Six people that I know in five cities have been experiencing tons of pixilating and
Total loss of signal.

As have I.

The giant exterior mast mounted type is least problematic
But the multi directional , the rabbit ears and window mounts are frustrating.

All these people agree that it's way worse this year than ever before.

Rain , sun,clouds, vehicle traffic,even l.e.d. light usage affect the signal

Any here experiencing similar antenna signal problems?

My suspicion is the particulates from the smoke in the atmosphere is contributing. We had fires out West earlier and now the Canadian fires are raging.

Yeah, the window mount antenna that I used in Portland with good results doesn't work so well here. I think the biggest contributor is the distance from the transmitter antennas, about 40 miles here vs 15 in Portland. They've been having problems with smoke from the Canadian fires further up north, but not so much down here.

same brand and model antenna, bought this year, and the same brand and model (yet one is bigger) TV, bought both last year,

upstairs the antenna mounted of sorts to the top of the TV (powered antenna. plugs in and lays across the top of the TV) works fine,

downstairs, same installation, and it is spotty,
some days good, some days not so much, and some times not at all,


years ago I had AT&T for a cell, and when downstairs I would drop a call unless I as touching the Fridge,
now with verizon, no issues,

so I guess elevation and a relatively wooded area amy be why

I think it is just constant added digital interference.
How many devices with some sort of digital transmission are added daily.
I wish they would go back to analog for broadcast TV. Far less issue with signal and could get them much farther away.

Yeah, we've experienced more problems over the last... year or so?

Here may be a couple of the causes:

T-Mobile's LTE Band 71

LTE Band 71 is the 600MHz band that had been part of the UHF TV spectrum (channels 38-51) until about 2017. For a variety of reasons it's taken T-Mobile quite a while to begin using the new band. As they have, some interference, primarily to UHF TV channels adjacent to LTE Band 71 for people near TMO towers, has occurred.

"Next-Gen" TV

The other thing that's happening is so-called "Next-Gen TV." ATSC 3.0. In their wisdom the broadcast industry made it not backward-compatible with ATSC 1, which is what every OTA tuner in the U.S. and Canada has been using since digital TV was launched.

But the FCC has mandated broadcast stations maintain ATSC 1 signals for five years (I think it is?) past the date they begin transmitting ATSC 3, after the official start of the deployment of ATSC 3. (I don't know when that date is/was. I really don't care. [See below.])

The way broadcasters are accomplishing this is to re-purpose their ATSC 1 broadcast equipment to ATSC 3 and moving their ATSC 1 broadcasts to shared space on other, often smaller and less powerful, transmitters operated by other broadcasters. The predictable result is signal degradation.

Personally, the ensigmatic household has no plans to ever transition to Next-Gen TV. Thus, when ATSC 1 goes away, it's distinctly possible we'll just do-away with our OTA TV setup entirely and go all streaming.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

I wish they would go back to analog for broadcast TV. Far less issue with signal and could get them much farther away.

Me Too
But we are in a huge minority.

People would be jumping if if bridges and buildings if that were to happen

Who would suffer the most if it were to return to analog ?

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Who would suffer the most if it were to return to analog ?

Everybody?

By going digital they were able to pack much more into much smaller spaces, at much lower power. Logistics aside (the stations are unlikely to have their analog hardware any more): A bunch of viewers would find themselves suddenly with no broadcast coverage at all and, of those who had coverage, they'd be back to average screen resolutions of a couple hundred thousand pixels, rather than the megapixel resolutions we enjoy with digital TV, and multi-channel digital sound would be gone, too.

Then there'd be the ghosting and all the other artifacts of analog broadcast TV.

Just watch some retro TV in the old "square" (4:3) format to see what you'd get--at best.

I have one of those old large UHF/VHF antennas mounted inside of my attic. Pulling in about 80 channel from 80-90 miles away with no problems.been doing this since digital signals came out. Never used the small inside antennas.

^^^^^
Same here.....91 channels. If I move the antenna, I may be able to pull in about 10 more.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
I think it is just constant added digital interference.

Each situation is different and requires individual analysis, but in general, yes, there are a ton of digital devices (and some non-digital) that produce noise pollution across the radio / TV spectrum. Some things that you would never expect, like a washing machine with a digital control board can produce RF noise pollution that kills TV reception. That little wall wart power adapter (Switching type), and even your car, especially an electric car, can produce RF noise pollution.

Unintentional Radiators is a legal term that appears in CFR 47 part 15 of the FCC rules. There are getting to be more and more of these devices, and yes, as a result the RF noise pollution situation has gotten much worse in recent years as we enjoy our "digital lives"


On some of these devices you may see a statement like this on the equipment and/or in the manual:

This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the condition that this device does not cause harmful interference

--or, in many manuals, this statement is REQUIRED per FCC rules...

Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: —Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. —Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver. —Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. —Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

But what if you have a device that does create harmful interference? How many people would even think that their PC being too close to their TV antenna causes an issue?

I have access to a spectrum analyzer and I see all kinds of noise from unintentional radiators, all the time. In my own household I once tracked down a wall wart for a Roku that killed the RF spectrum.

I once had an early LED light bulb that killed the RF spectrum in my house. That one drove me crazy because it was on a timer and I noticed the problem only occurred after dark . This was at lower frequencies than the TV bands, but there are plenty of fast computers etc., that place RF pollution right in TV bands.

that's my two cents on the matter. YMMV.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

The other thing that's happening is so-called "Next-Gen TV." ATSC 3.0. In their wisdom the broadcast industry made it not backward-compatible with ATSC 1, which is what every OTA tuner in the U.S. and Canada has been using since digital TV was launched.

Yeah, the digital modulation standard is totally different. Some say it will lessen the dropouts that some experience now with 1.0. We'll see

quote:

Personally, the ensigmatic household has no plans to ever transition to Next-Gen TV. Thus, when ATSC 1 goes away, it's distinctly possible we'll just do-away with our OTA TV setup entirely and go all streaming.

No love for better quality OTA video??

I know anyone with a reasonable internet connection can stream 4k now, but ATSC 3 will transmit 4k on some OTA channels. I know, Even I wonder what the point is. If you want to watch something in 4k, just stream it. Even live channels can be steamed in many cases. But I'm blessed with high speed FIOS. Maybe some people still struggle with ADSL or similar speeds, not sure.

But hey, look on the bright side, in many setups, Next Gen will send targeted ads.

I don't watch Tv at home, but the place I do watch Tv the most got much better signals when it was analog. And it was relatively constant year round. Digital has been crappy and what channels come in or not depends on what time of year it is.

With digital we do have MORE channels. They're not watchable, but there's more of them. Either coming and going with the weather and seasons, or just dropping in and out constantly.

3 channels that worked well all year long is better than 7 channels that tease you. We end up with only 3 working at any given time at best. Often just one, or none at all. (and this is after making the antenna higher and adding an amplifier)

As a youngster in the early sixties, in Eastern Iowa ,
We had three channels
Until public television came to be.

We never wanted 8 channels 14 channels or 25 channels .

If you didn't get channels you went up the pole and rotated the antenna .

Life was that un complicated.

Rain ,sleet , lunar eclipse, nothing disturbed the signal .
We had it made.

Of the 44 channels I receive now,
I watch five on a regular basis, and another five very infrequently.

That's it that's all.

But I'd trade the consistency of the old days for only five channels , all day every day