315 replies to this topic

[mjt57]

My antenna is on the north side of the house. It faces south to where our TV transmitters are located. The height of the antenna is just below the height of the tiled roof.

Yesterday and today, builders are replacing the tiled roof (it's stuffed) with a steel one. Should this affect the antenna's reception capability?

[Tazzy2Heads]

Yes, signals don't through metal.
Whether it makes a noticable difference to your signals to cause pixelation on any channels will depend on how far down below the
ridge line the antenna is, how strong the signals are at your location, and whether they are VHF or UHF.
Ideally the antenna should be looking well clear  above over the ridge of the roofline. The height and position would be determined
by an installer with a digital signal meter if it was a new install.
You may be lucky if the signals are strong and the antenna can stay where it is, otherwise you may  be able to raise it at the
current position with an Adda-Mast extension and some stay arms.
Cheers
Tazzy

[mtv]

 mjt57, on 08 March 2012 - 11:11 AM, said:

My antenna is on the north side of the house. It faces south to where our TV transmitters are located. The height of the antenna is just below the height of the tiled roof.

Yesterday and today, builders are replacing the tiled roof (it's stuffed) with a steel one. Should this affect the antenna's reception capability?

Anything obstructing the signal path can affect reception and metal will both block and reflect signals, so you are likely to see a change with a metal roof.

Ideally, you need to have a site test performed to find the best mounting location for your antenna.

[mjt57]

Thanks, guys.

After the roof was finished I tried the TV. In particular, I tested the reception on the Panasonic blu-ray recorder which has had no end of reception issues. It seemed to be fine on all channels (at the time).

I climbed onto the roof to look at something. While I was up there I noticed that the antenna itself clears the ridge of the roof by about 100mm or so.

If I do get reception issues I'll get a ridge mount and relocate the antenna to the top of the roof. At least then it'll have the highest possible location.

I get reception from Mt Tassie in Gippsland, which is line of sight, (nothing between me and the towers as I can see them) about 15-20km, perhaps, away. All UHF, no analog any more.

[M'bozo]

While I was up there I noticed that the antenna itself clears the ridge of the roof by about 100mm or so.

That's probably sufficient for the power of the transmitters at Mt Tassie. (I reckon a specially shaped metal coat-hanger would probably work where you are)

If the signal is a bit lower than optimum, this may even help the BR recorder, as in my experience these devices are not happy with either a lot of signal, or lots of analogue/digital transmitters. If analogue is gone, so much the better.

[mjt57]

M'bozo, I've had no end of reception problems with this BR recorder since I got it. However, since the steel roof went up, so far, it seems to be performing without any real problems.

Of course, I've yet to record anything important. But as soon as I do, no doubt the reception problems will return. Funnily enough, both Austar Mystar HD PVRs which are connected to the same antenna have no problems at all.

[alanh]

MJT,
It sounds as if your signals received by your BR recorder are being picked up on the cable and not the antenna. Now that the metal roof has been installed the cable is not being bathed in signals any more. If the other end of the cable is connected to the satellite dish it is not suprising you do not have reliable reception.

You need a UHF antenna. Read http://www.dtvforum....opic=14030&st=0 Look at the link H4+ link for antenna recommendations.

Alanh

[M'bozo]

M'bozo, I've had no end of reception problems with this BR recorder since I got it.

I feel your pain.

I was working on a customer's AV system yesterday with one of these where the TV attached to it had just stopped working. The recorder itself was fine, just wasn't passing RF through to the TV. The signals into the recorder were not the problem

Got around that another way.

[mjt57]

 alanh, on 22 March 2012 - 07:28 PM, said:

MJT,
It sounds as if your signals received by your BR recorder are being picked up on the cable and not the antenna. Now that the metal roof has been installed the cable is not being bathed in signals any more. If the other end of the cable is connected to the satellite dish it is not suprising you do not have reliable reception.

You need a UHF antenna. Read http://www.dtvforum....opic=14030&st=0 Look at the link H4+ link for antenna recommendations.

I have a UHF antenna installed. I got a "Matchmaster", similar to those recommended to me in another thread on here.

There is no connection to the Austar satellite. Not sure why or how this would occur.

I have that quad shielded stuff coming from the antenna. It is about a 3m run. It goes into a splitter that uses the screw on fittings. Forget what they are called.

One cable runs to the back of the house where the BR recorder, MystarHD and Panasonic LCD are situated. Another lead goes to the front lounge where a TV (Panasonic Plasma) and a MystarHD is located.

The run to the front is probably 6-8m. The run to the back, maybe 10-12m, perhaps a bit longer.

Thing is, the Mystar and the TV are connected to the antenna via the BR recorder's RF pass thru'. When I was having the reception problems I swapped things around, had those double adaptor splitters and so on. Tried various combinations of connections and configurations. Settled for the BR recorder being first cab off the rank as far as connections to the wall outlet goes. Problem still existed.

When the BR recorder was having reception issues, usually one one set of channels, say, Ten, 11 and OneHD, or Prime, 7Mate and and so on, the TV and the Mystar could pull those stations in without any issues. And at the same time, the sets up the front had no issues, either.

[nbound]

Those BR recorders can be a bit finnicky with signal, but I would try swapping flyleads between the BR and the wall just incase its a lil on the dodgy side.

[Tazzy2Heads]

 mjt57, on 25 March 2012 - 11:04 AM, said:

I have a UHF antenna installed. I got a "Matchmaster", similar to those recommended to me in another thread on here.

There is no connection to the Austar satellite. Not sure why or how this would occur.

I have that quad shielded stuff coming from the antenna. It is about a 3m run. It goes into a splitter that uses the screw on fittings. Forget what they are called.

One cable runs to the back of the house where the BR recorder, MystarHD and Panasonic LCD are situated. Another lead goes to the front lounge where a TV (Panasonic Plasma) and a MystarHD is located.

The run to the front is probably 6-8m. The run to the back, maybe 10-12m, perhaps a bit longer.

Thing is, the Mystar and the TV are connected to the antenna via the BR recorder's RF pass thru'. When I was having the reception problems I swapped things around, had those double adaptor splitters and so on. Tried various combinations of connections and configurations. Settled for the BR recorder being first cab off the rank as far as connections to the wall outlet goes. Problem still existed.

When the BR recorder was having reception issues, usually one one set of channels, say, Ten, 11 and OneHD, or Prime, 7Mate and and so on, the TV and the Mystar could pull those stations in without any issues. And at the same time, the sets up the front had no i
ssues, either.

Hi mjt57
It's going to be hard to find where or what your problem is without taking proper Digital signal measurements for signal strength
and Quality for each channel at the antenna and at the wall outlets. Some PVR recorders don't like signals above say 65db going
into them and Panasonic do/did have a model that doesn't like strong signal strength, I had to put a 10db attenuator in line with
my own and the signal is already split 6 ways with line of sight to the transmitter towers.
You could use a three way 'F' splitter to split the signal from the wall plate to three separate leads , one to the recorder, one to
the tv and one to the MYstar box if you need FTA to it, this will drop the signal strength by about 4-6 db depending on the
frequencies involved and may stop the PVR tuner from over load if that is the problem.If its a BER signal issue you will need to
get someone in with the right Digital meter to see where the grief is.It is not unusual to have one channel stronger or weaker
than the others or one tuner in say the tv working perfectly on a poor quality signal that another tuner can't handle. That's why
we need the test gear, and the signal Quality is usually the secret to it all. cheers
Tazzy

[beeblebrox]

 M, on 22 March 2012 - 08:30 PM, said:

M'bozo, I've had no end of reception problems with this BR recorder since I got it.

I feel your pain.

I was working on a customer's AV system yesterday with one of these where the TV attached to it had just stopped working. The recorder itself was fine, just wasn't passing RF through to the TV. The signals into the recorder were not the problem

Got around that another way.

So many of these now have these weird power save modes that when in standyby won't pass a signal to the rf out.  change the setting and their fine... or run a splitter for the two devices...   the first time I saw this problem I was like wtf signal in ok out stuffed.  did a factory reset on the recorder and in it's install process it asks do you want super dooper power save which kills rf passthrough or not so superdooper...   and hat of course solved it.

[M'bozo]

So many of these now have these weird power save modes that when in standyby won't pass a signal to the rf out.

Not this one. It broke.

or run a splitter for the two devices

That's how it was fixed.

[Chris Dowling]

Is Peterborough Victoria terrible for reception? Or am I just missing something?

[alanh]

Chris,
There is no terrestrial signal at Peterbough Vic. It is not the only place. Check out the yellow areas on maps 3, 5, 6 and 9.

A VAST satellite dish and receiver will be required. Instructions are on the digital ready website.

Alanh

[Chris Dowling]

Bummer I don't have a satellite meter so I prob can't help her with her reception then. Thanks Alan