Folks, could use a little help please. Comcast installed their VOIP phone sytem in my home the other day and they had to cut the SBC wires outside my home in order to get the system to work. Ever since they did that, my reception on AM radio thru my receiver has been hijacked by some religious station on all channels. I have tried moving the AM antenna around, no help. Do I need to ground the receiver and if so how do I do that? Any help would be appreciated.

Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do. That is actually GOD talking to you.

Some people might call you crazy, or psycho.

DO NOT BE DETERRED FROM YOUR MISSION.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE.

I ask a serious question and get a wanna be comedian responding, plus you like I am a Michigander. I really need some help with this, can anyone make some suggestions tha might hlep me out. Thanx...

I do not know the details of how VOIP works, so I can't be sure I am right, but I always write like I know what I am talking about, so....

Let's back up one step. Or more.

Was your sbc phone line connected to your receiver in any way? for that matter, I am just assuming you are talking about an audio/video receiver, right? What brand and model (it might matter)?

Comcast is a cable company, right? That means they connected something through the cable...which is grounded. And that ground connects to the ground of It should be grounded to a power ground as near to where the cable comes into your house as possible. This does not always happen, though.

But was there any connection between your receiver and the sbc lines that is now different from what it was before? For that matter, is your receiver connected to a TV or a cable box that is connected to Comcast for cable?

Sorry, but in the course of working this out, all of this needs to be known and most preferably shared here in this thread as you have asked a question that is really a bit too vague for any answers that might help.

Meanwhile, try this: disconnect any and all cables from Comcast that were not already connected to something inside your house before VOIP, and see if your AM reception comes back. If it does, then Comcast needs to work out your solution.

Either way, please write back and expand on your question. This could affect others of us, and details will be helpful for all.

I'm sorry. But it was funny.

Why and What did they cut outside your house? When they cut it did they hook the ground back to whatever it was supposed to be hooked up to.

Like Ernie said, we need a bit more information. The only thing I could think of off the top of my head is that you have a digital cable box, that digital cable box has a phone line installed into it. That cable box is also hooked to your A/V receiver. For some reason it is affecting your AM channel. But that is off the top of my head. We need more info.

But I think it would be something to do with the ground.

While I am trying to figure out what the problem is, Comcast guy shows about an hour ago up just to follow up on the VOIP install.

So you know what I have here it is. VOIP modem, basically just like the Comcast HSI/Cable modem and they sit right next to each other. Have a Sony HTIB with combo VCR/DVD player. Moto 6208 PVR is the STB. TV is Sony 32HS420 which is an HD set. HSI with Comcast too.

The SBC phone lines the Comcast guy cut were just outside a basement window which started this problem. So today the Comcst guy brings in some type of device that responds to line bleeding and finds a problem where the line comes into the house. We start unhooking cables and find the one that goes into the STB is causing the problem. Unplug it and religious station stops. Plug back in, hear some more preaching. Change the cable out, no more problem. Funny that all of this started with the Comcast guy cutting the line last week. Guess that line was working as some type of ground.

Skybird, my comment was sort of tongue in cheek, I probably would have responded the same way you did, but I was getting frustrated with this since I work in radio and could not figure out the problem.

What kind of AM antenna are you using? I hope it is not that "throw away" model that came in the receiver' box.

This get my vote as "best reply of the week"

Ditto

I hope this thread links to a couple of concerns I have about AM broadcast reception. There was a terrific thread about it on this forum two years ago, but I still have questions.

Why don't expensive receivers pick up stations I get clearly on our car radios in our attached garage? Could I just rig a car radio and antenna to input into my home theater receiver? I'm now using a tuneable Terk AM antenna, and it helps, but I still can't get stations I get in our cars--or can't receive them clearly.

I strung a horizontal 90' 16-guage "long wire" (antenna) in the attic. Maybe a "Slinky" toy soldered to coax leads would be more compact and do a better job. Should an AM antenna be outdoors? Must it be? The attic is big.

The long wire does a wonderful job of picking up static, but the receiver sits just four feet from a TV monitor. and I haven't yet connected it to the antenna with coax. Only one end of the long wire feeds the receiver now, and the lead is just insulated wire. Should I run coax to both ends of the long wire (or the ends of a Slinky)? Should I run the leads (or lead) from the antenna through a surge suppressor? Is the ground on household electrical service a safe and effective ground for the receiver? Does the APC UPS that supplies current to our entertainment gear monitor and limit activity in the ground circuit?

TIA

Bryan