WOW!!! Thanks for the profesional responses, it is much appreciated

AHEM: The tool junkie in me says go buy it, maybe soon but not right now, when the time is right :)

IDODISHEZ: LOL :p

WIREMAN & MODOM: Standard P&S legrand equipment using 8 way splitter and amp going to 8 locations all homerun. I will check RS for the cheaper version, but here goes the tool junkie thing, buy the right tool to do the job right the first time.

DJNORM: I am going to make up the cable run to the demarc and have it ready the next time it happens, but have already hooked up my main feed directly to the box and still had the problem.

Fred & Trunk: Did I mention yet that I am a tool junkie? Didn't think so. Once again not yet but hope to soon.
When cable guy comes out if needed this test will also be in place ready to go.
P.S. ALL my wires are allready labled :P

Audiable & Studio: Thank you for the info and links. In the infamous words of Monty Python, "My brain hurts" Oh well then looks like we'll have to take it out. OH Yeah, good job Alan getting in eds standard "hire a pro" LOL :)

Stanley & AVbydesign: Thats were I am thinking, just don't like not being able to back up my thoughts. The big differance though is we don't have as much water as you Stanley, and our attics are I would venture to say, MUCH hotter. LOL

When I moved in this house I spent many attic houres, pulling phone,cable and cat6 cable all home run. Did I learn alot? Hell yes, but that is another post and you all already know what I learned. I am a meticulous person and checked every connection as i went along, so I am pretty confident that all the connections are good.

Thank you all again so very much for being kind, and I will post the results when all is good.

MIke

Be Good Humans

It could also be that someone put an antenna amp in the line inside the house before you got there. Antenna amps amplify cable 2 - 13, then unreliably amplify up to maybe channel 30. Or 30ish. Then they pick up at cable 65 and amplify channels above that. This means that it can matter which channels are not coming in well.

When I moved in I ran all new from demarc on both cable and phone, so no amps in there except the one I put in and it does not change anything if I take it out of the system.

The problem only is affecting the boxs, not the TVs with just a straight hook up(no box).

I have hooked my line from demarc straight to the box bypasing all other lines in the house and the problem still exists.

Cable guy is suposed to be here tomorrow, but I can't be here so I am reschedualing for next Saturday.

To make make matters worse we had a pretty good lightning storm (for us So Cal weather woosies) that has taken out or cable internet service and I am waiting for that to be restored. I figured that it was coming as it was 118 degrees yesterday at work with way above 80% humidity, for us thats huge humidity.

Edit cable is adelphia and boxes are MOXI and a DCT6200

Mike

BigWood

I would wite down the problem in easy to read format. Add the troubleshooting you have tried and your conclusion. Add you cell phone and call once he is aty your home and before he leaves.

I would also call Adelphia and ask for a credit since your cable is not looking as it should.

Good luck, Adlephia up here in Redondo Beach is horrid. We have a client who used to be an exec with them, and I seem to have to visit at least once every 6 months.

That Moxi thing is the worst interface I have ever seen.

There is some good advice above, do not let them get away without being satisfied. They will send out more quailified people if you rasie enough of a stink, and get credit for an unacceptable picture. Maybe a few months of free service and an free HBO package or the likes, Direct kicked me down with terms like that once.

It will be the cable company. I promise, but have a Xantech ground blocker available. They are about $10.00. This screws inline with the incoming cable demar line. In alot of areas poor grounfd from the cable TV company could also be a problem.

Mike

Update:

Three in house cable guys come out, while I am at work and proceed to destroy my media cabinet, slander my installation and have crap hanging all over the place so bad I cannot close the cabinet. My splitter laying on the shelf next to cabiet. They tell my wife that it is fixed and leave. Took them (did I say 3 of them) 15-20 minutes to make spagetti out of the cabinet. Came home and the problem still was there big time.

Called in and set appt for this Sat so I could be there.

Saturday morning as I sit dressed in camofloge (sp) waiting to pounce on this next poor soul who approaches my front door, I try to calm myself down so the tech does not take off running.

Knock on the door and Joe (not his real name as i dont know who else reads this fourm) a subcontractor for Adelphia awaits his fate. Let me tell you something, this young man was the kindest most knowledgable and willing to diagnose the problem technician i have ever met with adelphia.

This gentleman took the time to listen to me and let me explain the situation, the problem and my system to him with out interuption. He asked questions that made sense and the went to work. He saw what the inhouse guys did to my panel and wondered why. Joe took out his signal strength meter and started checking, all the while not minding me asking questions and watching his readings.

He checked everything and quess what, crap signal at the tap at the street. The digital carrier in the toilet and the analog extremely low. He even took the time to run a cable direct fron the tap to my cabinet.

He gave me the results on my copy of the service call sheet and said that Maint would have to come out and fix the signal at the street,(back in the hands of inhouse techs).

As i was talking with him before he left he stated that he (the subcontractor) is always refered to as the bad guy from the in house guys, said his goodbyes and left.

This tehcnician will be the only one allowed back into my house after the tap signal is fixed even if i have to wait a couple extra days, he was awsome.

Will post another update whe we have a final soultion.

Mike

Here in the Raleigh North Carolina area, all you have to do is tune to channel 999 to get the full diagnostic information including signal level.

Don't forget to check the termination from the main line from the pole.
I solved a low signal problem that had the cable company out 3 times with senior techs. I went to the first place of entry, looked at the termination, removed the dialectric left on the pin from a careless cable guy with my needlenose pliers, plugged it back together and done in 5 minutes.

Wow. This thread is a few years old but so helpful to me just at least to get familiar with the issues in play. Anyone know if Big Wood got his signal strength sorted? I'm having the same sort of problems at my place and after dealing with the cable company (TW) for several visits with no improvement and a good bit of gratuitous humiliation, I've resolved to start looking into it myself. My gut says that the problem is on their end. I've been pretty meticulous in my problem solving. I by-passed all the splitters in my place and am hooking into the outlet that is straight from their box no detours or deviations. The signal is just inconsistent. It will be fine for a while and then suddenly drop to 10% or less of what it was. This is frustrating on all levels but most of all when it disrupts an important digital upload to a client site (I often have to upload files from my home office to my clients directly). I've been trying to resolve this for a year now. TW never listens to my explanations of what I've done and their techs all just do the same thing, measure with their expensive-looking doodads from inside my house, walk around muttering, then get into their trucks and leave. If I chase them down to ask for an explanation on their way out the parking lot they mutter something about splitters and checking the wiring in my walls. I can't convince them to test their own feed because I'm just one of several hundred tenants in this condo and they just don't listen to me although they are happy to scoop up hundreds of $$ from each of us individually every month for their crappy signal. There is no one out where I live who can provide the bandwidth I need for my office even on paper. These guys say they do but in practice I am getting the worst service I've ever had anywhere.

I use a specialized tool.  And I mean tool in more than one way...Yes, I use a "Cable Guy".  That's right, it's hard to believe, but I will actually call them and force them to do the job they're getting paid to do.  I know it's crazy.  

To answer your second question, it's very affordable.  In fact, it doesn't cost anything, because you're already paying for "good" signal strength.  

The cable guy is actually a neat little tool.  He's kinda like a robot really.  He drives a van, and when he gets out of the van, he'll go to wherever you point. He's like a golden retriever.  If you point, he'll go there.  

Sometimes I just run around the house with a laser pointer...he'll chase that thing for hours.  :)

Doh!...Who keeps drudging up 5 year old threads...Dammit. I've been bamboozled again!

might want to check your resources on a cable network you want 0 at the tv being the best with a tolerance of + or - 1 to 2 db

newbee.....I got bit by this one.....hmmmm let me think back 5 years ago IDK

Or, call around and find an integrator/AV installer who has a meter and pay them to measure the signal at the drops.

If you use Time Warner Cable, tune to channel 1900- it's the diagnostics channel and signal strength is in the list.

Then he says


I'm wondering how this was measured. 10% is not a typical way of stating signal strength; it's usually decibels.
Then he says


Up to this point the entire discussion has been about cable signal strength. The previous discussion had to do with TV channels coming into the home. Now we're talking about uploading, so we're not talking about signal strength any more.


If you told me you were getting poor mileage and then explained all the things you had done to try to speed up your uploads, I'd probably mutter and leave, too.


You pay hundreds? I'd have to say that should mean $200 or more....


If you're too far from the switch, you're too far from the switch. I know a guy who actually subscribed to DirecSat (if they still call it that) in the Hollywood Hills because his connection was not fast enough. And I know of another guy in the Hollywood Hills whose speed is about 0.7 Mbit, too slow for reasonable VOD from DirecTV.

Please tell us clearly what you're trying to do, not mixing signal strength, which is incoming, with internet, which is bidirectional but hugely asynchronous.

And by the way, regarding all those splitters -- there should be a maximum of one splitter, preferably a two-way, between the cable feed and your cable modem. But if there's nobody out there who can supply what you need, what do you suppose can be done to solve your problem?