Over the air digital tv signals

[Bob_Vaughn]

Why would you have 5 bars of reception on the tv then there is no picture and a message says no signal.....a second ago there was a beautiful photo....What causes that??

[beachcomber_1]

I can sit in my RV at storage and pick up over 30 stations as far away as 50-60 miles. Good clean connections and premium coax.

[noteven]

Maybe they are metric watts?

[SCVJeff]

It simply ain't true unless it's either over the horizon radar or a deep space uplink, and both are pulsed

[pconroy328]

Sam Spade wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:

(I know and plan to visit a Radio staiton in Tennessee... 1.4 GIGAWATTS.. that's right folks 1million 400 thousand MILLION watts. )

You have a well deserved excellent reputation on here but...........
I'm sorry, I just don't buy that.

Got any documentation on this station and it's output ??

I'm pretty sure that kind of transmitter power would need to be shared with more than 100 licenses to be legal.

That raised my eyebrows too.
I mean it's been 40 years since I had my Class C, but 1.4 billion watts?

The cap was 50kW back then.
I thought the cap was 100kW now.

1.4 Billion?

[Johno02]

About the dumbest I ever felt was trying to help a friend with his after he installed a new antenna. Try as we might, could not pick up a single thing, although my rig next door was getting several very well. Anyone else ever realize that many older TVs (without converters) won't even show any digital stations, and that nearly all the stations now are digital?? Connected a digital receiver to his new antenna system, and had all kinds of stations available.

[CavemanCharlie]

westend wrote:
I have an antenna on a mast for UHF digital TV reception. I was watching one day and all channels had good reception. As the wind increased, the antenna and mast started moving, causing occasional drop outs of the channels. The solution was to lower the mast until it was just above the roof line.

Those with conventional folding RV antennas should look at how their antenna reacts to the wind and make sure there is minimum movement when deployed.

Yup, I was the one that complained about walking into the camper and the signal would drop out. Same way with the slightest breeze. My old antennae will not stay tight at full extension and rocks around easily. By lowering it I can keep it steady but, it will not rotate then.

I don't watch that much TV when camping so I have decided to leave it alone. Too much cost and hassle to fix.

[wa8yxm]

Language option is for the menus.

A good senistive receiver can make a big difference.. The converter in my bedroom is a top rated receiver,,, If you get one that works (They are not all that reliable but this one .... I got lucky) the one in the front does well as well.

THe TV's. hardly ever watch OTA direct (Cable sometimes but not OTA) where I'm at I get both OTA and Cable, depending on the channel... Right now I have a nice, sharp, Studio quality Digital signal from over 45 MIles away.. Without the Sensor Pro, I'd have .. Static.

I have two DVR's.. One front one rear. They have a bit of fun, they can pick and choose from up to 3 different inputs, CABLE, Line-1 and Line 2.. Line 1 is the digital converter.. So they switch inputs automatically. Very nice.

[Johno02]

We live in an area with limited OTA stations. Nearest is about 15 miles, furtherest is about 50. At our house I installed one of the flat panel antennas with an amplifier that I bought at Walmart. On the original tv set which was an older one and a comverter, we received only the two strongest stations. When that tv died, we bought a new 20+ flatscreen to replace it. With no other change, just connect the wire as it was, and on the first scan, we received about 27 stations, some we had never even heard of. Just the difference in the two receivers. In out Motor Home, there is also a big difference in what the two TVs will pick up off the same antenna wire. At least all the ones we receive are in english, I haven't found a TV yet that translates, but most now do have a language option.

[blofgren]

rockhillmanor wrote:
It's not like the ole days of analog where you could just put the antenna up and give it a spin. You have to move the antenna slowly inch by inch to grab the digital signal. Move your antenna to get in a better stronger line with the signal.

I found out that not all TV's are created equal!!

Some have better antenna reception than others. I have one small flat screen TV that gets 20 channels and one big flat screen TV that will only pull in 6. Go figure! And all while parked in the same location.

Remember TV's today are almost always used with cable etc. Not antenna's. The manufacturers don't have to provide a good antenna reception board anymore and.....they don't. I had a TV repair shop replace my antenna circuit board with a quality one and got 10 more channels. :W

Thank you for the information on the circuit board. What did this cost? I have noticed that one of the 2 TV's in our unit will pick up more channels and this certainly explains why.

[SCVJeff]

Dry wind can also create enough static discharge on the antenna that it's noise can cause issues with the receiver.

[westend]

I have an antenna on a mast for UHF digital TV reception. I was watching one day and all channels had good reception. As the wind increased, the antenna and mast started moving, causing occasional drop outs of the channels. The solution was to lower the mast until it was just above the roof line.

Those with conventional folding RV antennas should look at how their antenna reacts to the wind and make sure there is minimum movement when deployed.

[Sam_Spade]

wa8yxm wrote:

(I know and plan to visit a Radio staiton in Tennessee... 1.4 GIGAWATTS.. that's right folks 1million 400 thousand MILLION watts. )

You have a well deserved excellent reputation on here but...........
I'm sorry, I just don't buy that.

Got any documentation on this station and it's output ??

I'm pretty sure that kind of transmitter power would need to be shared with more than 100 licenses to be legal.

[SCVJeff]

I have yet to see one that can be changed when it's responding to an AFD bit that's set. When AFD is detected you CANNOT override it. Doesn't mean that a very few don't, but that kind of defeats the point of AFD

[wa8yxm]

Someone commented on the rocking of the RV.. There are two things, Depending on just how the RV rocks you get Dopler effect which can cause an apparent frequency shift, the higher the frequency the greater the shift.

or it can change the aim

Or you may have a connection that's loose.. Many RVers have a few screws loose.. Your choic.. no, I am talking metal, not mental screws.

I had to re-do some connectors, still have some others needing it.

and even with AFD, the consumer can override,, But AUTO works.

Something folks do not understand about Digital.. I used to get a good signal but now I don't.

Well when they went Digital many stations (All of them) reduced their power, what used to be a hundred thousand watts may well now be just 10 thousand.

(I know and plan to visit a Radio staiton in Tennessee... 1.4 GIGAWATTS.. that's right folks 1million 400 thousand MILLION watts. That means they suck over 3,000 KWH every hour just for the transmitter finals, Now there is the rest of the transmitters, the studio, the Air Conditioning (Even in coldest Feburary they need A/C) Tower lights and so on.. How'd you like their electric bill?

Back to subject

Well I have a radio and antenna.. If I plug in a Microphone, pushing 100 watts Single Side Band into the antenna... I can talk to about half the USA most days with odd days of better communications.

If I plug in the computer... Turn it down to around 30-40 watts (less than half the power) and start typing..... I've talked to Italy, Germany, Russia, and more.

[SCVJeff]

That's becoming less and less as allot of clueless broadcasters figure out what a little pulse in the digital stream called AFD really does. IF Auto Format Display is transmitted, it takes control and sets the receivers display properly. The consumer now has no control to screw things up.

We're here to help.. 🙂