My converter box makes a great weather station!
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http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...4105118eb1bf6e I have an RCA converter box, and a UHF/VHF antenna, which has an amplifier. I was watching the available DTV channels for a year or two before the transition. After the transition, several of the Bay Area stations moved the location of their broadcast antenna on Sutro Tower in San Francisco, work that wasn't completed until October. I lost ABC7 KGO-DT for a while after October, but I can get it most of the time now. I regularly have to rescan and sometimes even do the power off thing, which is supposed to clear the converter's memory. It seems to me that certain weather patterns interfere with the reception. Is that possible with DTV? I can pretty much guarantee that about 20 minutes after the picture starts pixelating and the sound starts popping, the wind will get up and rain will fall. That's about the time it takes for a weather cell to cross San Francisco Bay. ALSO, I have never been able to get KNTV-DT (NBC). It's transmitted from a different tower down in the South Bay. Yet, I can get KFTL-CA, which seems from your Google Earth map to be transmitted from a tower in nearly the same location. How important is the angle at which the signal leaves the transmitter? Another question, do TV stations increase/decrease their power at certain times of the day? Could that be a factor in reception? Thanks, Rosa |
Hello and welcome!
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Do you know the make/model of your antenna? Quote:
If you can visually observe these weather-related signal dropouts, it usually means that your signals are operating near their minimum levels. If losing a small amount of signal causes a channel to go away, then it means the channel has dropped below its operating threshold (the so-called digital cliff). If you can improve the signal strength and/or quality reaching your receiver, then you'll have more margin for error when dealing with these external influences (seasonal changes, storms, interference, etc.). A better antenna might fix some of your "borderline" channels. Quote:
FYI, KFTL-CA is also broadcast from San Bruno. Quote:
The signal analysis tools at tvfool already take this into account. If you are receiving signals from "directional" transmitters, your angle with respect to each transmitter has already been factored into the equations. Quote:
What you will see more often is that the changes in the atmosphere will cause signal increases and decreases throughout the day. Sunspot activity and meteor showers can also have an effect. There can be some days when you might receive channels from usually great distances (sometimes hundreds of miles away), which is a hobby/sport that is sometimes referred to as DXing. |
Thanks for your fulsome reply!
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My first antenna was an RCA ANT301, but it didn't have an amplifier and wasn't very satisfactory. The one I'm using now is, admittedly, an el cheapo model F-6454A by Cornet. After reading some of the information on your antenna pages, I'm thinking I'll try putting it up higher in the room on a ledge where I could put the VHF legs out flat, rather than in their current V pattern. |
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