I've noticed the last couple of weeks, that my antenna which worked almost perfectly all winter and early spring, is  dropping out, and giving other problems.  57 is hardly watchable in digital or analog.  Many other channels are also dropping out now.  Does the warmer weather affect TV signals? 

Guess I need to work on the reflector now....

channel 9 is now 40-3. 57 has been going off regularly- I think it's their equipment. Your signal should improve as it warms.

I thought channel 9 had been on 40 for a while now, but 57-1 has been heavily pixelated, all day, their analog has been coming in crappy as well.    Kinda like if they turned down the power or something. 

Same problems but other channels, chns 2, 23 and 29 are dropping yet 7, 17, 49 all Buffalo solid and same with all Toronto ones.

Funny thing about chn 2, signal almost as strong as before, scans in the chn digitally but black screen. Comes in at odd times during the day. I could have multipath or reflections but why 17 & 7 A-Ok at same transmitter locations?

I noticed that late evening 57 came back, and today it went off course again, but higher and lower stations seemed okay.  It's possible that there is some kind of interferance that is only showing up during the day.  Normally I don't watch TV during the day, but I had a hernia operated on a week ago, and am off work for 6 weeks to heal, so I am watching more then I normally would be. 

I need to do a couple of things, like get the bloody antenna outside and up a little, and need to get the reflector built.   Doing anything though is on hold until a couple of other personal things are resolved, and my recovery is more complete.  

Does lead to another question though, for the group, is there any material that is signal porous, but weather tight?

Most of the microwave horns or dishes had canvas and/or fibreglass covers. My 10 ft dish feedhorn has a plastic cover over it, so my bet is that very thin, coarse plastic may do the trick.

Not sure why you would like to cover the antenna.

Because I want to keep the weather out of it.  Was thinking about a wooden box, then putting a sheet of material that is RF invisible in front of it.  It all depends on what happens this week, if my better half gets a job in Mississauga, then we might be moving there, and then it would depend on where we move to.  An apartment on the 4th floor with a South facing balcony would be ideal, because I could mount an antenna on the balcony, facing East South East and probably catch most of the Toronto and Buffalo stations. 

Okay so 57-1 seems to be back on track, 41-1 is dropping out at 66-1 is gone completely.  Guess I need to build the reflector on the back of the antenna now.....

Has anything changed recently? Well, I just noticed that my toenails are longer than they were last time I looked. I guess maybe that's not a change, though, because that's what always happens.




Don't you love thread titles so vague that you have no idea what the subject is?

Having a bad day today?

Pardon me for assuming that folks around here would be intellegent enough to figure from the thread title that "anything" would have something to do with the forums general topic, namely HDTV reception.   I don't give a rats derrier about toenails, other then due to a recent surgery I can't bend over far enough to deal with my own.  

Right now it seems that 66-1 isn't coming in, 41-1 (physical channel 65) is dodgy and 64-1 is clear as a bell.  I am working on the antenna reflector today using some left over aluminum window screening.    If that doesn't work I have to come up with another plan, I think I am up to H now....  I need to get the antenna outside, somehow, and that's tricky when you don't own the properly and making holes to the outside isn't something that is possible.

No. I hope you're doing well.


Well, yes, that's true up to a point. At this moment, some of the threads I see in this forum are:
Daniel, someone lifted your site
Time Warner HD in Albany NY
8 bay antenna digiwave
When to use preamplifier
From Niagara Falls
Electroline VS. Linear
Need new antenna rotor
Time Warner QAM Alert
HDTV in the basement with an indoor antenna
Homemade HD antenna…any help?
Insignia remote Code for Comcast On Demand Remote?

Each of those threads actually names the issue it's focused on. Should your title imply that you're asking if anything has changed with Daniel's website hijacker?
New Antenna rotor needs?
The Time Warner QAM Alert?

As I see it, the subject line is there for a couple of reasons. One is to entice people to check out something interesting, so the title might just pass on some information. Another is so that when a person sees the thread six months from now, they'll have a clue what it was about. I mean, the other end of the spectrum is the fact that absolutely every thread could accurately be titled simply "Help." That title would work, because most everyone is asking for help. I'm asking you to make a thread title a bit more helpful than that in pinning down what the subject is.


That's a drag. But with all the possible issues that your title might deal with -- note that site hijacking and Insignia Remotes have nothing to do with TV reception -- toenails are only slightly off whatever the topic might be.



Because those are so close together in the spectrum, they all should come in equally well IF the signals are comparable to begin with and the aiming is correct. I doubt that antenna mods will improve things. They might, though.

One of the problems with ANY forum software that I know of, including the one used here, is that once the subject/topic is selected, you can't change it.   Can we drop this now...


Now part of the problem, all these numbers are physical channels 64 according to the channel listing is 15kw and is coming in at about 95%.  65 (41-1) is at 3kw and comes in kinda dodgy (between 0-50%) and 66 which is coming in at 0-40% is 2.81kw so that explains it.  Two of them are severely below power, City is low power as well, but is coming in well now.  All 3 look like they will be 100kw after the changeover so they should all come in very well.  

As for the antenna, when I moved it, the one side of the balun's flat wire  U shaped lug broke off from the wire, so it may have been a part of the problem.  The reflector is now in place and it appears all channels 64 and below are coming in at 95% or better.  41 (the analog version of 65-1) comes in well, I can live with it being analog until they boost the power.  The analog version of 66 (52) comes in poorly, but it always has.  

I wonder if some of the stations that are moving  may in fact move to their final digital home at full power before the analog switchoff is completed.