[MrJedi]

Originally Posted by GroundUrMast

Rapid fluctuation of the signal meter reading makes me think of a few possible causes:

1) Multipath - Try moving the antenna, outdoors in the clear is almost always the best place.

Yeah I plan on doing that once it gets warmer. I hate working outside in the winter

Originally Posted by GroundUrMast

2) A poor connection between the coax shield and coax connector shell - Inspect all connections carefully.

I'm not sure what this means, but it is a virtually brand new antenna that has never been outside using a brand new coax cable. The center wire seems to be inserted correctly and the connections are tight.

Originally Posted by GroundUrMast

3) Signal reflection from an unterminated splitter port - Avoid using a splitter with more ports than needed, use 75O F-Termination resistor caps on all unused ports.

No splitters are being used. (Currently - if I use an FM trap as suggested below obviously there will be small drop because of the connections if I understand correctly)

Originally Posted by GroundUrMast

4) Interference from FM station(s) or other sources such as computers, appliances, power tools, etc. - An inline FM trap is not too expensive. It's a bit of a stretch, but WDAF FM 106.5 is 1/6th the frequency of UHF CH-42. Turn off powered equipment to see if the trouble changes or goes away. Move the antenna away from sources of interference.

This seems like the cheapest/easiest option to try.

Thanks Electron for the RadioShack tip. I will let you know what I find.