Hello,
I recently canceled my DirecTV service and decided to go OTA. I'll say right off that I'm not very knowledgable in terms of all of the things that influence reception and I also have a hard time with brevity. :-)
Here's a link to the results of the TV fool signal analysis tool for my address. (I'm not sure why but it said it could only resolve my address to block level.)
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...5b942b25b8baf2
Right now, I have just a $10 pair of rabbit ears on the floor in my living room connected to an HD HomeRun Dual from Silicon Dust. I get most of the major networks in fairly well, but signal quality occasionally drops and causes some artificats - pixelation for example.
I am using the HD HomeRun software to monitor the signal. It has indicators for signal strength, signal quality, and symbol quality. They are shown in a percentage and also change color as they drop - green is good, yellow is in the middle, and red for low. (There is no red for signal strength though - just green, yellow, and white for whatever reason.)
For 3 of the 4 major networks, signal strength is consistently above 80% and signal quality is also generally high - not perfect but usually in the upper 70s, mostly in the 80s. For one network in particular (57.1, WBND, the ABC affiliate), the signal strength is rather weak (generally in the low 70s which is yellow and sometimes goes white) and signal and symbol quality (not sure what that is even) fluctuate pretty drastically. I've attached 5 photos of the signal quality for the one channel - they were taken in quick succession.
To my questions...
Are fluctuations in signal quality generally the result of interference of some sort or what sorts of factors influence signal quality? If interference, what are likely sources and how do you identify them? Just move the antenna to different areas and see how that changes the quality? If you have poor signal quality for one channel in particular, is that likely due to interference on that particular frequency maybe?
My understanding from what I've read is that signal strength is, at least in a sense, all or nothing - the signal is either strong enough for you to receive a channel or it's not. So, if you have a signal that is somewhat weak but consistent and still strong enough to receive the channel, boosting the signal with an amplifier would not improve picture quality at all. Is that right?
Is it also true then that artifacts are only caused by poor signal quality and not lack of signal strength?
I realize I know very little but I'd like to learn more and am just hoping to get my reception for at least the 4 major networks to be as solid as it can be - inside of whatever insurmountable limitations may exist. Any insight would be appreciated!