Cold weather reception question

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skitheberks

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Mar 26, 2008
110
6
CT
There is a low power AMGTV affiliate in my area. It broadcasts on RF 48 and it's 48.1 . It broadcasts from Hartford, CT and it shows the range of the signal to be about 15 miles. I'm about 15 miles away.

I seem to only get this channel when its below 32 degrees. It doesn't matter if it is day or night, windy not windy, snow or no snow. When I do receive it I'm at about 70% signal. When it's warm out, there is no signal.

No reception problems with any other channels.

Is cold weather better for the digital signal to travel?
 
Plz tell us more: Other stations via the same antenna? Do their signal levels change? (Sure it may not be problematical, but may be affected) Make & Model antenna? TVFool report?
 
Antenna: Winegard SS-2200 (the amplified one), 24 feet off the ground, outside, split to three TVs. I had it professionally installed this summer.

All TVs get the reception equally.

I'll have to check other channel's strength tonight when below freezing and then again when above freezing.

I just went on the TVFool site and get the channels listed in green and yellow. I do see that 48.1 on my list and the NM (db) is 39.8. Another channel which is broadcasting from a further location is WTNH RF 10 (8.1,.2,.3, .4) which has the NM (db) of 32.8 and I do receive that channel.
 
skitheberks said:
Antenna: Winegard SS-2200 (the amplified one), 24 feet off the ground, outside, split to three TVs. I had it professionally installed this summer.

All TVs get the reception equally.

I'll have to check other channel's strength tonight when below freezing and then again when above freezing.

I just went on the TVFool site and get the channels listed in green and yellow. I do see that 48.1 on my list and the NM (db) is 39.8. Another channel which is broadcasting from a further location is WTNH RF 10 (8.1,.2,.3, .4) which has the NM (db) of 32.8 and I do receive that channel.
Click to expand...
Cold weather does alow slightly better ignal propagaton
skitheberks said:
Antenna: Winegard SS-2200 (the amplified one), 24 feet off the ground, outside, split to three TVs. I had it professionally installed this summer.

All TVs get the reception equally.

I'll have to check other channel's strength tonight when below freezing and then again when above freezing.

I just went on the TVFool site and get the channels listed in green and yellow. I do see that 48.1 on my list and the NM (db) is 39.8. Another channel which is broadcasting from a further location is WTNH RF 10 (8.1,.2,.3, .4) which has the NM (db) of 32.8 and I do receive that channel.
Click to expand...
Cold weather does allow slightly better signal propagation. Channel 48 is a UHF channel 10 is a VHF channel and because it is a low frequency it travels farther. You could try a better antenna than the square shooter to extend your reception.
 
I used to live in New Britain and that channel was sometimes difficult to get. I only remember it as an analog channel, which was watchable with a DB8 antenna.
 
Try raising your antenna at least another 10 feet. That might make all the difference. Chain-link fence "Top rail" pipe makes good (and reasonably priced) antenna masts. The thicker the gauge, the better. You might have to guy wire it also, depending on where it's located on your property.
 
primestar31 said:
Try raising your antenna at least another 10 feet. That might make all the difference. Chain-link fence "Top rail" pipe makes good (and reasonably priced) antenna masts. The thicker the gauge, the better. You might have to guy wire it also, depending on where it's located on your property.
Click to expand...

Raising the antenna any higher isn't going to happen. It's mounted on a 39" J mount mast on the overhang of the roof near the peak. I could've had a tripod mount on the roof but the roof is newer and not wanting to put any holes in it. I'm satisfied with the reception that I get. 30 Digital (25 non-Spanish) / 1 Analog and the analog is a LP UHF 34 which is also AMGTV. It's viewable but not DTV quality.
 
A good gable mount should support more height.

You COULD try bypassing the pre-amp. In some cases this helps. I actually doubt it will help you, but if it's easy to try....

Relocating the antenna higher is a good bet.
 
I did a channel scan this evening to see if 48-1 (my AMGTV affiliate from Hartford, CT) would come back due to the cold temperatures but it hasn't.
However, I discovered that I lost the analog LP Ch. 34 WTXX from Springfield, MA which was also an AMGTV and it has been replaced by RF 34 / 34.1 digital AMGTV.

Now I'm up to 31 channels all digital and no LP analog channels.
 
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navychop said:
A good gable mount should support more height.

You COULD try bypassing the pre-amp. In some cases this helps. I actually doubt it will help you, but if it's easy to try....

Relocating the antenna higher is a good bet.
Click to expand...

I did unplug the power for the amp and the antenna acted like a small directional antenna. It was installed and aimed toward the Hartford, CT broadcasts and all of those come in fine when unplugged. I lost all of my Springfield, MA channels. I'm closer to those and I would imagine if I went outside and aimed the antenna more of a NW orientation I would have received those channels and lost the Hartford stations.

So this Winegard antenna I have really needs that amplifier to act like a "multi directional" antenna.
 
Coniferous trees sometimes have wierd effects on UHF/microwave frequencies that can be temperature related... certain times of the year the needles become more conductive and "filter" RF close to a quarter wavelength of the length of the needles. That puts some pine trees with longer needles within the TV UHF spectrum. Best to be above the freznal zone of this type of foliar interference, but sometimes lowering the antenna works too, depending on the source signal strength and HAAT.

There is also talk of wifi signals killing certain types of coniferous trees close to A/Ps etc...
 
skitheberks said:
I did unplug the power for the amp and the antenna acted like a small directional antenna. It was installed and aimed toward the Hartford, CT broadcasts and all of those come in fine when unplugged. I lost all of my Springfield, MA channels. I'm closer to those and I would imagine if I went outside and aimed the antenna more of a NW orientation I would have received those channels and lost the Hartford stations.

So this Winegard antenna I have really needs that amplifier to act like a "multi directional" antenna.
Click to expand...
Did you bypass the amplifier(F81 connector) or did you just remove the power that allows the amplifier to work. If you just removed power the amplifier was just a signal blocker in the line.
 
skitheberks said:
I
However, I discovered that I lost the analog LP Ch. 34 WTXX from Springfield, MA which was also an AMGTV and it has been replaced by RF 34 / 34.1 digital AMGTV.

Now I'm up to 31 channels all digital and no LP analog channels.
Click to expand...
that just showed up the other day per reports in the area (I think it was Tuesday when the first person noticed it)
 
boba said:
Did you bypass the amplifier(F81 connector) or did you just remove the power that allows the amplifier to work. If you just removed power the amplifier was just a signal blocker in the line.
Click to expand...

I just unplugged the power to the amp. At some point I'm going to disconnect the antenna in wire from the amp and see how well it works. It'll be direct from the antenna to a 7" LCD TV
 
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