Chicago area 942 owners?

[shanewalker]

Just checking to see what other owners of the 942 in the Chicago area are experiencing in regards to OTA reception. I'm having issues with most channels besides the big three networks and 11 PBS, strong signal but lots of pixellation noise.

It's been suggested over at DBStalk that there may be a software problem with the 942 OTA tuner that manifests particularly in some markets with some stations. Noted is a Denver are problem. Here's a link:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=41135&page=2

Curious if others in Chicago are having similar probs if that means this might be the cause with us as well.

 

[goaliebob99]

all fine here in manteno, other than not getting cbs (normal). You could be getting mad Tropo ( I had it lastweek) Try realinging your dish accoring to antenna web.org and see what you get then.. if not you may need to upgrade your antenna or get a amp.

 

[goaliebob99]

OH one more thing Networks in chicago are at low power temparary as they are preping to go high power on july first. there has been speradic outages and pixalation becase of that.. so that also could be whats cauzing your pixolation.. GIve it a few weeks and try reaming that guy in the mean time..

 

[dodge]

942 ota problems

shanewalker
where in chi town you at? Burbs or city?
I am out in sugar grove and get all locals ota no problem except cbs 2 , and i am pretty far west. I am using a large winegard outdoor antenna, I have a few neighbors unsing the rat shack vu190xr antenna in attics and no problems except for cbs 2.

Elaborate on antenna type etc.

 

[shanewalker]

Thanks for the responses. I understand all these issues may change once the stations are all at 'full power', but there seem to be 8VSB modulation sensistivities in the 942 tuner that need be dealt with by some now. I'm relatively close to the city (Rogers Park/Evanston area) and close to the lake, which may mean I'm getting quite strong signal from all the main broadcast towers and thus some of the issue I'm having. I seem to have been given a workaround solution by a poster over at DBStalk, who suggested the following:

So, a follow-up on my OTA issues...a $9.99 variable attenuator from Radio Shack seems to have done the trick. Seems things were overmodulated, when set to medium strength, bingo, I get good artifact-free lock on all the channels. I'm watching 32.1 Fox ("House") right now, and though the signal has cut out for a split second and there were some hints of audio drop-out, that might just mean I need to do some minor tweaking (or when the mandate kicks in the broadcast power might jump and I'll have to reset this whole thing anyway).

So, I guess the 942 has a tuner much more sensitive to overpowered/overmodulated signals coming down the wire. I'm going to call E* tomorrow and let them know, as many folks might benefit from the same relatively simple fix (until they can [hopefully] provide a permanent remedy via software update, etc.). Might be that certain markets/locations are more prone to 8VSB overmodulation and that's why it seems to be affecting only pockets of 942 owners...but again, I'm no expert on these matters, so my language or logic could be way off.

 

[dodge]

ota with 942

shane thats great
you emailed the tech chat on moday right, I just caught it on tue nite

 

[shanewalker]

Yeah, that was my question on Monday. They swerved the answer into guide data territory that didn't really apply to this multipath sensitivity issue, though. But I'm glad they at least opened it up to the 'floor' for a response.

I hope this is a stable workaround, we'll see. I also hope that there's a software update that really resolves the issue. I called E* tech support today to inform them of the temp fix I struck upon. The woman I spoke with was nice, thanked me for the input and said it might help the engineers sort things out and thus other users. Hope so.