Getting intermittent interference, need some input

[andy_horton]

Thanks for the understanding. To clarify, and I guess why I the length of cable and what not was so vague is because I'm just used to being able to "tinker" with my setup and honestly wasnt thinking of length or what have you, the run for the indoor is roughly 25-30ft. I'll give more detail to help you. It's an "Amazon Special" flat indoor with that very "thin" wire..meaning I can move the wire on the floor to the Mohu amp I have connected, that's about a total of 10 ft, then to a coupler, which then runs the other I'd say 10-15ft into A/B switch, then to tv. It's a flat antenna. Outdoor has the preamp from about a 5 ft wire, to the input, then i to house via backdoor straight to the power injector, then to A/B switch, then to tv. Actually that antenna is the 4 bay UHF and gets hi-VHF actual channels 9 and 13 (shows up channel 3 on tv.) 12 doesn't come in on that. But what I was really trying to figure out was the interference happens the same time just on the hi-VHF channels at the same time when it occurs. Most times at night. Today it has occured around 5pm. Not really happening on the UHF channels. I've tried plugging both coax lines directly into tv and taken A/B switch out of equation. Also tried without any amps or preamps. All signals are too weak at that point. I get horrible pixelation without the amps. On my smart tv, if the signal drops below 74, it starts that. Usually even when interference is occuring, for the most part I'm getting about 94%. Unfortunately, no bar to show spikes with lowest number and highest, just expressed in current %. When the wind blows hard, it does make a difference. I trimmed and cut a lot of limbs that were in LOS of outdoor antenna and it made a big difference. Still having some issues again with this. The small Mohu amp ks plugged into a power strip, tried another outlet, bad pixelation on indoor antenna. Nothing else in power strip. Wineguard power injector plugged into outlet. Have eliminated any source like microwave, coffee pot, lights, can opener, kinda baffled. Maybe winds, as I have a metal roof and even on outdoor antenna since it's only 10ft up? Thanks for the understanding and I hope this helps.

Also, using a mobile phone, not exactly sure how to copy and paste, but if you want to look at my tvfool report, my info is, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Stations I pull are WRCB, WTVC, WDEF, WTCI, WFLI, WDSI, WELF. WKSY and WNGH are usually present at night, I'm assuming since outdoor antenna is pointed towards Chattanooga, I get the other 2 at an angle and reflection from backside of antenna. Hope this helps.

 

[primestar31]

Andy, the best I can advise you is to look at this thread I'm linking below and notice the sort of info needed to work through all the issues you have. You can make your own post in that forum and get help from people that really have the tools and knowledge to get you fixed up. Internal antenna inside a house with a metal roof is wasting your time to even play with. External, maybe with preamp and a splitter is the way to go. http://www.avsforum.com/forum/25-hd...mbining-feed-multiple-antennas-camden-sc.html

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/25-hdtv-technical/

 

[harshness]

As the repack is coming, it may be worthwhile to investigate a full-range outdoor antenna mounted up high. WNGH is moving to RF 4 so the two substantially UHF antennas will be of zero help there. You didn't mention it, but WTNB is moving to RF 5. Mounting up high may also allow you to clear whatever electrical interferences there might be.

I don't agree with the assertion that a window-mounted mud flap is going to be negated by a metallic roof as it is mostly out from under it (assuming it is in a window on the station facing side of the house). While they are claimed to be omnidirectional, they really don't see much along the edges. If the back side of the antenna is shielded from signal, that's probably a good thing.

The thin wire on the mud flap is a bad thing. They can be very lossy and if you're amplifying it at the end of the thin wire, you may be only gaining back what was lost in the cable. Again, you need to be certain that the thin cable doesn't make any sudden bends as kinks in the cable may degrade its transmission capabilities. Each coupler represents a 1dB loss. Other devices (such as the A/B switch) have higher insertion losses.

 

[raoul5788]

I edited out Andy's street address. PM him for it if you want to assist him in getting better reception.

 

[harshness]

I edited out Andy's street address. PM him for it if you want to assist him in getting better reception.

Better yet, Andy should post a link to his tvfool results.

My recollection is that they are dismal at best with edges across the board.

Here's mine:

TV Fool

The results show city, state and Zip, but nothing that would otherwise allow someone to pin it down to a particular location (unless your estate has its own zip code).

Again, note that TVFool does NOT contemplate the post-repack landscape that will involve some stations changing frequencies and possibly broadcast antenna locations. That information can be obtained from rabbitears.info (as far as it is known today).