I use to get San antonio HD between 56 and 62db from my tuner's signal meter, now it either says N/A or 51-53db on all of them. Austin HD kicks in and out on some, the strongest HD is KGSR at 68-70 db KBPA is secound at 65-70db. I am using a outdoor antenna 6 element radioshack at about 20 feet up in the air. My analog signal comes in great, on both Austin & San antonio. This is the things I dont get about HD. Guess the best part about it is I didnt half to call in to cancel the service and still get charged for it.
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Has HD signals got weaker?
- Thread starter jras20
- Start date
M
Mike Walker
Guest
Is our childrens learning? Sorry. Signal strength varies with time of year, season, weather patterns, environmental conditions (presence of leaves on trees), and many other factors. If the signal strength for digital signals is dropping, so is the analog signal strength. For better or worse, the digital and analog signals are transmitted in the same frequency band. I'd bet a part of my anatomy that I'm very fond of that if you took signal strength measurements of the analog signal(s), you'd find that when digital is lower, so is analog.
With analog, as long as enough signal is present to ensure "full quieting" (noise is as low as it can get with a particular tuner), then more signal yields no benefit. Likewise, with digital, if the signal is strong enough, and uncorrupted enough, to yield an unterrupted (or nearly so) bitstream, more signal is of no use. One of the advantages of digital transmission (whether audio, video, or data) is that you can use much lower power levels, because you needen't worty about "signal quality" per-se. After all, the only thing that is needed is that the decoder be able to tell the difference between a one, and a zero.
With analog, as long as enough signal is present to ensure "full quieting" (noise is as low as it can get with a particular tuner), then more signal yields no benefit. Likewise, with digital, if the signal is strong enough, and uncorrupted enough, to yield an unterrupted (or nearly so) bitstream, more signal is of no use. One of the advantages of digital transmission (whether audio, video, or data) is that you can use much lower power levels, because you needen't worty about "signal quality" per-se. After all, the only thing that is needed is that the decoder be able to tell the difference between a one, and a zero.
I know about the diffrent times of the year of signals, but I do believe something is going on with the digital signals, I can recieve analog very clear, clean stereo sound. When I hooked on my HD reciever, the analog signal is in stereo, but the HD signal was very weak or off. I have been DX'n for years I know about this 
. I just wish there was some way I can improve that, I'm not going to use powered amps, they really mess multipaths up. I try to stay away from those if all I can.
. I just wish there was some way I can improve that, I'm not going to use powered amps, they really mess multipaths up. I try to stay away from those if all I can.
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Mike Walker
Guest
I'd hate to mess up those "multipaths". I like mine nice and clean.
I use a Winegard preamp on my Antennacraft roof antenna (with Channelmaster rotor), and get CLEAN HD to 100+ miles, and analog beyond that. MY "multipaths" aren't "messed up", whatever that means! It's all in the QUALITY of the amplification.
And I live in a VERY multipath-prone area, the foothills of northwestern NC, surrounded by mountains.
I use a Winegard preamp on my Antennacraft roof antenna (with Channelmaster rotor), and get CLEAN HD to 100+ miles, and analog beyond that. MY "multipaths" aren't "messed up", whatever that means! It's all in the QUALITY of the amplification.
And I live in a VERY multipath-prone area, the foothills of northwestern NC, surrounded by mountains.
One day I need to get up on my winegard antenna and see if I can set the FM trap off, but I am watching San antonio TV right now. I dont understand some of the things that the FCC does. The main reason was because KVCT-TV Victoria got aproved for HD-channel 11 and that goes well into the 60db gain of KHOU-TV 11 and that really mest things up. Hopefully when I get a HDTV tuner it will clear that up. For now out there I am still using analog everything - here near Austin I have a DTV tuner.
Mike Walker said:
Depending on where you are, a mast mounted pre-amp can make matters worse rather than better. The issue isn't multi-path, it is signal overload. These preamps are sensitive to the entire FM band, and usually the entire TV bands as well. A nearby strong signal can cause the amplifier to overload, which makes it totally useless amplifying any signal, weak or strong.
My experience with these devices has been mixed. In some installations, they do wonders. In other situations, they actually make things much worse. The mast mounted variety is usually much more effective than an indoor only solution located at the end of your feed line. Some actually have a remote gain control as a part of the power supply which is located inside your house. That seems to be a very useful feature.
The only way to know for sure if they will help is to try it. You might get lucky; then again, maybe not. You may be venturing up on your roof on several occasions to participate in the science project to find out what works best in your particular situation.
I have my doubts about how many people will actually do that.
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