South Canterbury Terrestrial signal issues

I have a T1050PVR which I purchased new about 18 months ago. I am in Timaru with direct line of sight to the Cave hill transmitter about 15k away. Until the last channel retune (about 2 months ago) I had a really good reliable picture with signal strength around 80%. I had to do the retune twice to pick up the new frequencies and since then my signal strength fluctuates a lot between 0 and 94% but mostly in the 50% to 60% range. Obviously I now get a lot of picture freeze and pixilation. All channels are the same and most of the time TV is now unwatchable. I have tried checking all aerial connections and the aerial direction and updating the software on my box to no avail.

I am at my wits end as to what could be causing this and what to do about it and wondered if anyone might have any ideas. Maybe there is a signal strength issue at Cave Hill? I have heard there are few other people also having problems.

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Permalink Reply by willis on June 22, 2015 at 0:43

should ask those others to post here and be specific....it goes funny is not good enougth

see if you can find anyone with igloo as that signal is the most touchy to get right

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Permalink Reply by nzdtv.com on June 22, 2015 at 7:56

See other posting about about work taking place at Cave Hill to replace a combiner.

Weather conditions not very good down that way at the moment. The technical work may not be finished.

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Permalink Reply by Biggles on June 22, 2015 at 10:07

At 15km line of sight and with that sort of signal strength and fluctuations it is almost certain to be an antenna problem. Can you post a photo of your antenna? At 15km you should have solid 100% signal.

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Permalink Reply by willis on June 23, 2015 at 1:11

combiner replacement at forrest hill,invercargill

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Permalink Reply by willis on June 23, 2015 at 1:21

all that happened at cave hill for the retune was for tvnz to move from ch 43 to ch 35

standard ch29-31-33-35-37 mix being world tv- igloo-mediaworks-tvnz-kordia so all that could have suffered would be tvnz

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Permalink Reply by Marty Wilson on June 27, 2015 at 20:02

Thanks Willis, sorry for the delay - I've been out of range for the last week. Invercargill is 500km away so hardly relevant.

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Permalink Reply by Marty Wilson on June 27, 2015 at 20:16

Thanks for that - I would if I could find it. Could you please include a link?

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Permalink Reply by Marty Wilson on June 28, 2015 at 14:51

Hi Biggles,

Sorry for the delay, I've been "off grid" all the week. Yes, I agree that's what I think I should have also which is why I am so puzzled. I have uploaded an image of the aerial as requested - hope it's clear enough for you. Thanks for your help.

Attachments:

IMG_0374.JPG, 2 MB

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Permalink Reply by Biggles on June 28, 2015 at 15:32

OK. I think the picture says it all. Dump the diplexer. It looks like you have a new antenna and co-ax as far as the diplexer, the old VHF lead has been cut off and still using old coax down to the TV. You need to get rid of the diplexer and run new rg6 co-ax from the antenna direct to the TV. Leaving the old diplexer in-line (with a cut off lead sticking out) and using the old co-ax is a recipe for disaster.

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Permalink Reply by Marty Wilson on June 28, 2015 at 17:40

Thanks for that Biggles. I had wondered about that and only removed the old VHF aerial two weeks ago trying to find the problem. You are exactly right in your description of the current situation although the old VHF lead was only cut of recently as I tried to remedy what was going on. I'll get some new cable and run it through in the next day or so. I think the diplexer was only fitted when the UHF aerial went up about three years ago but that may not be correct.

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Permalink Reply by Marty Wilson on June 29, 2015 at 15:43

OK, Replaced all the cable from the aerial to the set top box with RG6 as suggested, cutting out the diplexer. Fired up the system which initially showed 80% strength and 90% quality despite sound cutting in and out. Signal strength dropped back over the next minute to sit at 55% where it was before. Back to square one with higher frustration levels than ever. DishTV support are suggesting interference of some sort. Cop out?

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Permalink Reply by Biggles on June 29, 2015 at 19:17

OK. With newish looking antenna and new cable direct to the STB you should be getting 100/100. So that only leaves now a faulty box or interference. Best way to start looking for interference is turn off absolutely everything in the house except the STB and TV and see what happens. Check with neighbours too to see if they have problems. Also try another STB for comparison to rule out the box.