trees blowing in the wind. When it's windy and the trees are moving about, the signal goes up and down, no wind and it's steady.

 

[andy_horton]

All my channels are around 35 miles away, and hilly terrain. Will trim tree branches. It won't be hard to do. But at least the channels are definitely watchable. This wind has been constant and fierce all night.

 

[NashGuy]

I have problems with multi-path interference when it's windy too. It's particularly bad on one UHF channel--strong wind can make it totally unwatchable--but it can somewhat affect my other UHF channels too. A few days ago, we had sustained strong winds for hours (probably the same front you experienced down there, Andy) and it was bad enough that it even caused some problems on my high VHF stations, which I don't think I'd ever seen before. Only my lone low VHF station was totally unaffected by the strong winds. I have lots of big mature trees in my yard and throughout the neighborhood. Winds cause them to move and change shape and that messes with the signals. I'm hoping more of the major stations in my market move down from UHF to VHF after the spectrum auction next spring, as that should make them less susceptible to wind-induced multi-path problems.

 

[Mr Tony]

Sadly that is normal and depends on how much signal you have already

Signal levels vary between 35-50

Dont know what you are using to base it on but that is rather low (I know on my HDTV and Tivo that would be low or below threshold). When I lived at the lake house I had the same issue. My FOX translator (all 2300 watts) would show about 50-54 on the Tivo. When we got strong winds (which was occasionally) the signal would fluctuate in and out. Wind would die down it would be fine (unless the wind blew from the West...then it stayed stable....I was East of the tower)

 

[ejb1980]

I suspect that the trees blowing in the wind are causing a little multi path, thus you're seeing the pixelation. The best way to solve the problem is to get your antenna mounted up higher so that the signals don't have to go through the tree branches to get to the antenna. In most cases, higher is always better. You get away from ground clutter that way.

When I raise the antenna, I lose 2 stations and the rest have tons of breakups. I started with it higher because, like you said, it's "supposed" to be better. The breakups are not major during wind, certainly watchable. Most of the time, the video breakups are so minor that the audio doesn't breakup.

As for the threshold of signals, my LG TV will lock a signal as low as 28% (enough to show most of the picture and hear audio) as long tas the signal quality is 100%.

This is what they are now with no wind, cloudy skies, a little snow fell recently, and I see no breakups, except on CFTM and CBFT which are not really watchable. Quality is 100 on all but those same 2, but the VHF and WCAX quality drops when a car goes by.

CBFT 2-1/19.... 18%
WCAX 3-1/22.... 99%
WPTZ 5-1/14.... 92%
CBMT 6-1/21.... 36%
CFTM 10-1/10.... 24%
WVNY 22-1/13.... 98%
WETK 33-1/32.... 88%
WFFF 44-1/43.... 87%
WCFE 57-1/38.... 48%

 

[Mr Tony]

When I raise the antenna, I lose 2 stations and the rest have tons of breakups. I started with it higher because, like you said, it's "supposed" to be better.

I thought the same when I lived in my apartment. Get it as high as possible...ended up lowering the antenna 3 feet on the mast and reception got better

 

[andy_horton]

I suspect that the trees blowing in the wind are causing a little multi path, thus you're seeing the pixelation. The best way to solve the problem is to get your antenna mounted up higher so that the signals don't have to go through the tree branches to get to the antenna. In most cases, higher is always better. You get away from ground clutter that way.

I'm not really supposed to have an outdoor antenna so what I did was" super mount" the clearstream in my windowsill facing the back yard. So getting it up higher would be impossible.

 

[andy_horton]

I thought the same when I lived in my apartment. Get it as high as possible...ended up lowering the antenna 3 feet on the mast and reception got better

Mine the same way. A little lower meant better for me. By the way, my tv will lock at 10%, but that's pushing it. And where I live and the way I have my antenna, I figure running thru a pre amp and then amp and it gets up to 30-50% really isn't that bad. It just means a little more" living" with pixelation. Although I did re tweek both my indoor antenna for the VHF now that all 4 majors are on them and the re tweeked the outdoor antenna and signal is more stable now. Had to compromise a little between 53 and 61, though. Used to, 53 I could get 40-50 and 61 would be around 25, but jumpy. Now, 53 is 36-40 and 61 is about 30-32 all daytime levels. Also got a low powered station channel 21 with 6 subs from somewhere and gained RETRO TV. It is steady at 20-22%. But I've had fun" re tweeking" . My hobby was DXing when I had a huge tower and rotator. Good ole analog days, though!!;-)

 

[Mr Tony]

Even if you are tied down and have to use it indoors I'd still use outdoor antennas.
(but thats just me)

 

[andy_horton]

Even if you are tied down and have to use it indoors I'd still use outdoor antennas.
(but thats just me)

I get VHF (all majors) perfect on my amplified rabbit ears. Awhile back I bought a huge outdoor antenna and all it got was the 5 religious channels. It was one of the "classic rooftop" antennas. I took it back. So my setup is amplified indoor for VHF, and my clearstream outside with a preamp and then inside an A/B switch. If I use a combiner, the UHF is too weak. I have another rca amp I could place somewhere but I don't know where. I'd rather use it for the UHF but it's already got a pre amp and amp on it. Could I use it somewhere?

 

[harshness]

You should verify that your antenna isn't wagging in the wind.

If you haven't tried the system without one or both the amplifiers, you might try that as well as one or both may be doing more harm than good.

 

[andy_horton]

You should verify that your antenna isn't wagging in the wind.

If you haven't tried the system without one or both the amplifiers, you might try that as well as one or both may be doing more harm than good.

I turned down the amplification and it seemed to help some. The signal didn't drop on the meter. I think hooking up the second amp would overload the signal. But I'll try the antenna without any amp and see what happens and report back. My guess is the signal will be extremely weak but I could be wrong.

 

[andy_horton]

You should verify that your antenna isn't wagging in the wind.

If you haven't tried the system without one or both the amplifiers, you might try that as well as one or both may be doing more harm than good.

I double secured the clearstream and even duct taped it some(not the prettiest but it will hold against wind) and played with the signal booster. The signal levels aren't jumping as much. I adjusted all levels and we'll see. So far, so good.

 

[andy_horton]

Could I put my other rca amp right before adding the combiner? I just wonder if that would be able to eliminate the A/B switch. Because right now, if I use the splitter in reverse I can't get UHF at all.

 

[harshness]

Two antennas are worse than one. This causes multi-path that while creating ghosting in analog signals, pretty much trashes DTV signals.

Keep in mind that the signal meter is probably showing you a number that relates to the "quality" of the signal versus the "strength" of the signal. If you overdrive the tuners (or the amplifier inputs), the "quality" will drop. Unless you're splitting the signal more than eight ways, I wouldn't mess with amps.

You must be careful about putting splitters together with power inserters that often accompany pre-amps as you can get some relatively high DC voltages where you don't want them.

 

[Mr Tony]

Two antennas are worse than one.

not when they are of separate bands (VHF & UHF) or used with the correct combiner. In Andy's case he is using a A/B switcher.

I've used 2 separate antennas for about 3 years now at 4 different locations with no issues.

 

[andy_horton]

Well, during the daytime is when I have more pixelation and dropouts on UHF. I think I've done all I can do reception wise. It works pretty well, I guess I either live with pixelation on UHF (VHF I have no issues) or I order some type of cable :-( (I'm trying to avoid that because I am tired of paying.the cable company. But for no pixelation that's the best route. But again, if it stays like it is, I can live with it for awhile until I decide what I want to do.)