What Makes DTV Go Out When It Rains?

[Fieldtech1]

At the two main places I watch DTV (75 miles SW of Houston,TX and Near Lafayette,LA) I have fairly decent UHF reception rain or shine with a Eagle Aspen 2 Bay bow tie antenna. Most of the Houston stations are blowtorches running 1MW ERP at 2000' above ground over very flat terrain. Even with a decent indoor antenna I can lock the Houston stations pretty easy that far out. I think over flat terrain, with a tall tower ,and a million watts ERP, DTV can be pretty reliable.

 

[nocomradio]

. I think over flat terrain, with a tall tower ,and a million watts ERP, DTV can be pretty reliable.

That, I feel was probably the yardstick by which DTV recpetion was initially measured and has now left many of us in the situation we are in.

Much of the East Coast and West Coast of the US, (the most populated areas too) are hilly, and have many buildings and other obstructions, plus lots of water which has reduced the amount of signals available, excepting those who live within a certain range of the transmitters. As I said before, almost overnight when the switch happened, I lost around 8 channels that no matter how I try I cannot pull in anymore. I've tried good quality commercial antennas, and a couple of homebrews that ultimately cost me money and left me with less OTA television. Granted, I may not represent a huge segment of the viewers out there, but still that was a pretty big drop in performance for something that was touted to be the best thing to happen to TV since its inception.

 

[flashback]

if DTV was as good as it was supposted to be as many people would have gotten all the channels available in an area as with analog.obviously that is not the case.

 

[mjlarochelle]

It would have been professional of the FCC to have tested DTV much more thoroughly before cutting everyone over and then finding the shortcomings.

Even though these problems were well-documented a number of years ago, Canadian authorities generally didn't learn anything from what happened in the USA, even though Canada's transition only happened in select regions on August 31, 2011. Canada is having the same problems in some places, with DTV signals reaching far less area than the former analog signals. The Global signal at Paris, Ontario (Channel 6) used to cover an area stretching from London to the western end of Toronto, a radius of about 60 miles. The digital signal, from what I've gathered from DTV users on Facebook, reaches a radius less than a quarter of that; a user in Woodstock, only 15-20 miles from the transmitter, can't get the DTV signal. There was a rumour that Global was interested in adding a fill-in transmitter in London, but I have heard nothing since September about that.

I am only aware of two stations in Canada that addressed this issue pre-emptively. Citytv Vancouver (CKVU) used to transmit from a tower on an island between Vancouver and Victoria, but now they have a digital transmitter in each of those two cities. CBC New Brunswick (CBAT) used to transmit from a tower halfway between Saint John and Fredericton, but now they have a digital transmitter in Fredericton, and the existing analog signal has been modified to only reach the Saint John area. CTV was applying to add an additional transmitter in the Niagara Peninsula for CTV Two Barrie (CKVR) as that area received the analog signal but does not receive the digital one, but I haven't heard anything new on that plan for several months.

It seems to me several of the Bay Area, California stations were doing something similar to ensure coverage in all three of Oakland, San Jose, and SF.

 

[nocomradio]

DTV in Canada will be quite interesting to watch (from the outside) simply due to the distances involved.

 

[kenglish]

You'd think that, with all those "underutilized channels", as the FCC and the CEA like to call them, there would be room for lots of translator stations.

Just try to license one now, with the big boys salivating over the spectrum. We'll be lucky to cover our own parking lots, much less the outlying areas of the DMA, when they are done disemboweling the broadcast industry.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I live in what is definitely a fringe area when it comes to OTA TV. The closest station to me is a 45 mile away NBC affiliate. The next are between 50 and 65 miles away. My reception is spotty at best with a DTV antenna mounted on the roof at approximately 40 feet high. I need to install a rotator to really optimize anything I do manage to pull in, but with that setup at those distances, I can pull in about 3 channels now and they will drop out without warning, even on a clear day no matter what I do. Rain, heavy low cloud cover and yes, even wind (I thought I was the only one who had that problem) will cause pixelization, then drop outs.

Go back to the old analog days, and I could easily watch at least 10-12 channels with a rooftop antenna and most very clearly at that. Granted I don't watch much TV at all, but that was a real drop in both quantity and quality for me, nearly overnight. Until these stations ramp up the power, there is little that I can see that could be done to improve things.

The problem with that is more interference from the stations with the higher power, and then that messes up signals too. For VHF, though, that shouldn't be too much of a problem since no one wants to be there.

It's mainly VHF-Lo that no one wants to be on. There are stations that don't mind being on VHF-Hi, but they need that extra boost in power to get their stations out more. Some VHF's have asked for UHF channels, while others are seeking UHF translators to cover the immediate areas of the markets to reach those who can't get them on VHF.

Where I live, channel 8 had so many problems they went back to using channel 34. I do fine (mostly) with that but without an outdoor antenna of the right type, I received nothing until they did it.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I did have a problem with DTV when it rained last week. There was also severe weather, though I'm not sure it was related. But I was taping three shows and watching a fourth and I just didn't have a choice. I didn't miss anything significant. In the analog days I would also sometimes miss a word or two or maybe even an entire sentence if it was windy.

 

[nocomradio]

I've also noted over the last few days that we've had passing drizzle, and that tends to bring on the pixelization. A steady rain doesn't seem to do that, but the intermittent stuff does.

 

[vchimpanzee]

It's cold with occasional rain, and one of my TVs isn't getting a good signal. And the channel isn't on cable, so I'm hoping for better results. When the specific program comes on, I've gotten good results by picking up the antenna and holding it. It's just three minutes. If that doesn't work, there's always online.

 

[gregg75]

OBSERVATION: I noticed tonight as my signal was going in and out, that it's more important if it is raining at the station than if it is raining at your house.

As soon as the radar indicated that the storm had passed the station (WSB 2) the signal got better,
even though it was still raining at my house 16 miles away.

 

[landtuna]

Maybe next time the engineers do maintenance they need to spray a little Rain-X on the antenna. ;D