Tazzy2Heads

Have you tried a full factory reset retune including 240v turn off and again on before auto tune ?

mirakation Did you find a masthead amp ? If no amp I would presume the previous people had good tv reception. The antenna you have even though it is an analog type it looks like it is a "highish" gain type and would have a few elements for VHF band 3 and would pick up Band 3 digitals channels well enough for a modern tv to tune to even though the signal strength and quality would probably be down compared to a Band 3 only antenna as per normal,particularly the higher frequency channels. If you are loosing ALL channels sometimes I would be looking at your flylead first, then the wallplate outlet and cable connections then try and have a closer look at the antenna coax cable connection.Even with an older antenna in reasonable condition you should get stable signals from strong transmitters like Gore Hill etc if there is no close interference about. A very high amount of tv grief is the simple stuff, poor leads and plugs and connections all worth a look before calling in the 'Gun installer' cheers Tazzy

3 alternative UHF transmission sites available from that area with good coverage according to "myswitch", would be worth a look with correct address put in and or a signal survey with the correct antenna if the VHF is a no go with the existing set up as MLXXX suggests. cheers Tazzy

hi mirakation If there is a masthead amp(booster) or active powered signal splitter in the roof space the previous people may have taken the power pack that powers it all with them when they left. It is a common problem finding the new owners have no or bad tv reception when they move in, the power pack usually plugs in say the loungeroom tv wallplate with the injector and feeds the low voltage power the amp via the coaxial cable. Depending on the splitter if there is one you may have to find which outlet passes the power to the amp , some pass power on all points others only the one wall point. the previous people would have had good tv reception you would think. cheers Tazzy

The signal quality for channel 7 maybe borderline as may the other channels but channel 7 maybe the worst of the 5 networks.The tv tuner maybe ok for now and can correct the data errors but the Foxtel box maybe not able to keep up with the error count, this is a common problem if the signal is poor quality.once the signals are up to spec the Foxtel box should be ok if it is working correctly. cheers Tazzy

Hi Guys One solution I have found that seems to work is to use the Winguard type antenna for VHF capital city and strong regional UHF signals and use a high gain UHF Yagi or a band 3/4 log periodic antenna mounted on a teloscopic mast fitted to the drawbar that way the antenna can be mounted for vertical or horizontal signals,Some caravans have an outside antenna connection already fitted or you can find an easy way inside up through the floor or just run the cable in the door when required,A masthead amp can be fitted in line if you need more signal if you are in the bush a bit.There a brackets available to fit the drawbar temporarily that just bolt on with wingnuts etc and you can turn the antenna for the best reception, easier than getting the misses to turn the van while you watch the tv ha! cheers Tazzy

domi if you think wind is going to be a big issue you could consider ground mounting it on a pipe concreted in the ground, it would be easier to adjust and keep an eye on it for maintainance etc.as long as the misses doesn't hang the washing on it.if you must roof mount it use a proper satellite dish mount for a 90cm dish as it will come with adjustable stay arms and all the correct screws and washers to start with and possibly some instructions on how to position the stay arms for a high wind area.Hills also have some stay arm feet for high wind areas that have two scews to the roof and the stay arm bolts to a bolt up through the center of the foot. cheers Tazzy

hi domi The dish they sold you should be fine, there are plenty of them in use Not sure what you are calling the grommet, I guess you are talking about the rubber boot that the cable goes through and then is pushed over the connection to the LNB, Most installers use compression type F connectors that have a rubber ring seal in the thread that seals up the connection and use self amalgamating rubber tape to seal the connection,not sure why they would bother knocking off the boots from the LNB boxes ? cheers Tazzy

It is amazing how many 'installers' can't get the bracket right !! Going by your sketches the bottom one is the closest to correct just turn the bigger bracket on the nut side of the clamp around so it goes back over the antenna boom and vee in that one should line up with the one on the other side and put the mast through where you show it in the bottom sketch and the nuts will be able to put a spanner onto, don't over tighten otherwise you will start to squash the aluminium boom and bend it,it is surprising how much power is in a screw thread.Good luck it's not rocket science. cheers Tazzy

Hi rah Over the years I have found 'myswitch' a handy tool to see what signals may be like before going to a job location,most of the time it is fairly accurate but once in a while it can be wrong sometimes because of obvious tree growth that is not factored in. The MER readings will show you which is the better quality signals. cheers Tazzy

hi StephenSLR The cheapest way to receive the new mpeg4 channels is to fit a mpeg4 compatible HDset top box to the tv.They are around $30-40 dollars at the moment. If a rescan is done on the tv the SDWIN channels should come back on the original LCN numbers and again on the new LCN numbers.WIN has the shopping channels also in mpeg4 now.The new WINHD picture is worth the effort if you have a big screen tv. cheers Tazzy

Have you had a look at RF type tv signal extenders ? Depending how many walls and what they are made of some of these send a signal a fair way and the better ones will allow you to change channels using the Foxtel remote, though not all can handle the IQ3 box remote signals , it would pay to check first . cheers Tazzy

I don't think your problem is 4G if it comes and goes for an hour or more at a time but it may be worth putting a 4G filter between the antenna and the amplifier if you pull the mast etc. down for a look. You need a meter to see whats happening otherwise its all guess work. cheers Tazzy

Hi Tennixx Have the channels been restacked in your area?If so your antenna may not be picking the new group of channels as well as before if the new ones are far away from the old ones in frequency. The signal meters in tvs don't give the true signal strength and quality at the antenna, the booster makes the tv meter read strong signals but the quality can be poor. It is the quality you need to work on usually. The signal maybe changing from hot/cold day/night propagation in a weak signal area which is changing the signal quality,or tree growth or new buildings in area. You may have to relocate the antenna to a better quality location if you can't find anything wrong with the connections. You will need to measure the signal on all channels with a Digital Signal Meter to understand whether it is a signal or possibly an interference problem, any new 4G phone towers close by? cheers Tazzy

Hi Wally You really need to measure the signal levels to know where you are at with the trouble channels. An adjustable masthead amp is the easy fix to try first, quite often they will bring the quality up with the signal strength if the signal is not too low to start with An 18 element band 3 antenna is a monster, remember the more elements the sharper the pickup lobe is and sometimes that can work against you. I doubt whether I have bought 3 of them over the years here in TAS.If I can't make it happen with a 10 element antenna I go looking for a better location with the meter.There is not a lot of gain difference between an 18 and a 10 element antenna I have found and it's not generally showen up on all the channels.You will get a lot more gain from an amp 20+ db depending what you buy and to make sure it's adjustable may get you out of grief. Your existing antenna may just need to be repositioned to a better signal location for whatever channels you are watching now whether VHF or UHF. cheers Tazzy

Hi jsmith, These types of antennas I feel are too much of a compromise in the design compared to the build of an antenna that works ok and is built on built to normal antenna design specs. Are you trying to pick up VHF or UHF channels and do you have the polarity correct ? I like debruis had a lend of a Matchmaster Squarial to test for a job and found it only worked ok on strong VHF signals was very poor on UHF.I believe that they are no longer available. I have only come across one or two in use.They were a good concept but only seemed to work in very strong signal areas and cost more than what people were willing to pay I found.I did pull one apart to see what was inside and it looked like most of the cost was in the plastic case.I think MM rebadged them as I remember seeing Italian or Spanish wording on the printed circuit board inside. A small log periodic antenna with the mounting at the back may fit where you want and will way out perform what you have. cheers Tazzy

Hi again I think you have probably have been watching tv from more than one possibly multiple transmitters and you have been sitting on the edge of failure with the channels and now your quality has dropped below what some of the tv tuners can handle on some channels. If you refer back to James's first post you will see the Gold Coast is a complex area for the correct tv transmitter for your area Not sure if you have looked at the 'myswitch'site ?if not type in your address and you will see how many towers you could get signals from,what is possibly the best tower for you and channels for that tower and the antenna polarity vertical or horizontal for that tower. Tune your tv in manual to the channel numbers for that tower only. don't worry about the frequency tuning at this stage keep it simple You can't mess anything up, worst case doing another auto tune should get you back to where you are now. It maybe that the antenna needs to be relocated to get the best signals from the best available tower.It would have to be done with a signal meter to get a best possible out come.Also the antenna may not be the best one for that area follwing the channel restack. A bit more to think about. cheers Tazzy

Hi James and Doc Just looked at 'myswitch' for the Gold Coast area, what a can of worms that area is with 4 transmission sites and the channel groups and vertical and horizontal polarity.You certainly need your head around it all and a good Digital Signal Meter to make the magic happen there in bad signal areas. I think you will need the 'man' to measure the signal quality etc Doc cheers Tazzy

Hi Doc, Probably in the same area in the menu where auto tuning is there should be a manual tuning setting where you tune the channels you want one at time,or you could pull out the antenna to the tv and do an auto tune with the antenna out to clear the memories then start an auto tune again and put the antenna back in before it gets to ch 34, hopefully your tv shows the channel numbers as it tunes and not just a line across the screen. cheers Tazzy

Hi Probably LED downlights are the culprits, has been a common problem for a while. cheers Tazzy

Hi Ron12 Yes you are correct I had them around the wrong way, I was just a kid at the time,drove my parents nuts turning the tv antenna looking for the DX stations, eventually saved enough for a tv antenna rotator from Dick Smith which kept the peace for a while until I discovered shortwave radio, cb radio and amateur radio and wanted to put up wires every where.The old geeza across the road thought we were all spyes. Now I'M the old geeza across the road with wires every where Ha!! Tv going from those frequencies hasn't stopped the DX ducting only the message on the RF has changed with technology and the user allocations.Amateur Radio Operators are using VHF every day to communicate around the country and overseas particularly in summertime when the Tropospheric Ducting is good. Cheers Tazzy.

Hi guys, It is possible to receive tv and other radio signals particulaly in the summer time up and down the coast if you are in the right spot at the right time, sometimes it lasts for quite a while other times only a short time and the signal strength can be very strong.In the analogue days two pictures could be seen at the same time from two different stations when they were using the same rf channel and also created a lot of grief sometimes if the signals cancelled each other out.The signals are ducted about by differences in air temperature and the terrain etcand the frequencies involved.People in Melbourne can sometimes watch Northern Tasmanian tv and vice versa.channel 0 vhf tv from Darling Downs Qld was common in Hobart in the summer and when I lived in Sydney years ago you could watch NZ tv ch 0 on our ch 1 Not many tv channels were in use in those days. cheere and happy new year. Tazzy

Hi confusedtv It's not that confusing if you think about it all logically. If your antenna is 30 years old it may be past it or may not be strong enough for where you are now and you may need the man with a digital signal meter to test for the best quality signals.Having said that if the antenna is still in reasonable condition with a good connection and cable you maybe ok if it has elements for UHF signals. I presume it originally was pointing to Gore Hill/ Artarmon and is a vhf/uhf combination antenna and you could receive SBS on channel 28. If that is the case it probably is a reasonably gainful antenna considering the distance out to Richmond area and should work on the Kurrajong tower signals if you are in a good signal area for that tower. Have you looked at other antennas on houses around you to see what their antennas look like and which way they are pointing ? You may need to do a manual tune on each channel to make sure you are tuned to the correct channels only. If you have been doing an auto tune you may have channels you don't want or have missed out. The channels for Kurrajong according to 'myswitch' are 28,30,31,32, and 33. Hope that helps you a bit. cheers Tazzy

happy new year, Are you aware there is a uhf transmitter at Kurrajong that should cover your area.Some people also get tv on uhf from the Wollongong transmitter that comes into some areas of western Sydney as well as vhf from Gore Hill or where ever these days, its a long time since Iworked in Sydney. cheers Tazzy.

Poor Quality signal can also cause that sometimes, do any of the tv's have a signal quality info bar in the signal information setting to compare the network signals for quality ? With all the tv's showing 350 etc it may be worth a phone call to channel 7 to see if other people have complained,it may be their end. cheers Tazzy