How does weather affect digital reception?

[andy_horton]

We are going to have 2 squall lines come through tomorrow. One in the morning and the other in the afternoon. I took someone's advice on here and put my amplified rabbit ears in my closet and get between 60-71%. Since they are away from the windows, will lightning cause my picture to pixelate? What about heavy rain, hail and very strong winds? Does the signal drop outdoors and is subject to pixelate from lightning or hail or strong winds? Indoor vs outdoor. Thanks.

 

[boba]

We are going to have 2 squall lines come through tomorrow. One in the morning and the other in the afternoon. I took someone's advice on here and put my amplified rabbit ears in my closet and get between 60-71%. Since they are away from the windows, will lightning cause my picture to pixelate? What about heavy rain, hail and very strong winds? Does the signal drop outdoors and is subject to pixelate from lightning or hail or strong winds? Indoor vs outdoor. Thanks.

With the flash of lightening you will see a brief break up if it is close. From your previous posting about your rabbit ears I expect you will have pixellation if the storm is intense. It is something that will change with direction the storm comes from and how intense is the storm.The post I think you are referring to was a suggestion that you follow Iceberg in putting a real antenna in the closet, he even posted pictures of it.

 

[Trip]

VHF signals are more impacted by lightning than UHF, so I would expect breakups and dropouts during the storm if you are watching those channels. While I have seen similar behavior on UHF, it is much less frequent.

- Trip

 

[larrykenney]

In addition to what the others have said, you might see signal levels increase some on your more distant stations if inversion layers form up in the atmosphere. Sometimes signals can double in strength due to the reflections off these inversion layers.

And although not really weather related, seeing you're on the east coast you might see stations from 200 to 400 miles away show up for short periods of time due to their signals skipping off the e-layer of the ionosphere. They call it "e-skip" and many people work to see how many distant stations they can receive by e-skip. A few have logged over 300 stations! Out here on the west coast, we get very little, if any, e-skip, but the midwest to east coast see a lot of it during the Spring and Summer months.

Larry
SF

 

[Mr Tony]

The post I think you are referring to was a suggestion that you follow Iceberg in putting a real antenna in the closet, he even posted pictures of it.

since boba has mentioned it a few times but yet didnt post a link here is the orignal "antenna in the closet" pic
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads...th-good-VHF-Hi-coverage?p=3314889#post3314889

but now there are newer ones
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads...th-good-VHF-Hi-coverage?p=3417756#post3417756

 

[andy_horton]

since boba has mentioned it a few times but yet didnt post a link here is the orignal "antenna in the closet" pic
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/321703-Small%28er%29-Indoor-OTA-Antenna-with-good-VHF-Hi-coverage?p=3314889#post3314889

but now there are newer ones
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/321703-Small%28er%29-Indoor-OTA-Antenna-with-good-VHF-Hi-coverage?p=3417756#post3417756

Thanks Ice.

 

[navychop]

There is a name for this sort of antenna spotting: The Single Man's Solution.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Peter Parker]

Wind can cause signal levels to fluctuate and loss of lock. It has to be pretty bad but it does happen.

 

[Titanium]

Inversions and ducting happen quite frequently in the Northern California Sierra foothills. I live in a valley that is east of Sacramento about 30 miles (Meadow Vista) without line of sight to any station. Frequently will see San Francisco, San Jose, and stations from the North and South Valley (100 - 250 miles distance) coming in for hours at a time while the local channels disappear. During the summer months we will regularly watch the morning network news from San Francisco (135 miles) until the local channels come back in around 10am. The distant channel viewing happens again around prime time until 11pm.

When lightening is active in the valley between the transmitting location and our location the video will momentarily freeze. Quite interesting to look at a radar 150 miles away and see the weather event that is causing the station programming to be interrupted even though our sky is perfectly clear. Never personally have observed wind affecting signals, but I guess if enough particulate were kicked-up, it would attenuate RF. I do know that smoke from forest fires will significantly attenuate satellite signals.

 

[. Raine]

Tropospheric ducting, I think there's a few web sites that keep track of conditions and what areas are currently having the correct conditions for it. When it happens here in the spring and summer, we'll pick up stations from as far away as New Jersey and Pennsylvania throughout the night, come late morning of the next day and they're gone. Bad part of this is when it does happen, we lose our local stations.

 

[dfecarter]

I have been using the winegard FlatWaveAir FL6550A antenna mounted on a 15-18' mast on the side of my house (so about 35' above the ground) for about 8 months.
While it works rather well overall, it invariably loses all but the strongest signaled station when there's a breeze over 12-15 mph!
I have 3 guy wires connected to the lower third of the mast on the roof.
what I can figure out is, if it is reacting more to the wind moving the antenna/mast or the wind blowing the air in the atmosphere, thus effecting the signal as it travels through the air?
Or is it a combination of the two effects?
I can't imagine how I could anchor the mast more than it is already, or perhaps it wouldn't make a difference?
Thanks.

 

[jayn_j]

I have been using the winegard FlatWaveAir FL6550A antenna mounted on a 15-18' mast on the side of my house (so about 35' above the ground) for about 8 months.
While it works rather well overall, it invariably loses all but the strongest signaled station when there's a breeze over 12-15 mph!
I have 3 guy wires connected to the lower third of the mast on the roof.
what I can figure out is, if it is reacting more to the wind moving the antenna/mast or the wind blowing the air in the atmosphere, thus effecting the signal as it travels through the air?
Or is it a combination of the two effects?
I can't imagine how I could anchor the mast more than it is already, or perhaps it wouldn't make a difference?
Thanks.

Lots of possibilities, but the air itself is unlikely. The two most likely causes are that the wind is distorting the antenna which affects its ability to receive. It may be changing its direction or deflecting the elements. A stronger possibility is that the wind is moving objects such as tree branches into the signal path. UHF signals pretty much require line of sight.

 

[GaryPen]

Lots of possibilities, but the air itself is unlikely. The two most likely causes are that the wind is distorting the antenna which affects its ability to receive. It may be changing its direction or deflecting the elements. A stronger possibility is that the wind is moving objects such as tree branches into the signal path. UHF signals pretty much require line of sight.

Is it possible that the wind is moving tree limbs in and out of the signal path?

 

[FaT Air]

Originally Posted by dfecarter
I have been using the winegard FlatWaveAir FL6550A antenna - - -

Just something I found on the net

8/28/13 We just finished testing the new Flatwave Air antenna. I have to say, for it's size (14"x14"x4") it performs good.. However, there are some short comings you should be aware of. The VHF signal performance is not nearly as good as the EZ HD antenna and it's more directional than the EZ HD antenna so aiming the antenna correctly is important. If the TV transmitter locations are more than 10 degrees apart you may not want to use the Winegard FlatWave Air. Aim the front of the Flatwave Air towards the TV transmitters.

http://dennysantennaservice.com/winegard-fl6550a-flatwave-hdtv-antenna.html

 

[dfecarter]

Thanks, I think that's what is occurring! And unfortunately I can't tie down the trees lol.

 

[dfecarter]

Yes I believe so...