Bad TV reception - signal too strong?

$nake_eye$

Hi,

The reception on my TV is REALLY bad, although i would imagine the signal is quite strong. I live on top of a hill and the mast can be seen, with nothing to disrupt the signal. Is it possible that the signal is too stong? i know you can get signal boosters, but can you get ones that break the signal down? Does anyone else have this problem and what kit do they use? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

john_kent

Are you above or below the level the mast is at?

$nake_eye$

hi John, we are pretty much at the same level as the mast.

trish06

hi $nake eye$

have you checked the wire
if theres a break in the wire,you will get bad tv reception

$nake_eye$

Thanks Trish, the wire seems fine. It affects all the TVs in my house, and also the neighbours...

Zahc

You don't say whether you have an analogue or digital set up. I would try an indoor aerial to see if that improves things to start off with.

You can make the signal smaller using an attenuator. Notice there are 2 types here, the bigger the number (dBs) the more the signal is reduced.

Zahc

LittleJo

Hi,
Please look at umbrella effect, i know it does that on mobile phones.
Jo

mcfisco

You don't say what form the poor signal takes
Is it a snowy picture or maybe a picture with strong lines on it or is there a ghosting to the right or left of the image?

You can get variable attenuators if you do need to go down that route.
You can sometimes get an idea if an attenuator is going to help the situation by watching the picture & slowly easing out the coax plug from the TV - if the picture gets better as the plug comes out, an attenuator may well help.

The above relates to analogue signals

square-eyes

Most of us are in the position of needing to boost the signal level and of course TV sets have far more sensitive input stages nowadays.
You seem to be in the lucky position of having too much signal. This is easily corrected by inserting an attenuator into the aerial feed. This will attenuate the signal and should be equally effective for analogue and freeview (the freeview signal is carried on an analogue RF channel).
Maplin do then for about £5 each. http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=965&doy=29m4
They do 6dB and 12dB. You might buy one of each and then you can connect one or two together so you can try 6 dB, 12dB or 18dB if necessary.

trish06

we cant get channel five down south
now if we add a freeview box ,bingo perfect reception

stevemcol

and if you're intested, 6db halves the signal strength