reception/antenna problems

19 years ago

as noted by other posters, i too live in the stone age and

do not have cable by choice.

we rely on a roof antenna that does a great job, until recently.

had 1 TV in the living room, coaxil cable from antenna into the dvd/vcr, video cable from dvd/vcr into TV. got the 3 major stations, fox, the 2 pbs stations, and 3 independent stations in area.

got a tv/dvd/vcr for the kids bedroom.

went to the basement, cut the coax, added new terminals

hooked it to a signal splitter. hooked the livingroom TV to the splitter, then thru dvd/vcr. I still get reception on all my stations, but one of the majors is a bit crappy at times-- this could be due to weather.

ran a new coax cable thru the heat duct to the kids room-- it was the easiest way-- into the new tv/dvd/vcr. I only get the vhf stations on this TV.

WHY?

other info that may help:

when new tv went into kid's room, there was no reception at all. with an old set of rabbit ears there was no reception at all (same rabbit ears work great for all the same stations as in the living room, but on a TV in the spare bedroom).

the new TV/DVD/VCR is a memorex

i got all my supplies from radio shack

and last but not least,

when i cut the coax from the antenna to the livingroom tv

the part of the coax that ranm from the basement to the tv in the living room started to drip water-- a drop about every 10 seconds-- which i think might be causing my reception problems in the living room-- except its only 1 station.

thanks for any info or help that you might impart to improve the situation, my kids want their PBS and CW back

diggerb

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

steve_o
19 years ago
I can tell you that splitting coax like that can cause the problems you're experiencing, especially in marginal-signal areas. Cheap splitters (or unamplified ones) can reduce the signal level reaching each TV. Cheap TVs typically have cheap tuners, which may not be as sensitive as in days past (given that so many people are feeding their TVs cable signals). Call it the "perfect storm" for you.

Things I would look at:
- you need to find out why there is water around your coax. Dig around and find out what happened. When you say water was dripping from the coax, do you mean water on the vinyl jacket? Is it possible the coax that's exposed to the weather needs to be replaced because it's old?
- if your RS signal splitter is not amplified, try an amplified one. They don't work wonders, but they can help in a situation like this.
- if the splitter already is amplified, does RS have a better one? Or can you shop elsewhere?
diggerb2
Original Author
19 years ago
thanks for the suggestion steve.
the water is dripping like sap when you cut a grape vine
it was just weird. i figured it was due to temperature extremes-- the part that was dripping was from the part that is in the warm part of the house-- the line from outside wasn't dripping.
digger
Related Professionals
Boston Interior Designers & Decorators · Webster Interior Designers & Decorators · Norfolk Interior Designers & Decorators · Utica Interior Designers & Decorators · Stockton Interior Designers & Decorators · Dickinson Interior Designers & Decorators · Cape Coral Carpenters · Tupelo Carpenters · Vicksburg Carpenters · Lafayette Carpenters · Lawrence Carpenters · Manhattan Carpenters · Bozeman Carpenters · Athens General Contractors · Plainfield General Contractors
steve_o
19 years ago
You need to replace the coax at the very least. I would do that first and then see if you need to try the other steps.