267 replies to this topic

[snubian]

I've recently moved to Niagara Park, house appears to have a phased array, horizontally polarised antenna pointing roughly north-east. Using cheapo SD set-top box can receive all channels no problem, getting signal intensity approx 70% and signal quality 90-100% according to the STB. I also have a Hauppage WinTV USB Ministick, this worked beautifully at my old place in Lisarow, but at this house I can only receive the various ABC channels. Nothing else at all.

Is there something in my antenna config that would suggest ABC only reception? Note that I get all channels to the STB, just the Hauppauge device is ABC-only. It appears to be an old antenna, sort of upright, rectangular with four horizontal X-shaped pieces at the front. Wondering if a new antenna or booster would potentially make any difference, or whether this is a Hauppauge issue (as I said it worked fine at old house).

Any advice appreciated!

[CMatten]

snubian, on May 15 2011, 11:54 AM, said:

I've recently moved to Niagara Park, house appears to have a phased array, horizontally polarised antenna pointing roughly north-east.

North East is a strange direction for the antenna, it should be point towards Gosford. Where are you in Niagara Park?

[snubian]

CMatten, on May 15 2011, 09:54 PM, said:

North East is a strange direction for the antenna, it should be point towards Gosford. Where are you in Niagara Park?

Top (eastern) end of Kent St. In fact antenna is closer to due north. I agree, from looking at the location of the Gosford transmitter our antenna appears to be "pointing" in almost exactly the opposite direction, 180 degrees from Gosford. We are near the top of the hill but there is some terrain between us and Gosford. The neighbours are also aligned in the same direction but they appear to be flattened horizontally, whereas mine is upright. Hope that makes sense. None of these antennas would be pointing anywhere near Gosford, Bouddi or Forrester's Beach.

As I mentioned we are getting reception on the STB however, so there appears to be sufficient signal. Problem is getting ABC only on USB tuner device. Would appreciate any advice on optimal antenna placement and direction. Or even hints on why my antenna appears to be different polarisation (?) to neighbours though pointing in same direction. Thanks!

[CMatten]

snubian, on May 16 2011, 01:26 PM, said:

Top (eastern) end of Kent St. In fact antenna is closer to due north. I agree, from looking at the location of the Gosford transmitter our antenna appears to be "pointing" in almost exactly the opposite direction, 180 degrees from Gosford. We are near the top of the hill but there is some terrain between us and Gosford. The neighbours are also aligned in the same direction but they appear to be flattened horizontally, whereas mine is upright. Hope that makes sense. None of these antennas would be pointing anywhere near Gosford, Bouddi or Forrester's Beach.

As I mentioned we are getting reception on the STB however, so there appears to be sufficient signal. Problem is getting ABC only on USB tuner device. Would appreciate any advice on optimal antenna placement and direction. Or even hints on why my antenna appears to be different polarisation (?) to neighbours though pointing in same direction. Thanks!

I think your getting the signal from Sugarloaf (Newcastle).

Check the frequencies the STB is picking up?

Sugarloaf
36 / 585.5MHz
37 / 592.5MHz
38 / 599.5MHz
51 / 690.5MHz
53 / 704.5MHz

Gosford
34 / 571.5MHz
37 / 592.5MHz
59 / 746.5MHz
61 / 760.5MHz
62 / 767.5MHz
65 / 788.625MHz
68 / 809.5MHz

[snubian]

CMatten, on May 16 2011, 02:45 PM, said:

I think your getting the signal from Sugarloaf (Newcastle).

Check the frequencies the STB is picking up?

Sugarloaf
36 / 585.5MHz
37 / 592.5MHz
38 / 599.5MHz
51 / 690.5MHz
53 / 704.5MHz

Gosford
34 / 571.5MHz
37 / 592.5MHz
59 / 746.5MHz
61 / 760.5MHz
62 / 767.5MHz
65 / 788.625MHz
68 / 809.5MHz

Bingo!

Yes, I am getting the Sugarloaf frequencies. Now we're getting somewhere! Thanks so much for that, it never occurred to me to think of Sugarloaf.

Question then, can I spin the antenna around to point to Gosford? We do seem to be on the wrong side of the hill, but it's a helluva lot closer than the 50-odd km to Sugarloaf. Worth a try?

[CMatten]

snubian, on May 16 2011, 04:13 PM, said:

Bingo!

Yes, I am getting the Sugarloaf frequencies. Now we're getting somewhere! Thanks so much for that, it never occurred to me to think of Sugarloaf.

Question then, can I spin the antenna around to point to Gosford? We do seem to be on the wrong side of the hill, but it's a helluva lot closer than the 50-odd km to Sugarloaf. Worth a try?

Based on the signal plots I did, your best option is Sugarloaf.  
BTW, Sugarloaf transmitter is 500kw, Gosford is 100w.

Have a look at this post http://www.dtvforum....showtopic=94410

Edited by CMatten, 16 May 2011 - 10:49 PM.

[snubian]

CMatten, on May 16 2011, 08:09 PM, said:

Based on the signal plots I did, your best option is Sugarloaf.  
BTW, Sugarloaf transmitter is 500kw, Gosford is 100w.

Have a look at this post http://www.dtvforum....showtopic=94410

Thanks for that, much appreciated. Just so I understand, can you please explain the colours as they relate to signal strength?

[CMatten]

snubian, on May 17 2011, 10:04 AM, said:

Thanks for that, much appreciated. Just so I understand, can you please explain the colours as they relate to signal strength?

Yes, Red is the strongest, followed by Orange, Green and Blue.

Red = no problems getting reception, blue = tv reception without a FSM/BER meter will be difficult.

[cj5350]

Hi all , My first post and it's not even for me

My parents have just moved into a place in Elvys ave Yattaluga and I'm trying to sort out reception for them.. any suggestions of antenna's since it's right down in the gully...
Am i right thinking something like the clipsal 2ANUPA2 ??

[alanh]

cj5350,
Read the first post in this strand.

AlanH

[cj5350]

alanh, on Jul 11 2011, 07:34 PM, said:

cj5350,
Read the first post in this strand.

AlanH

Cheers for that Alan,

Is there any difference between the 02MM-MDU36 MAGNA Digital that Jaycar stock and the 02MM-EE06 WISI that the Matchmaster site recommend ..

Cheers

Rob

[jetskier]

The lower end of your street is very difficult, if you are within 3 or 4 houses of the bottom you may want to try receiving VHF from Sydney. If you are in the upper end of the street Rumbalara site (Gosford) is the strongest and what you should aim for.

You are in one of the few difficult streets.

Don't consider the jaycar antenna, due to this location I recommend the wisi. use good co-ax, you don't want any stray pickup that does not come from the antenna, at this location this is critical. there are other locations the jaycar antenna is fine, but not here.

The reason is your antenna will pick up a bit of Bouddi, Bouddi is closer (but shielded by terrain) and will be seen by the receiver as a leading echo, some receivers don't like this even though there is a lot of denial in the industry about this (by those with vested interest) I've seen enough evidence to know this to be true.

Now we have big surf, must be off.

[JMatthews]

Does anyone deal with reception areas in the tumbi umbi area?

[debruis]

JMatthews, on Aug 7 2011, 09:29 AM, said:

Does anyone deal with reception areas in the tumbi umbi area?

I have sent you a message

[hughbow]

Hi Everyone

I am at Craigie Ave Kanwal (top ot the hill) and have had fairly good reception form Sugarloaf since I pointed my antenna that way last December.

We have had some issues recieving the chanel "7" signals in the past with drop outs mainly in the evening.

More recently we are getting signal failure on lots of different channels at different times.

Is anyone aware of anything between me and sugarloaf that cauld be causing an issue. Or do you have any suggestions?

I have a wizzi with a signal booster.

[Tazzy2Heads]

hughbow, on Oct 23 2011, 08:24 AM, said:

Hi Everyone

I am at Craigie Ave Kanwal (top ot the hill) and have had fairly good reception form Sugarloaf since I pointed my antenna that way last December.

We have had some issues recieving the chanel "7" signals in the past with drop outs mainly in the evening.

More recently we are getting signal failure on lots of different channels at different times.

Is anyone aware of anything between me and sugarloaf that cauld be causing an issue. Or do you have any suggestions?

I have a wizzi with a signal booster.

At the risk of sounding like a boring stuck Record Player you need a Digital Signal Meter in these signal loss situations to really see what is happening unless
  there is something physical you can see wrong or different.
How do you know you are in the best spot and in the exact right direction now ?
  If the signal has gone bad over a period of time it could be tree growth blocking the path to your antenna. You may have been close to the signal 'cliff edge'
  for a while and getting away with it and now it is worse depending the conditions and what channel is affected at the time.
  A local installer with a Digital meter  is the way to go unless your prepared to raise/lower or shift the antenna yourself on a trial and error basis.
  Check all your connections at the antenna for corrosion and your wallplate and flyleads. Is the booster adjustable and still working ok ? hard to know
  with out a meter, try varying the adjustment and see if that changes the signal on the Anologue Channels if you still have some being transmitted to look
  at in your area. Good luck
  Tazzy

[alanh]

hughbow,
Why are you not trying to receive your TV from Forrester Beach? It is only 16 km away, where as Mt Sugarloaf is 40 km away.
Forrester Beach is virtually due south of you. This site repeats the Newcastle and Sydney stations.

To receive this signal you need to rotate your antenna around so that the antenna's grid is pointing east west. The longest length of the reflector grid screen needs to be horizontal. The parts to which the cable is connected should be on the southern side.

If you have a masthead amplfier, remove it including it's power inserter.

Rescan your receivers to receive
ABHN37 (ABC)
SBS38
NRN56 (Southern Cross)
NEN59 (Prime
ATN61 (7 Sydney)
TCN62 (9 Sydney)
TEN65 (10 Sydney)
NBN68 (NBN)
Make sure the scan completes by itself.


AlanH

[hughbow]

alanh, on Oct 23 2011, 10:05 PM, said:

hughbow,
Why are you not trying to receive your TV from Forrester Beach? It is only 16 km away, where as Mt Sugarloaf is 40 km away.
Forrester Beach is virtually due south of you. This site repeats the Newcastle and Sydney stations.

To receive this signal you need to rotate your antenna around so that the antenna's grid is pointing east west. The longest length of the reflector grid screen needs to be horizontal. The parts to which the cable is connected should be on the southern side.

If you have a masthead amplfier, remove it including it's power inserter.

Rescan your receivers to receive
ABHN37 (ABC)
SBS38
NRN56 (Southern Cross)
NEN59 (Prime
ATN61 (7 Sydney)
TCN62 (9 Sydney)
TEN65 (10 Sydney)
NBN68 (NBN)
Make sure the scan completes by itself.


AlanH

The reason I am pointed at Sugarloaf is that we seen to be in the ABC "overlap" area, and previously we were constantly losing our ABC signals so we pointed to Sugarloaf and overall we had a better experience. According to ABC this is a very common problem in this area. I will try "re-aiming" a little. I may have to get someone with a strength meter to ahve a look for me.

I might try your suggestion of disconneccting the booster and trying forresters beach again. Maybe without the booster I will have less overlap?

Thanks for the tips Alan and Tazzy

[alanh]

hughbow,
The Mt Sugarloaf transmitters are very powerful, and based on 1 Craigie Av, there is no obstructions. So your amplifier is probably being overloaded causing your breakups.

Before you do any more, I would remove the power inserter near the receiver and plug the cable directly into the receiver. At the antenna end remove the amplifier and connect the cable directly to the antenna. Now try and rotate it in the horizontal axis. It should be pointing towards 6 degrees east of true north. Remember the grid should be at right angles to the path of the signal.

The first post in this strand shows you where you can get an installer who has a digital field strength meter.

AlanH

[lesftv]

Oh Alan, you poor bugger - that's all I can say.

[AussieScotty]

My cousin has just moved to a new house in Gwandalan but we've found that tv reception can be very poor at times with channel 7 constantly pixelating. Phone and 3G reception in the area has always been bad, although I'm not sure if that's related or not. Does anyone have any advice on what we can do to improve reception for the tv, or even contact details of someone that can come out and help at a resonable rate?

[alanh]

AussieScotty,
Read the first post in this strand and follow the links. It appears that you should have a strong signal from the main Newcastle transmitters.
Use an endorsed installer in the link provided.

AlanH

[nbound]

AussieScotty, on 26 April 2012 - 04:31 PM, said:

My cousin has just moved to a new house in Gwandalan but we've found that tv reception can be very poor at times with channel 7 constantly pixelating. Phone and 3G reception in the area has always been bad, although I'm not sure if that's related or not. Does anyone have any advice on what we can do to improve reception for the tv, or even contact details of someone that can come out and help at a resonable rate?

Area has good tv signal coverage, has he moved there from out of the area and if so, has he retuned the TV?

[GlennP]

As above, also what phone provider are you talking about? I haven't been down into Gwandalan for some time, but have been down to Nords Wharf recently (just over the water), Optus have very good 3G coverage there, they have 2 towers up on the Hwy that would beam down into Gwandalan. Maybe change phone providers &/or get a new phone, try retuning the TV. Phone & TV coverage have nothing to do with each other either.
Is your cousin trying to get TV from Wyong (over the hill) or from Mt Sugarloaf?
Is it a "new" new house or an old house, just new to your cousin?

Edited by GlennP, 28 April 2012 - 09:02 AM.

[BamBBBam]

Anyone know if the centrl coast transmitters are doing an early switchover? Wondering about the forresters beach transmitter in particular.