Reception Woes; good and bad

Hello,

I am struggling to understand why we are having so many issues trying to watch TVNZ channels (UHF). All the other channels are fine, but most of the time the TVNZ ones are unwatchable...except late at night or early morning.

I read there might be something called 'ducting' which is environmental and hard to work around; but I would have expected that this would impact all channels not just TVNZ ones?

If anyone has any thoughts around what I might be able to do (or if I can do nothing; just being able to understand the situation a little more) it would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Troy

p.s. the installation is new (less than 4 years), a masthead amp is being used, all cables/connections have been rechecked by a professional.

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Permalink Reply by Troy on January 27, 2015 at 8:48

Is something like a UHF Band ByPass filter likely to help? No idea really - just trying to find options :)

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Permalink Reply by Troy on January 28, 2015 at 6:56

Okay so I added a 4G/LTE Bypass Filter and it made no difference.

I would have thought the collective knowledge here at the Freeview forums would have at least some input/ideas/etc into why TVNZ is so horribly whereas all the others are fine...if you have any thoughts on the matter I am more than interested as it just seems weird.

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Permalink Reply by Biggles on January 28, 2015 at 8:25

Depending on your location you may be just in a spot where you have fringe reception and TVNZ is just a little lower in signal strength than the other Mux. Have you compared signal strength and quality on the 4 Mux?

Which Tx site are you pointing at and do you have line of sight to the TX. Your profile says Titirangi so you have a choice of Waiatarua or several infill sites you should be able to see unless you are low on the west side of the hills.

Loss of just one of the 4 Mux usually is an antenna/cabling problem or interference.

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Permalink Reply by Troy on January 28, 2015 at 8:36

When comparing the strength with the quality; the strength is always decent (70%+) on all channels....the quality goes pear shaped though

Strangely enough it is usually fine in the late evening and morning though - what is up with that?! I was able to watch all channels fine this morning. But when I get home in the afternoon it is back to unwatchable.

We are pointing at Waiatarua and you are right, we are in one of those fringe locations on the side of a hill :(

It has progressively got worse and worse since the restack occurred; wondering if it is just a result of tree's growing somewhere in the distance and shading our reception more and more.

Sounds like we are stuffed :(

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Permalink Reply by Biggles on January 28, 2015 at 9:33

The fact that the quality goes down the gurgler during the day would indicate to me you are suffering some sort of interference during normal working hours. This could be very difficult to trace. Start in your own home first by turning off (removing mains power) everything except the TV and check quality i.e. turn off every appliance in the house except the TV then turn them on one by one. This will at the least eliminate anything in your house. If that fails then you probably need to get in a Pro with all the suitable equipment to diagnose the problem.

Are there any infill TX sites you can see or point your antenna at (making sure you observe correct antenna polarity).? Even Mt Te Aroha could be a possibility in parts of Titirangi.

Atmospheric ducting does occur at this time of year but not a lot and not usually every day. We seem to suffering from it here on the North Shore on FM Radio lately with National Radio nearly disappearing at times.

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Permalink Reply by John Baird on January 28, 2015 at 10:55

"p.s. the installation is new (less than 4 years), a masthead amp is being used, all cables/connections have been rechecked by a professional. "

What did he say about the quality of the different muxes .
Are they all well above threshold?

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Permalink Reply by Troy on January 28, 2015 at 11:34

argh - that sounds like a painful exercise to go through (but I suppose a necessary one). I will look to get that done - thanks :)

As for the infill TX sites; we are surrounded by hills, so can't see anything other than trees :) So would say I am sort of rogered in that respect too

From what I read on the ducting thing - it just seemed way too consistent and persistent to be ducting...but then again I have no idea (hence me here)

Does anyone have any recommendations on getting a Pro in to take a look?

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Permalink Reply by Troy on January 28, 2015 at 11:36

he said that the quality was at the bottom end of what is acceptable, albeit within the limits so didn't think there was any major issue.

Things have deteriorated somewhat since then to the point where we just don't get picture or sound consistently (whereas previously it was pixelated - sometimes)

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Permalink Reply by Biggles on January 28, 2015 at 12:45

Could be that the antenna and/or connectors have deteriorated over time. A new antenna may fix the problem. I put my antenna up about 6 years ago and its badly rusted and corroded. People don't realise how much salt is in the air in Auckland and what it does to TV antennae. They deteriorate very rapidly.

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Permalink Reply by Troy on January 28, 2015 at 12:49

I have eyeballed it and it looks in pretty good condition actually :) Yeah I know there is a bunch of salt in the air; I grew up in Titirangi and we had salt spray on the windows frequently!!!

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Permalink Reply by John Baird on January 28, 2015 at 17:10

In that case , the best bet would be to" walk the roof" & see if there is a better spot. What was the optimum position may have changed since the restack. Sounds like you are to close to the threshold on that mux.