Antenna ?

[revrider]

I have been reading and following the forums for some time now and hope that someone out there may be able to help me. I live in Cambellsport up on top of one of the biggest hills around which is great for picking up stations I get 2,5,11,26 out of appelton and Green Bay area and also get there Digital stations, I also get 4,6,10,12,58 along with there digital stations with the exception of Fox`s. Being on top of the hill I also have a radio tower within an 1/8th of a mile.
     i have a rooftop antenna a Radioshack VU-190XR with a Preamp and most of the time it works great but I was watching the 49ers game on Fox 11 out of Green Bay and all of a sudden I lost my attenna and had nothing but Snow on all channels. I went to do some troubleshooting and discovered all the cableing to be good so for the sport of it I decided to flip the FM trap off on the Preamp and my picture can back instantly and pefectly, switched it off and gone again, so I switched it off and watched TV. This worked for a little while then My picture got snowy again with 2 distinct bars running horizontally across the screen, then it cleared up and has been fine since. I have intermittant antenna problems constantly such as watching TV and all is good then The signal totally disappears only to return several minutes later. My question is do you think the Tower that is near my house is screwing up my signals? Is there any test I can do to verify that it is the Tower or to rule it out, and if it is the tower is there some sort of filter that is worth trying? Thank you for your time and knowledge.

[Gregg Lengling]

I can't answer it definitively without knowing which tower you are talking about and what is on that tower.  But for the most part 2-way radio towers DO NOT interfere with television reception.  They are mostly low power (100 watt range, less than 1kW ERP) with the exception of paging which can be 5 to 10 times that...however most paging is on 929 to 931 MHz which is a long way from the TV freqs.  

I have a feeling you have a bad splitter or preamp...most possibly the the power supply unit and preamp (I take it the FM trap switch is on the power supply which runs the preamp).  Could be as simple as a bad switch.

Without proper test equipment to test the problem when it is occuring :bang: you can only do parts swapping...ie new power supply, new preamp ect.

Hope this helps.

[Greg Oman]

I would agree with Gregg's assessment-- and I'd start with the pre-amp based on your message and experimentation with the FM trap.

With the advent of the web, there are a few places to get some other choices in brands, let us know if you need some direction there.  If a new RS model doesn't solve the issue, Winegard and Channel Master make several alternatives.

Greg O.

[revrider]

You guys are good, it was just the FM trap switch. Some times the littlest things are over looked. Thanks.:p