Help with multipath caused by moving trains

DPres · 13-Mar-2012, 3:57 AM

I have an interesting problem with multipath and am hoping that someone will be able to help. I live 18 miles southwest of my desired TV transmitters.
Here is my tvfool report:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...foolreport.png
I live in a valley and a wooded hill is between my house and the transmitters-close to my house. I have an old bow-tie UHF antenna extended above my 48ft tower. (Pictured here: http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...N/P3062435.jpg ) It has a preamp that is old. The indoor part says Galaxy III series. I think the outdoor part is older.

My biggest problem is that there is a train track that runs from southeast to southwest of my house about 1/4 mile away. When trains go by, my picture on several channels pixellates and stops. Audio completely cuts out for 30 seconds to a minute. It naturally depends on how long and fast the train is. The channel signal strength according to my Samsung HDTV or my OTA DishDTVPal DVR is in the mid to upper 80%s for my worst channels. My 95%+ channels don't cut out much. I theorize that the signal is bouncing off the moving train cars into the back of my antenna. This is worse in Winter when there are no leaves on the trees to block the bounced signal. The funny thing is, the area where the train begins to interfere is directly behind the antenna, but the faces of the cars are at an oblique angle. That doesn't make much sense to me.
Does anyone have advice for me? I installed a rotator but I can't find a position that fixes it. My thinking is that I might need to get a new antenna that is more directional and/or rejects signal better from behind. I don't have any specs. on my old antenna to compare to new ones. What should I be looking for in beam width or front-to-back ratio. Or any other advice would be appreciated.

The TV stations I am interested in all are in the same direction: NorthEast. We watch the top 5 stations on the list. The worst one affected is ABC, then PBS. NBC is sometimes affected, but CBS doesn't cut out at all.

Thanks!

Electron · 13-Mar-2012, 4:44 AM

The pictures are not showing. For the tvfool radar report , DO NOT take a picture of the tv fool radar report , pictures of the radar report are dead and we can not do much with them. Post a live tvfool radar report. Go to the other question askers posts to see what a live tvfool radar report is and does.

DPres · 13-Mar-2012, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DPres

I have an interesting problem with multipath and am hoping that someone will be able to help. I live 18 miles southwest of my desired TV transmitters.
Here is my tvfool report:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...foolreport.png
I live in a valley and a wooded hill is between my house and the transmitters-close to my house. I have an old bow-tie UHF antenna extended above my 48ft tower. (Pictured here: http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...N/P3062435.jpg ) It has a preamp that is old. The indoor part says Galaxy III series. I think the outdoor part is older.

My biggest problem is that there is a train track that runs from southeast to southwest of my house about 1/4 mile away. When trains go by, my picture on several channels pixellates and stops. Audio completely cuts out for 30 seconds to a minute. It naturally depends on how long and fast the train is. The channel signal strength according to my Samsung HDTV or my OTA DishDTVPal DVR is in the mid to upper 80%s for my worst channels. My 95%+ channels don't cut out much. I theorize that the signal is bouncing off the moving train cars into the back of my antenna. This is worse in Winter when there are no leaves on the trees to block the bounced signal. The funny thing is, the area where the train begins to interfere is directly behind the antenna, but the faces of the cars are at an oblique angle. That doesn't make much sense to me.
Does anyone have advice for me? I installed a rotator but I can't find a position that fixes it. My thinking is that I might need to get a new antenna that is more directional and/or rejects signal better from behind. I don't have any specs. on my old antenna to compare to new ones. What should I be looking for in beam width or front-to-back ratio. Or any other advice would be appreciated.

The TV stations I am interested in all are in the same direction: NorthEast. We watch the top 5 stations on the list. The worst one affected is ABC, then PBS. NBC is sometimes affected, but CBS doesn't cut out at all.

Thanks!

Sorry, I forgot to check the links before submitting...
Here are the TVFool report:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...foolreport.png
My antenna is here:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...N/P3062435.jpg

Electron · 13-Mar-2012, 6:09 PM

I ask you to Not take a DEAD Picture of the tvfool radar report. The picture you have taken looks like only the current channels. And not the current plus pending applications included. It Is Important To Have The Current Plus Pending Applications Included. It is important to have a Live and Active Live Link to the tvfool radar report. Thanks.

DPres · 13-Mar-2012, 8:52 PM

Sorry, Electron. I wasn't reading carefully. Thanks for your patience!

Here is the live link:
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...0b867a8aa91ff6

I should also mention that I am running about 80 feet of RG59 to a 4 way splitter then a few more feet to my DVR and TV. (Plus 15 more feet to another room.) I could replace it with RG6, but fishing the cable would be not be fun. Possible, though.

Electron · 13-Mar-2012, 10:27 PM

Pay attention to the information I am providing. Ok install a Winegard HD7698P antenna on the rotor. The HD7698P antenna is Very Directional and does a better job of rejecting signals that arrive at the antenna at angles. The tv stations/channels to the north east are Very Strong , Do Not have a preamp , the preamp will amplify the reflected signals and make the reception worse.

Electron · 13-Mar-2012, 11:12 PM

The tv stations/channels to the south west are weaker of signal strength. The HD7698P antenna has a lot of signal gain and will supply signal to two tv's down to at least WNDY-TV digital UHF channel 32 MyNetwork. The digital tv channels to the south west below WNDY are Very Weak. If you will like to go after the Current and Pending Applications Included digital tv stations/channels that are below the WNDY. Then install a Channel Master CM3412 distribution amplifier. However keep in mind that even a distribution amplifier will likely make the reception of digital tv stations/channels to the north east worse when the antenna is pointed to the north east.

Electron · 13-Mar-2012, 11:16 PM

Here is how to aim antennas , http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html. Here are places to buy antennas and etc. , http://www.winegarddirect.com , http://www.solidsignal.com , http://www.amazon.com

Electron · 14-Mar-2012, 5:18 AM

I recommend No Amplifier of any type or kind. I do recommend a variable attenuator to Dial Down the signal strength. The received tv transmissions to the north east are very strong and so are the reflections. A variable attenuator will Dial Down the signal strengths of the main signal and reflections so the tv tuner can filter out the reflections. At http://www.sloidsignal.com , type 1296f in the solidsignal search box.

DPres · 14-Mar-2012, 9:45 PM

Thanks for your advice. I now know how to proceed.