6.1 signal problem when cars go by

[ArgMeMatey]

Ever since WITI  (Fox 6) finished their new antenna, I've been having reception trouble on 6.1 OTA:  Every car that goes past on the street causes the signal to drop or the picture to freeze.  

The street is between the house and the tower.  I have an indoor antenna sitting in front of the window.  When I look through that window, I can see the WITI tower about 3/4 mile away.  

Of course I am not only cheap, but also lazy, so before I start messing with stuff I thought I'd ask right off the bat for suggestions.  Thanks.

[Jack 1000]

Ever since WITI  (Fox 6) finished their new antenna, I've been having reception trouble on 6.1 OTA:  Every car that goes past on the street causes the signal to drop or the picture to freeze.  

The street is between the house and the tower.  I have an indoor antenna sitting in front of the window.  When I look through that window, I can see the WITI tower about 3/4 mile away.  

Of course I am not only cheap, but also lazy, so before I start messing with stuff I thought I'd ask right off the bat for suggestions.  Thanks.

Have you tried moving or adjusting the antenna? Is it a good quality antenna?  How old is it?

If that doesn't solve the problem, you may want to invest in a good outdoor antenna.  That should really improve your OTA reception across all channels.  I am sure the guys on the board can come up with some good makes/models of antennas that will help with your OTA channel 6 issue and improve the quality of other stations as well.

Jack

[Chuck from FOX]

Where do you live?

[Nels Harvey]

Ever since WITI  (Fox 6) finished their new antenna, I've been having reception trouble on 6.1 OTA:  Every car that goes past on the street causes the signal to drop or the picture to freeze.  

The street is between the house and the tower.  I have an indoor antenna sitting in front of the window.  When I look through that window, I can see the WITI tower about 3/4 mile away.

You may be receiving multipath, especially since you are so close to the transmitter.  You could try attenuating the signal going into your TV.  If you use a one input, two output splitter, going through from input to output will cut the signal level in half.  If that doesn't help, go in one of the outputs, and out the other.  This will give you a 12db signal loss, or less than a tenth of the signal.

Television now is purely digital.  This method should decrease the interfering digital signals that the passing cars are causing.  The new TV receivers are super sensitive, and the main signal may come through just fine.  Anyhow, it is cheap to try!  Be sure to let us know if it helps.

[ArgMeMatey]

Where do you live?

Undisclosed location in the People's Republic of Shorewood.  

I will try an attenuator.  I have an old VHF rabbit ear antenna hooked up, with a balun soldered directly, and an RG-6 lead from there to the TV.   It had been working great for the past 18 months since I bought the first converter box.  

I know I should have UHF, but I figured "Line-of-sight, I should just try a paperclip and see what happens."

[ddeerrff]

I'd bet on the multipath.  8VSB is terrible in regards to MP.  Try the paperclip.

[Chuck from FOX]

keep me up to 'speed' on your progress.

C.

[ArgMeMatey]

I didn't try the paperclip, I may yet just for fun, but now I think the problem is fixed.  I experimented for a few days to come up with this really amazing solution:  

I moved my rabbit ears a little closer to the window.  Before only one "ear" was in front of the window but now both are.    I also extended them fully.  Before only about two sections were pulled out.  (I figured since it was mostly UHF that seemed right!)

Now, I think I need a nap.

[bschlafer]

Ever since WITI  (Fox 6) finished their new antenna, I've been having reception trouble on 6.1 OTA:  Every car that goes past on the street causes the signal to drop or the picture to freeze.  

The street is between the house and the tower.  I have an indoor antenna sitting in front of the window.  When I look through that window, I can see the WITI tower about 3/4 mile away.  

Of course I am not only cheap, but also lazy, so before I start messing with stuff I thought I'd ask right off the bat for suggestions.  Thanks.

Antenna height may be your cure.  

Raising it above anything that may be moving should cut down on reflected signals that may be causing your dropouts.  Try running the antenna up to the second floor or attic, if you have one.

I know others near Mitchell Field have reported problems with aircraft passing nearby or overhead.  I've also heard of problems caused by trains.  You are so close to the transmission tower that signal overload could become a problem, if you went with a larger (stronger) antenna.

Raise up your antenna and experiment with repositioning.  

Good luck.


*Bill in Milwaukee