OTA Overload on 211/612

[CJBaker]

I'have a CM 4228 pulling digital stations from 90 miles away. I put a CM preamp on it to get the weaker stations and all was good with my Samsung 4665 TV, One station was very strong to start with (didn't need the amp) but it helped a lot on the others.

After swithcing to dish I noticed that the OTA tuners appear more sensitive as I was able to get 2 channels I was not able to get before BUT my strong station now blows out the dish receiver.

The strong station shows a signal strength of 95+ when you switch to it, then the signal goes to 60 then 30... then 0 and doesn't come back. it looks like it is overloading the Dish box.

I have a splitter on the line and running another 75 feet of wire and the 211 does the same thing.

I tried unplugging the preamp but it killed ALL of the digital channels

I thought of putting in an attenuator but I will have to adjust it each time I change off the strong channel.

Is there a bug in the dish receivers for very strong signals ???...the pic is good but then it overloads something in the receiver and it dumps me.

Thanks

 

[gdarwin]

Sounds like a multpath problem. When the signal goes up and down that indicates multipath interferrence.

 

[oljim]

gdarwin is right, I do not think it is overload. I have a 4228w 7777 amp. I need the amp for stations 71 miles in one city, turn to stations 40 miles away, they all come in 95-100 with no problem with over load

 

[Jim5506]

95+ should not overload the tuner.

How close is that station?

If it is 20 miles or more away, it is probably not overload.

Multi-path often does come back popping in and out as the reflected signal varies.

 

[CJBaker]

I don't have a problem if I connect it directly to the TV tuner. It maxes the signal meter on it.

I say 95+ beacuse I have never seen it hit 100. The meter zooms up, the picture comes up and a second or too later the meter drops down in 20-30 point increments until it is gone. It doesn't seem to come back.

This station is 90 miles away but very strong. The analog signal will come in with a coathanger. TVFool lists the station as 63 miles away at 1000 kW and Line of Site. (middle of kansas)

I have a 4 bow-tie CM antenna located away from the main one. I can get the signal to lock and stay on the dish box by turning it so only a small amount of the bow-ties are exposed to the direction of the station. I thought from that I could infer that it was signal strength.

If it is multipath I need to move the antenna around to fix it ? Maybe it will fix it's self when it switches from UHF back to VHF later this month.

 

[KKlare]

At 90 miles you should consider yourself lucky to get any signal due to the curvature of the the earth. You must have a tall transmitter and a high antenna considering you are have a nearly "flat" terrain between. I am luckier with transmitters on a mountain and lower terrain between them and me at just 49 miles.

You might try attenuating the signal into your box using the attenuator meant for the UHF remote antenna. Or you can buy any of several values, say 10 (3X voltage) or 20 dB (10X), at a radio shop. Harder to find with F connectors.

-Ken

 

[CJBaker]

I was hoping that when the station went from 19 back to 12 on Feb.17 it would solve the problem but it did nothing. The signal strength bounces all over the place. If I bypass the dish box and go directly to the TV the signal strength is max on the TV and the picture is fine.

I did discover something interesting. When the antenna is on the dish box if I hit the right arrow button to bring up the overlay screen with the station guide at the bottom you can see the signal strenght on the top. The picture stays full screen and it works !!! The signal meter is mostly at zero and occassionally it jumps up but the picture keeps moving along fine with no problems. As soon as I close the overlay it pops up with the box that it has lost the OTA signal.

Confused

 

[boavista]

I have the VIP211K and i think the tuners in these things are quit Wonky for lack of a better word. I i plug my OTA antenna into my Samsung TV, all channels i should be getting work fine with more then enough signal. If i watching using the TV i get no freezing shuddering, etc.. With the 211 its like someone was outside on the roof kicking the antenna. It will randomly freeze or say no signal ( but it will work fine if i connect it to the tv). I also Notice when watching OTA on the 211K that it almost ALWAYS freezes!! Its quite annoying to say the least. Either i leave it on a channel for 20 minutes and it will Green screen and if not that then it will keep playing the channel fine but the receiver will lock out ignoring all remote commands forcing me to reset the box.

I Seams to me like a software issue. Hopefully gets corrected very soon because OTA is almost unwatchable for me.

BTW my signals are all Solid between 72-95%