OTA quit working

[Stereocraig]

Originally Posted by bwag32

ok killed everything at the circuit breaker . ran a brand new 25ft cable to the tv and scanned only got 3 channels. here is a few pictures of what I am dealing with. Keep in mind that on these trees there is the same amount of leaves as when it was working .just tell me I am screwed if that is the case lol

So, I'm assuming you measured the resistance from the phasing lines to ground as I recommended?

[bwag32]

Have no clue on how or what I need in order to do it

[Stereocraig]

Originally Posted by bwag32

Have no clue on how or what I need in order to do it

You will need some type of ohm, or continuity meter.
Try it w/ and w/o the balun box in place.

[timgr]

A multimeter is a handy thing to have.

http://www.harborfreight.com/7-funct...ter-98025.html

The meter will measure AC and DC voltage, current, and resistance.

Set it to the highest resistance scale (Ohms, the Omega symbol) and touch the probe ends together. It will read near zero, demonstrating continuity.

Touch the probe ends to the phasing line and ground, and the reading should be near infinite. If the reading goes to zero or a low value you have a short.

There are lots of tutorials on YouTube about how to use a multimeter. It's a very handy thing to have in your tool kit.

[bwag32]

Thank you. I'll look at home depot or Lowe's do I cab do that this weekend

+=>

So what are the 3 channels that are received??

Use the Tv station Call Sign and Real Channel Number and Network to identify.

An example is , WXYZ-TV , Real channel 22 , NBC.

-------------

If the antenna is 100% working.

The coax that is New and goes from the antenna through a open door direct to 1 Tv.

The Tv Tuner is Ok and the ATSC-Digital Broadcast Tv Stations/Channels are scanned for.

Not Cable channels.

Not Analog Broadcast Tv channels.

And the loss of channels happened over night.

And now receiving 3 Tv channels , please identify so the reception situation be better evaluated.


---------------

The first picture shows a tree on the side of the Tv antenna.

The second picture shows some trees that are some distance away.

And both pictures show the antenna is not that high above the ground.

No I Do Not think you are sc*****.

My evaluation is , something is not working correctly.

And will also help to have the antenna higher.

But before installing the antenna higher.

I suspect something is wrong with the Tv.

Test reception with a different Tv.

Be sure and channel scan to the ATSC-Digital Broadcast Tv Channels.

Do the Double Rescan as recommend elsewhere in this thread.

Not Cable Tv channels.

Not Analog Broadcast Tv channels.

Then Reconnect All parts of the preamplifier and scan for channels again.

[bwag32]

As far as testing phaseline to the grounds can I do it to the ground that is ran to the mast


Tele I will try scanning just digital channels

[GroundUrMast]

With the down-lead disconnected, one lead of the ohm meter goes to the antenna boom. the other lead goes to a phase line, then the other. There should be infinite resistance indicated in each case.

This test can be at the time of assembly, before the mast is mounted or grounded, or with the antenna attached to a grounded mast.

[bwag32]

ok so tested and its infinite on all phases. I get the following:

WKRN-abc- real channel27
WSMV-NBC-real channel10

and that is it. when I hooked up either one of my preamp's i get 0 channels so I guess both of those are bad. Antenna is as high as I can get it which is about 40 ft. is there a signal meter that I can hook up to the antenna when im aiming to see the strength? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

[bwag32]

will this work to test the signal
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...41#tabsetBasic

[ADTech]

Originally Posted by bwag32

will this work to test the signal
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...41#tabsetBasic

No, that's for satellite signals.

+=>

1.
Reception stopped.

2.
The reception path is the same , same amount of leaves and etc. .

3.
The antenna is good.

4.
The coax is a New Continues Length of coax from the antenna to the Tv through a open door or window , direct to 1 Tv.

No splitters , No couplers , No etc.

The Tv is good.

5.
2 bad preamps.

6.
????

[bwag32]

yes that about somes it up. Took the tv to a friends house this morning. No preamp installed and I got 22 channels. brought same tv home and only got the ones I already listed. also bought a new atsc tuner hooked it up and got the same channels. im at a complete loss.

[tomfoolery]

From where I sit, and I'm not an RF expert, it appears that the only thing you haven't replaced is the preamp. With 2-edge signals at your location, it's entirely possible that a working amplifier with a low noise margin may have been just enough to make reception on many channels reliable. An amp isn't a substitute for antenna gain, but I've seen plenty of folks post here that adding an amp added channels, suggesting they were just weak enough at the end of the cable to be unreliable unless a little boost was added.

Since antennas don't normally fail 'hard', to paraphrase GUM, but amplifiers DO, and it's the only thing you haven't tried, that's what I'd try next, if it were me.

Also, your friend may have a different antenna, and definitely is in a different location, so the tests at his house only proves that your TV's are working and correctly set (OTA vs cable, for instance).

You might want to post a Fool report for HIS location, at the elevation above ground of HIS antenna, using the map function to precisely place it, for comparison sake.

But at the end of the day, the amp is the only thing you haven't replaced (unless I missed it in there somewhere), and it's the most likely thing to fail 'hard', and your signals are marginal to start with, so I'd consider that as your next move. And if you do that, get a recommendation here for an amp, as I have learned that a poor amp can do as much damage to the signal by adding noise as it does good by boosting strength. If your going to spend money, spend it well.

[bwag32]

Before all this happened I was able to get 17 channels with out preamp

[bwag32]

Would it be worth getting a signal meter

[ADTech]

Take a photo of what the antenna is looking at and post that. It might offer insight.

A capable signal meter/analyzer will set you back several hundred, at least, if you can find one for sale, then you'd still need to learn to use it.

[bwag32]

Will do as soon as I get home

+=>

7.
In the past.

Was getting 17 channels with no preamp.

8.
Took the Tv to a friends house and got 22 channels.

9.
Most Digital Tv's have a Signal Strength Meter and some Digital Tv's also have a Signal Quality Meter.

10.
Home Depot has 10 foot 6 inch lengths of 1 and 3/8 inch diameter , TOP RAIL , chain link fence , PIPE , that makes good antenna mast , the price is low at about 10 dollars.

11.

For reception to fail 'Hard' , some thing went defective.

The way my thinking works is ,

Has to be some thing that has been replace and the replacement is also defective.

Some thing that has not been replaced yet.

Some thing is still connected that is reducing/stoping the signal.

[bwag32]

here is a picture. this is the same area it has been aiming for the past month or so. Everything was fine until I moved it to try and get fox coming in better.antenna is 40ft up. I have no way to get it any higher