On May 9, 7:41=A0am, "Daniel W. Rouse Jr." <dwrous...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
<snip>
> My additional testing shows that it's probably a marginal signal
issue and
> also has to do with the room the TV is in. At best, checking the
signal
> indicators is showing about 75% signal strength and when the audio
dropouts
> occur it looks like the signal strength is falling all the way in
to the 30
> to 40% range.
Excellent description of multipath
> In that room, neither the TERK TV-5 nor an RCA ANT-401 nor an RCA
ANT-200B
> antenna can seem to hold a stable picture for more than 30 minutes
maximum
> before some sort of video corruption occurs, which results in the
audio
> dropouts. I have managed to find an RCA-200B antenna position which
will
> hold a stable picture for up to 2 hours. Althought antenna position
loses
> two channels (15-1 and 15-2), I'll continue to use that antenna
position for
> now (I rarely ever watch programming on channel 15 in analog, and
I'll
> probably not watch programming on the digital equivalents 15-1 and
15-2.) I
> probably still need to find a better indoor amplified antenna for
use in
> that problem room
>
> But, in another room with another TV, the TERK TV-5 performs almost
> flawlessly. In that other room, though, that TV is closer to a
window. I
> don't need to change a thing for that other room, since the only
way I get
> errors is if I am standing almost right next to the antenna.
>
> The amplification level of the TERK TV-5 is 40 dB maximum. The
amplification
> level of the RCA ANT-401 is 15 dB maximum. The amplification level
of the
> RCA ANT-200B is not known as I no longer have the box or the manual
for that
> antenna (though the antenna itself still works). These are all
indoor
> antennas, because outdoor antenna usage is not an option unless it
is a
> free-standing dish type antenna (apartment complex rules).
40 dB is a staggering amount of gain if in fact it does that.
Amplifying multipath simply ends up with LOUD multipath which does no
good at all.
> It should also be mentioned, however, that in both rooms neither TV
with any
> antenna gets VHF reception over analog, even though all the
antennas have
> VHF and UHF signal receiving elements. As such, all of the stations
received
> over analog are UHF only (15, 39, 51, 69), and with the digital
reception,
> all of the stations received so far are the digital equivalents of
the
> analog UHF stations (15-1, 15-2, 39-1, 39-2, 51-1, 69-1).
>
> > =A0 A 3rd possible cause for dropouts is co- or adjacent channel
> > interference. A number of analog <-> digital interference issues
will be
> > resolved next February 18, 2009 when the remaining subset of 1800
full
> > service stations turn off their analog signals. But this would
likely be
> > a problem for a specific channels, not all of them, which your
post
> > implies. But there will be no magic improvement next year, except
for
> > the stations that will be providing a stronger digital signal.
>
> Stations providing a stronger signal might help. I suppose what I
need to do
> at this point, for the problem room, is to either place another
amplifier
> before the antenna or find another amplified antenna with a gain of
more
> than 40 dB.
>
> Again, though, outdoor antenna usage is not an option, or I would
have
> already done that as the first thing for digital reception.
Not true on the antenna thing. FCC rules say you can NOT prevent
antenna installation provided the antenna is less than 1 meter across.
You're allowed to mount to a balcony rail but not on the roof. This
rule trumps home owner association rules. A legal antenna would be
this
http://www.winegard.com/offair/squareshooter.htm
http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/hdreception/fccrules.html
If the apartment complex allows satellite dishes on the roof, this
antenna should also be allowed and it works great on the roof.
GG
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