167 replies to this topic

[alanh]

heatwave,
In my post there is a link to the ABC reception line. The map will show the coverage area. The antenna you have is no doubt pointed at Brisbane's Mt Cooth ha or Mt Nadi. In the last 16 years repeaters on other channels have been installed at Currumbin, Mt Tambourine and further south. This was done due to poor reception in the Gold Coast. You will get a selection of NSW and Qld programs.

AlanH

[heatwave]

O i c - many thanks Alan

[savagestar]

Is anyone on the coast, particularly in the Gaven region having any troubles with audio?
As the other night (Tuesday) both my boxes stopped receiving audio.

[subatomic]

There may be another suggestion that could be added (perhaps there's a general troubleshooting thread in this forum but I couldn't find it).

After 2 days of banging my head against the wall with a choppy picture, artifacts, bad sound, freezes et al, I removed the wireless-g pci card from my box and it totally fixed the problem.

[alanh]

Sub atomic,
If you go the the first post in this strand there is a link to antenna basics. It will help you

AlanH

[subatomic]

alanh, on Jul 2 2007, 09:10 PM, said:

Sub atomic,
If you go the the first post in this strand there is a link to antenna basics. It will help you

AlanH

Hi Alan
I just read through "antenna basics", however, I did not find any mention of wireless pci cards causing interference. I do not require any help, because, as I mentioned earlier, I fixed my problem by removing the wireless-g pci card from my case. If you re-read my original post, it will help you  

[alanh]

Subatomic,
PCI cards are usually shielded by the antenna case.
What antenna are you using?

AlanH

[subatomic]

alanh, on Jul 3 2007, 09:30 PM, said:

Subatomic,
PCI cards are usually shielded by the antenna case.
What antenna are you using?

AlanH

Alan,
Wireless PCI card is a linksys wireless-g card (2.4Ghz) with stock antenna (6'')
HDTV card is a twinhan visionplus HDTV PCI card with outdoor antenna (quad shielded RG6 cable).

I have used the twinhan card since late 2003 with numerous types of antenna (including a single wire coiled around a stick hanging on the lounge room wall when I lived in South Hobart!) without any problems whatsoever.

I recently built a new media centre pc (asus p-series case) and decided to put a wireless card in it so I could get rid of my temporary cat 5 connection and this is the first time I have experienced problems. FYI: the p-series motherboard has only two PCI slots located very close together so all I can guess is that there is some sort of interference due to the proximity.

I'm no expert when it comes to reception, antenna and the like so all I know (having found nothing on the web describing this issue) is that once I removed the card it was fine.

[alanh]

Subatomic,
Hobart and the Gold Coast are totally different kettles of fish.
Hobart has all digital stations between 174 -230 MHz where as NBN 68's frequency is 813 MHz. If you mulitply this frequency by 3 you get your 2.4 GHz. So if the Wifi signal is much stronger than the antenna signal the digital reception will break up.
The antenna input needs a low pass filter to stop the Wifi from overloading your digital TV tuner.
Kingray filter is to be used with the settings in the top right and position A. Feed the TV antenna into input 3. This will remove all unwanted signals. It should be connected close to the computer unless you are using a masthead amplifier.

AlanH

[subatomic]

alanh, on Jul 4 2007, 12:44 AM, said:

Subatomic,
Hobart and the Gold Coast are totally different kettles of fish.
Hobart has all digital stations between 174 -230 MHz where as NBN 68's frequency is 813 MHz. If you mulitply this frequency by 3 you get your 2.4 GHz. So if the Wifi signal is much stronger than the antenna signal the digital reception will break up.
The antenna input needs a low pass filter to stop the Wifi from overloading your digital TV tuner.
Kingray filter is to be used with the settings in the top right and position A. Feed the TV antenna into input 3. This will remove all unwanted signals. It should be connected close to the computer unless you are using a masthead amplifier.

AlanH

Thanks Alan, I still live in Hobart (Blackmans Bay) however.

[tangent]

GoldCoastGuy, on May 4 2006, 12:11 AM, said:

Are you sure those channel numbers/networks are accurate?

None of the Gold Coast transmitters (analogue or digital) use channels 66 or 69.

66 is used by Prime analogue from Springbrook aimed at Murwillumbah and 69 is used by NBN analogue for the same area (which would be why the signal is poor).
Evan :->

The Laheys lookout TX site on the sth west of Tambo is a Beadsesert Shire Council owned analogue only regional re-transmission site established under the black-spot scheme and installed by Broadcast Australia. Council informed me they expect to upgrade it to Dig in 2009. Should have been dig to start with in my humble opinion!

The analog Ch #'s are correct 57, 60, 63, 66, 69.  It carries the two nationals and three commercials but no affiliates (Prime, NBN, SC10) as they are not part of the Brisbane licence area that Canungra is part of.

Having read the submissions to Govt re: Community re-tx site dig upgrade, they seem to all be in agreement that the best way to upgrade would be an overnight switchover to dig on same ch's in '09.

Bring it on!

[tangent]

tangent, on Jan 12 2008, 05:16 PM, said:

The Laheys lookout TX site on the sth west of Tambo is a Beadsesert Shire Council owned analogue only regional re-transmission site established under the black-spot scheme and installed by Broadcast Australia. Council informed me they expect to upgrade it to Dig in 2009. Should have been dig to start with in my humble opinion!

The analog Ch #'s are correct 57, 60, 63, 66, 69.  It carries the two nationals and three commercials but no affiliates (Prime, NBN, SC10) as they are not part of the Brisbane licence area that Canungra is part of.

Having read the submissions to Govt re: Community re-tx site dig upgrade, they seem to all be in agreement that the best way to upgrade would be an overnight switchover to dig on same ch's in '09.

Bring it on!

Also meant to mention if you want analogue regional channels from Laheys - your out of luck! Best way to get dig in Canungra is horizontal from Mt Cootha.

[Ripperjack]

Help! SBS disappeared and Ch9 breaking up on Digital.

In December 2007, after getting SBS and Ch9 on my nForce digital set top box for just over a year, SBS disappeared off the screen. Also I have noticed that channel 9 digital dropping out every few minutes or so with a big packet loss spike of over 60000.

My home is in Worongary, Gold Coast QLD, on the side of a hill facing south east. I have line of sight to the Currumbin hill, and can see the transmission tower on top of it. I have contacted SBS and they insist that their repeater station in Currumbin ( where my antenna is pointed ) is working and that the issue is with my antenna.

All other channels ( ie. Digital 10, Digital 7, ABC, ABC2 ) appear to be working OK.

So, is it worth spending the dollars in getting a technician to check out my antenna? Or is this just SBS trying to cover up a change in broadcasting areas?

Edited by Ripperjack, 23 January 2008 - 11:42 AM.

[mtv]

Ripperjack, on Jan 23 2008, 12:40 PM, said:

So, is it worth spending the dollars in getting a technician to check out my antenna?

Yes.

Even though you have LOS to the transmitters, other signals may be affecting your reception, as well as other faults with your antenna, cabling, connections etc.

Without accurate signal measurements, it's all guess work trying to figure out what the problem is.

As you said, you have problems with both 9 and SBS, so it's unlikely it's just an SBS problem.

[Billy Two Hats]

I also I have line of sight (facing south) to the Currumbin hill, and can see the transmission tower on top of it. My reception perfect one day s**t the next. SBS has been great for some time, I can not remember the last time I got the ABC (it was when Doctor Who was on), 10 and 5 are presently fine and 7 and 9 are seeing which can break up the most. They are not really that bad, it just becomes annoying when you watch it for any length of time.

Unfortunately I'm in a rental so the antenna stays.

Edited by Billy Two Hats, 24 January 2008 - 09:56 PM.

[Andrew S.]

Anyone else having ABC problems? I am at Nerang and receiving from Mt Tambourine. ABC (all versions) has been breaking up constantly over the last 2 days and now I cant even produce it on a STB scan. All other FTA channels are ok.
I'm using a Philips DTR 7200 STB.

[my06mart]

I'm hoping someone can shed some light on my situation.

I'm at Palm Beach and before I bought my HD TV I have 3 analoge TV's in the house all running off the same antenna pointing towards Currumbin. Anyway after getting the HD TV I found if any other TV's in the house was on I'ld loss all Digital reception (3 way split in the roof). I bought a new atenna today and new cabling and decided I'd run two antennas, one dedicated to the Digital TV and the other for the remaining 2 analoge TV's. Both antennas are on the same pole and the Digital TV works fine......................untill you turn another TV on in the house then the signal strenth drops and the sound and picture goes down the drain.

Is it a proble having 2 antennas on the same metal pole? to me that sounds like the problem but before I mount a new pole I thought I'd ask.
If I turn all the TV's off in the house the signal strength is about 95% for all channels

Thanks in advance

Mart

[alanh]

My06mart,
You said that you had 3 analog TVs and a new digital TV with a 3 way splitter. You would have been better off keeping the single antenna and using an amplified splitter.
Since you now have the new antenna they should be separated as far as possible. It is likely one of more of the TVs is radiating a signal back out of your antenna back into your digital antenna.

I'm not sure that the analog close down in December next year includes the Gold Coast or not.

AlanH

[my06mart]

AlanH,

Thanks for the response, and I'll take your advice and move the 2nd antenna as soon as the rain stops and its safe to climb the roof. Its seems so obvious but I didn't even think that the two would interfere with each other but that shows how much I know and even more how little the sales staff knew who sold it to me.

Thanks
My06mart

[my06mart]

I moved the dedicated antenna for the digital TV to the other end of the house pointing in the right direction and the Digital reception is now totally stuffed, strength is about 70-90% but very pixelated and the sound if stuffed. BTW the analogue reception is now perfect  

I think I'll call a professional; to figure it out.

[alanh]

my06mart,
Your digital problems are that the moved antenna is picking up Currumbin and Mt Tambourine. The transmitters for each network are on the same channels in both sites. You have to make one signal stronger than the other by direction and antenna type. Also the Currumbin transmitters are vertically polarised so you may be picking up some signal in the cabling.

AlanH

[my06mart]

alanh, on Feb 13 2008, 10:23 PM, said:

my06mart,
Your digital problems are that the moved antenna is picking up Currumbin and Mt Tambourine. The transmitters for each network are on the same channels in both sites. You have to make one signal stronger than the other by direction and antenna type. Also the Currumbin transmitters are vertically polarised so you may be picking up some signal in the cabling.

AlanH

Thanks for the advise.

-I have the Antenna set up for vertical polarisation, so apart from tweaking its direction a few degrees (are they that sensitive to direction?) how else can I get rid of the Tambourine interference? which only seems to occur after the sun goes down.
- I live about 4km from the Currumbin transmitter pretty much by sight.
- RG6 Quad cable from the antenna to a joiner (15m), last 4m is older cable which I couldn't pull down the wall cavity, which mean I couldn't get the quad cable down to the wall socket.

This is the antenna.
Yagi UHF 12 Element TV Antenna
Link to antenna on dicksmith page

edit 10am: I rang an antenna guy this morning who said the above antenna does not meet some AU standards and he will not be able to work with this antenna and that I would NEED to buy one of his. He didn't ask what type it was or anything, just where I bought it. Does this sound like BS?

edit 6pm: I went back on the roof and rotated the antenna 90 degrees to a horizontal polarization facing Currumbin and I now have a perfect picture on all digital stations with no interference YET! (night time is always the test), so far the problem seems to be resolved.

Thanks for the help AlanH, much appreciated

My06mart

Edited by my06mart, 14 February 2008 - 06:12 PM.

[GCA1]

Hi all,

I have been reading this forum for several months now and understand the frustrations you are all having in regard to the digital TV reception on the Gold Coast. There are many reason for bad reception. Knowing the symptoms and fixing the problems comes with experience of the region and understanding digital transmission.

There two types of perceptions of a good signal.

One were the end user sees the picture and determines the quality with what they have been used to viewing and to what they are viewing now.

Second is a professional TV antenna technician who uses field strength meters to determine all of the required readings to be at their preferred levels.

Lets go back to the first perception for a while. With the introduction of digital the picture quality is far superior than that of analogue.
    
                  FYI 1
                               Degradation of an analogue signal strength allows viewing of picture to a very low level. The picture                      
                               becomes grainier as the signal level drops, but it is still watchable., (to a point).


                               Degradation of the digital signal allows the picture to be viewed to it gets t a level and cuts off
                               completely. Picture quality should be excellent until it cuts off, (referred to as the digital cliff).

                 FYI 2
                              Picture break-up and sound distortion. are due to other factors effecting picture quality. The areas of
                              concern are the MER, BER and the C/N ratio, ( the good part of the signal). These can only be
                              determined with a field strength meter, any thing else is guess work. These factors are affected by
                              external elements and internal elements.

                              The external elements can only be controlled by antenna selection and location. As you want the
                              best possible signal to be sent down into the TV antenna network.


                              The internal elements can be controlled by using the right passive and active components to
                              maintain the integrity of the signal all the way to the TV. The elements that have an impact on the
                              integrity of the signal is from the first point of call the connection at the antenna. Next is the cable
                              used. Third is type of masthead amp if required, (remember they introduce noise into the system).
                              An amplifier is used to distribute a good signal through the network not improve signal quality, it
                              only amplifies what is there.

                              So if all your connection are good and the cable is of the required type and segregated from the
                              power cables and the amplifier used is shielded and the TV antenna is receiving a good quality
                              signal then you will be very happy with digital TV.

Point to remember TV station around the world spend billions of dollars to deliver good quality pictures. TV manufactures design TV's within a budget, (hopefully to the Australian Standards). So when you install your TV you have an air gap between you and the TV stations. You need to be connected to the TV stations via an antenna. Gone are the days when the coat hanger out the window would do as your TV antenna.

So if you have picture break-up on a regular basis no matter how little then you do not have a good quality signal arriving at the TV. Check your fly lead, connections and cable making sure the cable is segregated from the power and light circuits. Do the checks that you can do and if you still have a problem then you need to have a TV antenna installer to check what is at the sick on the roof.

All the best with viewing your digital TV's

GCA1

[GCA1]

PS. to previous.

Do not let any TV antenna installer say to you that "this is the best reception you will get here". As the best you will get is Satellite if all else fails.

GCA1

[James T Kirk]

Well said.

Cheers
James