T.V. signal vanished for one channel only

We are on the NSW South Coast, north of Narooma, and our signals come from
there. So our antenna points almost directly south.
Years ago we had VHF. ABC and Nine only. Picture quality so-so
Then we added a UHF antenna and a diplexer when Seven, Ten, and SBS began
broadcasting. Picture quality good, on all five channels.
Then we added a STB when digital broadcasts began, using the same antenna
(ae?) Picture quality excellent, on all channels.
Now, Capital 10, which is channel 5 in this region, has become unwatchable,
and too weak to give any picture at all for most of the time.
The people at Capital say there is nothing wrong at their end.
What could be wrong at our end that would cause channels 5, and its HD
offshoots 50 and 55, to have vanished ?
All the other channels and their HD versions are excellent.
We have one HD DTV and one analogue TV driven by a HD STB. Both have no
signal on 5, 50, and 55, yet excellent picture quality on all the other
channels.
Is there any reason to believe that one of those cake-stand "digital
antennas" would solve the problem?

 

Digital (as far as the end user watching the screen goes) is all or nothing.
you get a black screen up to a point, then it's good, then, if you're
fortunate enough to have the signal TOO strong, it drops out again.
You have no indication of where the signal strength is, till it drops out
for whatever reason.

Analogue was good in that respect, you had an excellent idea of where you
were in pointing the antenna by looking at the screen.

All you get with digital, is black screen, perfect picture, black screen.
If you're lucky, you get the occasional momentary dropout, or random mpeg
compression artifacts on the picture, showing it's at the lower end of the
signal quality scale.

I wouldn't bet on it.

 

Obvioulsy you need to improve your antenna system, the signal level on that
channel is not adequate for some reason. Digital channels aren't the exact
same frequency as the older analog ones, so it's certainly possible for your
old analog to work and the new digital one won't.
A proper digital band antenna may help, as might replacing your coax with
quad shield RG6 coax and F connectors.

Also, STB's are notriously flaky. Try retuning it from scratch.
Can you borrow another STB to try?

Dave.

 

.........................Looks like it. But it was adequate/excellent for
such a long time.
Digital channels aren't the exact

........................I can understand that such might be the case, but I
can't understand why it was O.K. for ages and now is not O.K.

.......................I don't know what these are, but I will find out
today.

.......................Yep. Tried that.

.........................We have access to two non HD STBs and one HD STB and
one HD DTV with its own tuner.
.........................The Standard Definition channel 5 isn't picked up by
any of them, and the High Definition channels 50 and 55 are not picked up by
either the HD TV or the HD STB.
.........................I still think it must be at their end. It certainly
seems to be that, or something in the antenna system.

 

Only for the analog channels being used. Excellent signal on analog is not
always a direct correlation to performance with a digital STB. You are
certainly no the first to experinence problems like this, it's quite common.

An antenna system is not going to have uniform response across all channels,
so these digital channels have not been actually tested before on your
system.

They are the recommended system for digital TV. Will give you less signal
loss over your old system, so that might be enough to get the signal level
you need.

It's your antenna system, almost guaranteed.
Can your neighbours get CH5?, can you try your STB on their antenna?

Dave.

 

I guess I wasn't very clear. We have had STBs and excellent digital
reception for as long as there have been digital broadcasts in our area. A
couple of years, I think. We have had one HD STB and one HD Digital TV for
as long as there have been HD broadcasts, even the demonstration
broadcasts. Many months. The reception was always excellent. I stress that
we have had exemplary digital reception on all channels for a long time,
first standard definition, then high definition.
We will quiz our neighbours when we can. Most of our neighbours are here for
the occasional weekend only.

 

"L.A.T."

** For heaven's sake - take a good look at your antenna.

Might have broken or corroded parts or other damage.

Might be a dead Kookaburra hanging of it !!!

Anything can happen to something flimsy sitting up in the air.




...... Phil

 

How embarrassment.
We have three neighbours, all with the same problem.

 

"L.A.T."

** You mentioned " Capital 10 " as you local broadcaster.

Very strange how it is near impossible to find any trace of them on the net.

ASIC has no record of any such current company or business name.

White Pages on-line has no phone number for them.

Google found an address in Wollongong, 74 Kembla Street.

http://www.scpromotions.com.au/media/tv.html

" Capital Television " (02) 4226 4210

Is that who you rang ?

Did you speak to the cat ???

Meeeeeowwwww.................



...... Phil