Need pre-amp or new tuner?

[lbs22]

I have a Clear Stream 4 on an existing antenna pole, mounted at 15 ft and aimed away from our metal roof. I'm picking up several stations 36 miles away. We've had this set up for 6 months and we've just recently noticed cut-outs in the audio and sometimes even affecting the video. The audio cuts are less than one second and the video cuts just result in pixalation. I checked the signal strength and it's 70% on one channel and 82% on the other. This happens day & night, regardless of weather and every 2-6 minutes. This signal does NOT decrease when the audio cuts occur. We checked connectors and everything is secure.

Is it possible the tuner in my TV is going bad or is our signal strength not high enough? The TV is from 2006 while the antenna is brand new. My cable run isn't exceptionally long as we live in a small single story home.

[teleview]

Please make and post a tvfool radar report plot with the Exact address and the antenna height at 25 feet above ground.

[lbs22]

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3d1dda296337e41a

Antenna is directed at 75 degrees

[teleview]

The signal strengths at 25 feet above the ground , are Weak to Very Weak at your reception location and have 2 edge path obstructions = hills and mountains.

I recommend a big antenna that receives more signal.

Install a Winegard HD7698P antenna aimed at about 95 degree magnetic compass direction.

Install the HD7698P antenna Above The Peak Of The Roof in such a manner that the reception is not blocked by the roof and house in the directions of , east / south east.

Here is how to aim antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html.

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Weather-water damage is common.

Recommend replace the coax that goes from the antenna to the connection at/on/in the house with New coax that has the Compression type connectors on the ends of the coax , not the Old crimp type connectors.

-->ALL<-- other Outside coax and coax connectors and connections are suspect of being bad , Inspect All Connections With A Honest Eye.

To make double sure that weather water damage will not happen , wrap all coax/connectors and the coax on both sides of the connectors and etc. , with Coaxseal , http://www.coaxseal.com.

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Install a Antennas Direct CPA-19 preamp.
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For 1 Tv connected use No splitter.

For 2 Tv's connected use a , HFS-2D , 2 way splitter.

For 3 Tv's connected use a , HFS-3D , 3 way splitter.

Buy the HFS splitters at , http://www.solidsignal.com , or , http://www.hollandelectronics.com.

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Here are some Strong and Sturdy antenna mounts.

http://www.ronard.com/909911.html , install a 5 or 7 foot tripod antenna mount.

http://www.ronard.com/34424560.html , install the #4560 eave antenna mount.

http://www.ronard.com/ychim.html.

http://www.ronard.com.

Buy the ronard antenna mounts at solidsignal by typing the word ronard in the solidsignal search box or buy from ronard.

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Here are some places to buy antennas and etc.

http://www.solidsignal.com.

http://www.amazon.com.

http://www.winegarddirect.com.

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As always , trees and tree leaves , plants and plant leaves , do a good job of , absorbing , multi-path reflecting , blocking , OTA=Over The Air , Digital Broadcast Tv Reception , and so do buildings and other obstructions including your own roof and house.

It is best to install the HD7698P antenna at a location that has the least amount to no amount of obstructions of any type or kind in the directions of reception including your own roof and house.

The Tv's Must Channel Scan for the Digital Broadcast Tv stations/channels , often named the 'Air Channels' or 'Antenna Channels' in the Tv Setup Menu because the Tv transmissions travel through the Air from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna.

Some Digital Tv's will Automatic channels scan for cable tv channels.

DO NOT channels scan for cable tv channels.

Go into the Tv Setup Menu and select , 'Air Channels / 'Antenna Channels'.

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Digital Tv Tuners can develop - Digital Glitches - that are not cleared out with simple channel scans.

Do a double channel scan.

http://www.dtv.gov/rescan.html

[lbs22]

Thanks for the info. This is very helpful. You recommend aiming at 95 degrees - will this pick up a range or is it unidirectional?

[GroundUrMast]

The HD7698P is certainly considered a unidirectional antenna. However, that does not mean that it won't receive any signal a few degrees off of bore-sight. Depending on the channel, the forward beam-width ranges from 51° at CH-7 and 33° at CH-50.

http://www.starkelectronic.com/hd7698p.pdf

[teleview]

Looking at the tvfool Pending Applications Included radar plot report , I see that the group of Digital Tv stations to the , east , south east , are , 85 degree magnetic compass direction to 118 degree magnetic compass direction.

95 degree magnetic compass direction is a in between aim direction.

As always the starting aim direction is the --> starting aim direction.

The antenna aim direction can be adjusted for best reception.

Most Digital Tv's have a signal strength meter and some Digital Tv's also have a signal quality meter.