Losing reception - on Wednesdays only!!

Buffy71 · Post by **Buffy71** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 20:03

Hi Guys,
If someone can solve this i'll brand them a genius. I record in excess of 20 programs a week on my P1, on all channels. For some reason, which has me totally bamboozled, I lose reception on channel 7(both SD and HD) on Wednesday night only. I record several shows on 7 during the week and they're fine, but at sometime on wednesday( not sure exactly but reception was fine at 6pm but not at 8.30pm) it drops out. This has happened for the last 3 weeks in a row with progressively worse eps of City Homicide which are now unwatchable both in playback and live. When I check tuner info, signal strength is about 80%, down from the usual of 90% but the quality has dropped from about 97% to anything between 0% and 40%. I live in southwest sydney and have excellent reception normally. Last week, when reception was still dodgy at 10pm i did a full rescan and the reception on 7 was back to normal. What the f@*$k is going on!! Anyone,anyone.....Bueller?

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 20:29

Hi Buffy71,

Definitely time to check your antenna system. Those signal strength levels are quite low. I would also pay particular attention to the antenna cables. The specific problems on a Wednesday may be due to some electrical appliance, like a washing machine etc, that is only used on Wednesday evenings causing a lot of extra noise to be injected into your antenna signal. This could be a result of a potential break in the shielding or loose/broken connectors.

Regards,
Ian.

Buffy71 · Post by **Buffy71** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 20:40

Hi Ian,
Have already checked to make sure no appliances interfering, and there's definitely nothing on on wednesday nights. That's what's so confusing. If it's a loose connection or some such thing in the antenna system, why is it only on wednesday nights and fine for the rest of the week. What are the odds of a loose connection that happens at the exact same time every week? I guess i'll have to fork out for an antenna guy to come out and have a look, but i'm not convinced.

Jo

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 20:45

Hi Jo,

Who said the appliance had to be in your home? It could be a neighbour's or someone else near your home.

Regards,
Ian.

Buffy71 · Post by **Buffy71** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 20:49

IanSav wrote: Who said the appliance had to be in your home? It could be a neighbour's or someone else near your home.
.

Bugger!!

I'm sending out a flyer!!

madmax · Post by **madmax** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 20:56

My dad's S1 had/has a similar problem which has never been resolved. He would lose some of his channels for a fixed period, can't remember exactly how long but let's say it was 53 minutes. It would happen at *almost* the same time every night, but would start and end about 3 minutes later each day. This would go on for weeks at a time, then suddenly it would stop for weeks or even months, then suddenly return again.

The only thing I can think of is that he lives ~60m from one of those huge power pylons, but I still don't see a pattern.....

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 20:56

Hi Jo,

If you get your antenna system checked the technician may find why you are suffering the signal degradation. If your antenna can be fixed or improved then it should be more immune to external influence. You should be able to get rid of the issue without needing anyone else to fix anything.

Regards,
Ian.

desm · Post by **desm** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 21:29

I don't suppose your Wiz has become a TV critic by any chance and is making a comment on channel 7s programming????

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 23:12

It is possible that a tuner is slightly less sensitive than the other, and with your already borderline reception, you are well below the threshold of good operation of the tuners anyway. And on Wednesday nights, you probably record in a combination where you are recording using the other tuner. Test both tuners out by recording something on one tuner, and channel surfing, and then recording something on another broadcaster, & cancel the first recording and channel surf again (so effectively surfing on both tuners).
Check both recordings and ensure they don't have glitches also.
Regards

simoncasey · Post by **simoncasey** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 08:10

tonymy01 wrote:It is possible that a tuner is slightly less sensitive than the other, and with your already borderline reception, you are well below the threshold of good operation of the tuners anyway. And on Wednesday nights, you probably record in a combination where you are recording using the other tuner. Test both tuners out by recording something on one tuner, and channel surfing, and then recording something on another broadcaster, & cancel the first recording and channel surf again (so effectively surfing on both tuners).
Check both recordings and ensure they don't have glitches also.
Regards

Hasn't somebody else recenty made a similar post where they get a problem with recording 7 when they have another concurrent recording? That implies tony's suggestion may be right that there is a problem with one of the tuners and the 7 signal for these machines is only borderline normally and this just tips it over.

Alternatively, it may be the BW itself that is causing the interference, either the tuners are interfering with each other or maybe the harddrive causes interference when it is doing the extra duty of recording two shows.

It may be worth Buffy looking at that post to see their suggestions too.

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 08:33

When you get out of bounds of the abilities of the receiver, the performance will vary. No two bits of electronics are identical once you go beyond the specifications (i.e. they are guaranteed to perform the same if the specification is maintained). So a signal level that is just too low to be any good might be just ok on one tuner, but just below where the other can make out the signal from the noise. Also, we don't really know how the antenna signal is split internally to the 2 tuners, as you can see with the plug (if you look thru the vents or look at photos on the various sites), you can see it goes into one tuner, so maybe if anything records on that tuner, it is ok, and anything off the daisy chained (internally) tuner is going to get a signal with slightly more interference due to passing thru another tuner first, or even slightly lower level. The Wiz allocates tuners depending on what you are recording on the other tuners (perhaps at reservation time, not at runtime), and so this might explain the differences.

Buffy71 · Post by **Buffy71** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 18:12

I will test the wiz as you suggested Tony, recording on both tuners. I'll inform you of the results. It still mystifies me that I have perfect reception for 6 days and 20hrs and about four hours of crap. If Ian's right, and it's some form of interference( i've checked at my place and absolutely nothing starts up at that time) from perhaps a neighbour, I'm still amazed that it's at exactly the same time every week. I've been able to get by by recording shows on foxtel but with 7two starting up i'll have to get this fixed sooner rather than later. I love my wiz but sometimes these machines drive me crazy

jillybean · Post by **jillybean** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 06:50

Is the problem just with the beyonwiz, or also with other digital tv's in the house? I only ask because my parents started to have intermittant problems with channel seven reception a few months ago. They got an installer out to check everything - when he couldn't find any problem (and after making sure the problem wasn't caused by any of their own appliances) he helped them complete an ACMA (I think) form requesting investigation of interference. They were contacted and visited a few weeks later, and after testing (a bit like water divining apparently - wandering around the neighbourhood with a mobile antenna) the problem was isolated to next doors fridge. The neighbours were issued with a notice to have the faulty appliance repaired - they were only renting and moved out at the end of Sept anyway. Since then no more reception problems.

Jill

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 22:47

jillybean wrote: he helped them complete an ACMA (I think) form requesting investigation of interference. They were contacted and visited a few weeks later, and after testing (a bit like water divining apparently - wandering around the neighbourhood with a mobile antenna) the problem was isolated to next doors fridge. The neighbours were issued with a notice to have the faulty appliance repaired - they were only renting and moved out at the end of Sept anyway. Since then no more reception problems.

Nice. It's good to hear of a government department being helpful for a change.

Bruiser333 · Post by **Bruiser333** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 19:31

The other thing you could try to check for interference, is the next time the problem is occurring (tomorrow night?) have a look on a TV with analog channels. Interference on analog signals might show as faint scrolling lines or patterns, little sparkles etc. If you can see that on the analog channels while your digital reception is playing up, then it's likely to be the culprit with your digital signal. Doesn't solve the problem of tracking down where it's coming from though...

Check out this link for some examples of interference in analog reception:
http://www.abc.net.au/reception/tv/tv_interference.htm

Buffy71 · Post by **Buffy71** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 20:18

Thanks for all your replies. Apologies for not updating you but have been super busy at work. So, i'm still having reception probs, now almost every night. I called one company who said they'd have to come at night when problem was occurring and charge me a $200 call out fee. No thanks!! Have checked other digital tv's in house and they have some minor pixelation, but not too bad. Tonight, i've checked reception on Seven and it's around 80% strength and 80% quality, which causes some pixelation, BUT my slave tuner is at ZERO and gets absolutely no reception. Is this more than just a reception prob? Could something be broked?

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 21:00

80%.. you are on the cusp of getting something and getting nothing (digital cliff). So predictability in that case is low what the tuner behaviours will be, but that certainly explains why only one night you have a cactus recording, it all boils down to the tuner used for the recording at the time, which is heavily dependant on what the previous timer and previous channel you were watching was (and if any overlapping timers, definitely dependant on that).
You need to get your reception levels up I think.
Regards

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 21:16

Hi Buffy71,

Sorry but everything points back to your antenna system/reception problems. 80% signal strength is just not enough. There is nothing more to be said.

Regards,
Ian.

Buffy71 · Post by **Buffy71** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 21:17

tonymy01 wrote: You need to get your reception levels up I think.
Regards

You're definitely onto something Tony

Now I just have to find the time, and someone who won't charge an exorbitant fee! Then I need to get me a gun/slingshot to keep those damn birds away(or shoot my neighbour who feeds them!!)

Buffy71 · Post by **Buffy71** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 21:20

IanSav wrote:Hi Buffy71,

Sorry but everything points back to your antenna system/reception problems. 80% signal strength is just not enough. There is nothing more to be said.

Regards,
Ian.

99% on all other stations. Those damn birds must have broken the pointy bit that's in the direction of Seven

Losing reception - on Wednesdays only!!

Losing reception - on Wednesdays only!!

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