Hi,

I recently installed a Channel Master CM-2016 ([Link: channelmaster.com]) in York, Toronto ON. I get relatively good reception (19 channels i think). However some of the US/Buffalo channels get pixelated every now and then.

Tonight we have clear skies and ABC gets pixelated. The thing is that when i touch the coax cable which enters the TV i find the reception improves. Letting go would decrease reception.

I wondered if this is something to do with grounding the aerial? I did note that there was instructions to ground the aerial. But not knowing if the rental house has a earth rod i skipped that step. Does anyone know what this symptoms indicate? Do i need to ground the aerial? Should i just wire up some heavy copper wire to a drain pipe? (rain water).

Or is this reception issue something to do with environmental conditions? are signals being reflected off the atmosphere and clear sky conditions (high pressure) stop the signal reflecting?


thanks
orfeo

Several years a ago when I installed my antenna I found that grounding to a water pipe improved my reception. You can get a ground clamp at any hardware store. Good idea to do it anyway, just in case, costs you less than $5.00 to do it.

Now after thinking about it, it was the shielding of the coax wire that I tied to the water pipe.

Regarding grounding the antenna, per se: Antennas are not all made the same, and the receiving part of some antennas is not at all connected to the antenna mount, so grounding that is not the same as grounding the shield of the cable. Antenna grounding is meant to offer a path to ground for static charges in an attempt to bleed these charges off and lessen the likelihood of a lightning strike. If lightning is not typical in your area (as, for instance, for me in southern California), that ground is not required in practice though specified.

If touching the jacket of the cable improves your signal, you don't have a strong signal. Ditto touching the actual outer metal part of the F connector. And this CAN be improved by connecting to an earth ground.

The rental house has an earth ground or it is, legally, not habitable. For your purposes, though, that "less than $5.00" could be a royal pain if you tried to connect to the earth ground. However, you could verify that your power connections are made correctly, then connect to the power ground near your TV.

Take this advisedly, though -- I don't know what kind of electrical connectors are used in Canada. In the US, all three-prong outlets are supposed to be grounded, and the mounting screws of the outlet are connected to that ground, so there's a place for a ground for your antenna. Check this by getting an outlet tester and checking for proper wiring including ground. Be sure to test this with something plugged in and operating on the second outlet, if you have two together. DO NOT connect to the neutral of the outlet, and definitely not to the hot!