New TV reception

with a normal rv set up yes its not very good. to get great set up you need a dish.

tv signals just like radio signals are affected by weather atmospheric conditions and signal blockages like hills buildings and trees.
wet leaves on trees block evan more signal. the best way to get a better signal is to raise your antenna height above all obstructions but your distance from the transmitters is the biggest factor in getting the best reception and its always better at night.

With the advent of HD most of the channels are now higher frequency (UHF) and much more line of sight. Anything in the path can cause problems including say a tree swaying in the breeze.

In my experience straight line of sight antenna to antenna should be good for 30 miles plus.

With the switch to HD reception became iffy for to many from Sutro tower in San Francisco. The FCC requested that the tower be raised. It's now almost 1,000' high and 1,800' above sea level. So raise your RV antenna. :B

OTA TV reception has ALWAYS been hit or miss. In older days you could have a good picture, light to heavy snow, ghosting, sound but no picture. Now you can go from perfect picture to nothing, pixelating, or other issues. All on a nice sunny day or cloudy or stormy. Just the nature of the technology. Sat works ok but even with that you have issues with trees, hills, buildings.

So what is being said the old system was better right?

Old had longer range with decreasing quality - remember the snowy picture? Digital is basically you have it or not.

But the US was lagging in picture quality. But now we have HD, 4K etc. I was fine with SD until I had HD. Now I'm fine with HD and don't think I need 4K but...

Since DTV is scheduled to drop all SD transmission in Feb 2020 I'll again be at the bottom - but I watch SD about as much as I stream TV.

crawford wrote:
So what is being said the old system was better right?

No, the clarity and the available features, sub channels, etc of the digital systems is far better (once you get a good signal). Just saying that OTA is and always has been an iffy proposition.

if you 75 miles to the transmitter, the old way was much better. A little snow doesn't bother near as much as blocking out.....the difference between watching it and not watching it !

To answer the OP's question, "Is this the nature of the beast?" Answer: yes.

I'm not as avid television watcher as my wife, so it drives her batty when one hour there is a perfect picture and the next there is nothing. Or it begins to pixelate to the point the station is not watchable right at the end or apex of the show and then she "misses it".

In campgrounds, we've noticed when vehicles pass by our campsite, there is often a pixel freeze. And at night, more stations come in.

It's just the nature of the beast. It's still better than paying $120 for satellite television when all you get are commercials anyway.