legselevens Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Hi All, I'd apprecciate your help please. I'm in Melbourne's inner north and ABC tv reception is causing grief of late. In fact it seems to happen each winter if I recall rightly. I have the signal going to a Beyonwiz pvr and through to a digital tv. Both pvr and tv have frequent major dropouts, freezing, pixelation and distorted audio and video. The pvr is a bit worse than the tv. I've checked cable termination which appears to be okay. Behind the tv and hifi gear it looks like a cable Bunga Bunga party so not sure this is affecting the signal. There appears to be no pattern to it other than it is mostly evenings onwards and in winter. Happens whether hifi is on or not etc. I have a rabbit ears antenna in the shed which I'll try but any advice on how to fix this? Cheers, Legs11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JukKluk2 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I was getting the same thing happening here in south-eastern Sydney on Monday evening and Tuesday day/afternoon/very early evening, and then it all came right. All connections have been checked and are ok. I sent an e-mail to the ABC help desk and they replied, after I discounted the connections, that it might be atmospheric conditions. There was similar, but to a far lesser degree, things happening on the Channel 7 stations as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArthurDent Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 The easy answer is Foxtel and only slightly harder one is have you checked the antenna and leads and if used masthead amp, distribution amps, etc. as it sounds like a moisture issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legselevens Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 I might have to go over the connections again but I suspect it's a weak tuner in the pvr hindered by the weather? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surprisetech Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 When it's bad, temporarily bypass the PVR and see if the TV is OK without the PVR in the signal path. We had a Strong STB a few years back and a faulty capacitor in the antenna input circuit caused the same symptoms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saxon Hall Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 What type of aerial? How old? What type of cable? What type of connectors? Push on? Screw on? More info would be helpful. For example , do you have an old style VHF/UHF aerial or a digital only aerial? You could also have water getting into the external connectors that is causing the intermittent drop outs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surprisetech Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 What type of aerial? For example , do you have an old style VHF/UHF aerial or a digital only aerial? . Good point. While a "digital" antenna is really just a VHF/UHF antenna, the difference is that it includes elements for digital VHF channels 11 & 12 (ABC) while many older VHF/UHF antennas did not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jone5y Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I'll throw a different option out there I recently had a similar situation. In that instance the transmitter i was previously pointing at had its output power decreased and range subsequently reduced without warning. The easy fix was to point at another transmitter but even that was complicated by it transmitting at a different polarity (not sure if that's the correct terminology), so i had no signal at all until i turned the aerial array 90 degrees. Might be worth a look? The digital tv website gives a lot of info regarding nearby transmitters if required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Almost every problem with DTV reception is either: 1. an old antenna without the extended frequency coverage of digital channel frequencies and/or poor vswr of terminations (i.e not 'F' type); or 2. poor or faulty cable (not quad shield) or connections/splitters (not DTV spec) between the antenna and DTV receiver. There is almost always no other problem* and those not willing to accept this are doomed to spend months/years chasing scapegoats. (*Very occasionally a TV or STB is faulty, but VERY, VERY occasionally!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demondes Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 ABC TV disappears from my TV when it rains, weird thing is that no other channel suffers a drop in signal (SBS, 7, 9, 10 all stay strong) weird This is in Melb inner east Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 ABC TV disappears from my TV when it rains, weird thing is that no other channel suffers a drop in signal (SBS, 7, 9, 10 all stay strong) weird This is in Melb inner east Your experience is the perfect evidence that what I posted above holds. TV channels are all at different frequencies I.E. different wavelengths. In your situation the wavelength of Ch 2 relates to the cable lengths between the cable faults or terminations. Install or correct your antenna, cable, splitters &- whatever to DTV specification and you will be a happy camper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legselevens Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 Thanks for the info folks. I'm guessing I need to look into the cabling and antenna as it's an old house and we haven't changed anything since moving in. Odd that it is mostly in winter when the problems start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JukKluk2 Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Not odd, significant. Same here. We never get that problem in Summer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mashley Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Had very similar issues with our reception ... you may find like I did that the cable between the aerial and where it enters the roof space while it may look perfectly OK is actually water (and probably UV) damaged ... check it for flexibility ... in my case it was nearly rigid at some points, and I found that even 3m from the aerial termination the inner core was so corroded there were lengths where the copper wire had completely vanished! If you have a voltmeter that can measure resistance, check the value between the centre pin and the shield at the room terminal ... should be a few ohms ... if its open circuit then you probably have a corroded core or the connection point at the aerial is broken. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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