Guest
For the past ten days or so we have been having problems with TV channel 4. This station broadcasts on UHF from Boston Mass. and we are about 45 miles (as the crow flies) from the transmitter. The antenna is an old, but in good condition, very high gain Channel Master 5 foot parabolic which is mounted on a tripod about 6 feet off the roof. There is a mast mounted Winegard GA 8780 preamplifier with a 28 DB UHF section along with a very low noise figure mounted about 2 feet from the antenna. The cable is RG6 Quad which goes into a two way splitter. The receiver, (converter box) is a Channel Master 7001. Our elevation is 410 feet and we are surrounded by trees, some deciduous and some pine.
Most of the time, in spite of this not so ideal situation, (location) I can receive the three networks and a few independents. The signal display on the converter shows, as two horizontal bars, "signal quality" and "signal level". On most channels most of the time signal quality is pegged at 100 percent and signal level runs between 45 and 55 percent. Within this window I usually have no problems with reception. As long as signal quality doesn't fold back I usually will get no drop outs. If it should falter excessively though both picture and sound will break up and intermittently freeze. So I'm pretty familiar with what conditions will produce a good signal.
Lately Channel 4 although displaying 54 percent signal level and 100 percent signal quality has had very slight "tearing streaks" going through the picture. If these aberrations only affected the picture we would be able to watch the program. However this problem seems to chop up the sound as well. This makes it impossible to watch a program.
The weather of late has been hot and humid, which is atypical for New England this time of year. I've noticed in the past that during this type of weather we do sometimes lose reception on several channels for a day or two but never this long. I'm just wondering if anyone might have a theory as to what could be happening here. This only seems to affect channel 4, (where all our shows happen to be). Thanks, Lenny
Most of the time, in spite of this not so ideal situation, (location) I can receive the three networks and a few independents. The signal display on the converter shows, as two horizontal bars, "signal quality" and "signal level". On most channels most of the time signal quality is pegged at 100 percent and signal level runs between 45 and 55 percent. Within this window I usually have no problems with reception. As long as signal quality doesn't fold back I usually will get no drop outs. If it should falter excessively though both picture and sound will break up and intermittently freeze. So I'm pretty familiar with what conditions will produce a good signal.
Lately Channel 4 although displaying 54 percent signal level and 100 percent signal quality has had very slight "tearing streaks" going through the picture. If these aberrations only affected the picture we would be able to watch the program. However this problem seems to chop up the sound as well. This makes it impossible to watch a program.
The weather of late has been hot and humid, which is atypical for New England this time of year. I've noticed in the past that during this type of weather we do sometimes lose reception on several channels for a day or two but never this long. I'm just wondering if anyone might have a theory as to what could be happening here. This only seems to affect channel 4, (where all our shows happen to be). Thanks, Lenny