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Old 12-Sep-2013, 1:02 PM   #4
jeff92k7
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 9
Ha ha. I wondered if you had a TiVo Premiere when you said the signal strength showed the same for all channels.

There is a glitch in the current TiVo software version that causes the signal strength meter to freeze. If you restart the TiVo, the signal meter will work again and you can measure two or three channels, but then it will freeze again. When it freezes, all channels will then show the same value. It does not matter what that value is.

Unfortunately, this makes it very difficult to troubleshoot antenna issues. To further compound the issue, the TiVo Premiere tuner is not a great tuner and is susceptible to multi-path interference. Other tuners can often reject multi-path interference, so using another tuner to set an antenna may or may not make any difference to the TiVo performance.

What I had to do was use my TV signal meter to set my antenna, and hope that the TiVo would be better too. I'm still waiting for TiVo to fix the software issue so I can actually use the TiVo's meter to check my antenna placement/aiming. One thing to keep in mind is that the TiVo signal meter means absolutely nothing. The numbers don't seem to correspond to any power levels or anything. You just have to get the number higher. I have noticed that anything below about 60 on the TiVo meter will result in frequent signal breakups.

All that said, now we turn to your antenna. Personally, I don't think you have a big enough antenna. Excepting four channels at the top of your report, all of your channels are 1edge or worse. Meaning there is no direct path for the signal to travel from the broadcast tower to your antenna. Either the curvature of the earth is blocking it or other terrain or buildings are in the way. This drastically reduces the signal at your location, so while your antenna may be rated by the manufacturer for 30-40 miles line of sight, it's nowhere near big enough to pull in the weak, obstructed signals.

Second, your preamp is probably fine. Just keep in mind that a preamp isn't going to improve the performance of an antenna. If the antenna isn't receiving a signal, no amount of amplification is going to fix it. Preamps are meant to overcome later signal losses from long cable runs and splitters. They will keep your signal from degrading after the antenna, but can do nothing for the signal that the antenna receives.

Third, your channels come from different directions (looking at major networks). You'll likely need an antenna rotator to be able to turn the antenna, or multiple antennas.... Maybe use the current one to pick up the "green" stations on your report and get a better performing, UHF-only, directional antenna to aim towards the yellow stations. If you don't care about the green stations, since you mentioned WCVB which is an ABC affiliate just like WMUR, then you might be fine with a UHF only antenna aimed towards the yellow stations.

Lastly, it "may" also help to aim the antenna slightly up. This may help reduce multipath reflections from the ground that the TiVo can't overcome, as well as possibly strengthen the incoming signal.

Hopefully others will chime in here as well with suggestions.
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