# Antenna TV. Interference even comes in the form of passing/accelerating cars.



## WhatInThe (Oct 22, 2020)

No cable or dish for TV so I'm using a couple of digital/hd antennas with an ampflier(still -can recieve lot). Digital tv extremely susceptible to interference. Like the old days and UHF channels in particular.

 Took some time but I realized that accelerating cars, passing trucks can cause interference. My guess since acceleration is when the battery charges the most anything emitting a signal ie gps, wifi, phone etc transmits at it's peak. Throw in all the electronics in an engine or involved with a car there's alot of emf. Throw in a nearby railroad tracks/trains the power usage/emf. It worse as car accelerate over the rr tracks.


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## bowmore (Oct 22, 2020)

The biggest noise comes from the spark plugs.


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## WhatInThe (Oct 22, 2020)

bowmore said:


> The biggest noise comes from the spark plugs.


I was thinking that but a lot of cars are only 4 cylinder cars with much smaller plugs than decades ago. It could affect signal infront of house but not a 1/4 mile down road?


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## Don M. (Oct 22, 2020)

If you ever have a chance to buy into Fiber Optics, give it serious consideration.  We have TV, phone and internet bundled on fiber, and it is the best service we've ever had.


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## Mike (Oct 23, 2020)

If they are reachable WhatInThe, try turning the
aerials, if they are inside the house move them
to another location.

I sometimes get black screens on the TV when a
car passes, by moving it to the wall that is right
angles to where it is hanging cures this, it is a
combination of weather, parked cars and passing
traffic, with me.

Mike,


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## Aunt Bea (Oct 23, 2020)

I get some interference that I have always attributed to vehicles with communication systems like FedEx, taxi cabs, etc...

I also get some interference depending on the weather conditions.  I seem to get my best reception when it is cloudy and damp.

For now, I'll stick with the minor inconvenience of air TV and enjoy the money I save on some things that are more meaningful to me.

As I get older my world gets smaller and my priorities change so the idea of having some form of pay-TV may become more appealing to me.


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## Pappy (Oct 23, 2020)

Don M. said:


> If you ever have a chance to buy into Fiber Optics, give it serious consideration.  We have TV, phone and internet bundled on fiber, and it is the best service we've ever had.



Don. We’ve been looking at AT&T fiber service. Know anything about them?


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## Pappy (Oct 23, 2020)

WhatInThe said:


> I was thinking that but a lot of cars are only 4 cylinder cars with much smaller plugs than decades ago. It could affect signal infront of house but not a 1/4 mile down road?



Reminds me back in the 50s where every car and airplane went by, the picture would go crazy and noisy. Check Amazon for a noise reducer. Not sure if they have one but it should help.


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## Camper6 (Oct 23, 2020)

bowmore said:


> The biggest noise comes from the spark plugs.


Yes. At one time they even affected the car radio..
There was noise suppression plugs available.


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## Camper6 (Oct 23, 2020)

Mike said:


> If they are reachable WhatInThe, try turning the
> aerials, if they are inside the house move them
> to another location.
> 
> ...


It seems like you are using an indoor antenna.  If you are getting a good signal, you can possibly use two antennas with a switch.
I remember we had to mount the antenna higher in order to minimize the interference.
The stronger the signal, the less interference.
It also depends on the antenna being used.  A high gain antenna is more directional but it gives a better signal.  I also remember rotors to move the antenna.
The technology for over the air television hasn't changed much from the old days except for UHF.  All we had was VHF channels 2 to 13 .


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## WhatInThe (Oct 23, 2020)

I'm using 2 digital antennas now, a 30 mile and 40 mile with an amplifier on a catv splitter. Can get 2 sets of stations or about 30-40% of what's available there's 2 other sets of stations I can't get at all or must dedicate the antenna for them only. I take readings with a compass and use reference points so I can position them pretty quick but there are just too many times even in ideal position the interference in unbelievable.

I tried hdmi type cables,shorter and longer cables to no avail. I might splurge for a 50 mile plus or a different brand/shape antenna.


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## Don M. (Oct 23, 2020)

Pappy said:


> Don. We’ve been looking at AT&T fiber service. Know anything about them?



I don't know anything about AT&T service...our service is provided by our rural electric Co-Op...but Fiber, IMO, is far superior to any cable or satellite service we've ever had.  Everything is crystal clear, and there are NO glitches, due to weather, electrical interference, etc., and the Bundle our Co-Op offers is cheaper than what we had been paying.   After a couple of years on Fiber, I would highly recommend it.


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## Camper6 (Oct 23, 2020)

WhatInThe said:


> I'm using 2 digital antennas now, a 30 mile and 40 mile with an amplifier on a catv splitter. Can get 2 sets of stations or about 30-40% of what's available there's 2 other sets of stations I can't get at all or must dedicate the antenna for them only. I take readings with a compass and use reference points so I can position them pretty quick but there are just too many times even in ideal position the interference in unbelievable.
> 
> I tried hdmi type cables,shorter and longer cables to no avail. I might splurge for a 50 mile plus or a different brand/shape antenna.


What are you using for coaxial cables to hook up the antenna to the television sets?
Good cables eliminate a lot of signal loss in transmission from the antenna to the set.
Check out what the homes close to you might be using.


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## Pecos (Oct 23, 2020)

Camper6 said:


> It seems like you are using an indoor antenna.  If you are getting a good signal, you can possibly use two antennas with a switch.
> I remember we had to mount the antenna higher in order to minimize the interference.
> The stronger the signal, the less interference.
> It also depends on the antenna being used.  A high gain antenna is more directional but it gives a better signal.  I also remember rotors to move the antenna.
> The technology for over the air television hasn't changed much from the old days except for UHF.  All we had was VHF channels 2 to 13 .


A high gain directional antenna should enable one to get away from this noise source.

I am not in favor of amplifiers on the antennas because they will amplify the noise right along with the desired signal. To make matters worse, many of them are easily overdriven resulting in all sorts of harmonic and intermodulation distortion byproducts. Usually these amplifiers are attached to omni-directional antennas so they unable to avoid unwanted noise. Amplified antennas is of those ideas that "sounds good", but in practice is a bad idea. The exception to this is if the amplifier is attached to the base of a high gain directional antenna where it can avoid picking up the noise source in the first place.


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## Camper6 (Oct 23, 2020)

Pecos said:


> A high gain directional antenna should enable one to get away from this noise source.
> 
> I am not in favor of amplifiers on the antennas because they will amplify the noise right along with the desired signal. To make matters worse, many of them are easily overdriven resulting in all sorts of harmonic and intermodulation distortion byproducts. Usually these amplifiers are attached to omni-directional antennas so they unable to avoid unwanted noise. Amplified antennas is of those ideas that "sounds good", but in practice is a bad idea. The exception to this is if the amplifier is attached to the base of a high gain directional antenna where it can avoid picking up the noise source in the first place.


Of course if the signal is weak you are going to amplify noise as well.
I'm not familiar with over the air digital television.
At one time we used to pick up a distant station to watch NFL football.  The television station was about 150 miles away but coming in over Lake Superior.
The analog signal was weak and snowy but watchable.
Now with digital, my understanding is you either get a picture or you don't.
Also atmospheric conditions play a part on distant stations.
My experience was that the signal was always best in the morning.


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## fmdog44 (Oct 23, 2020)

This is odd. I have a satellite dish but also a digital antenna for NFL games  and misc. digital channels. While I have trouble receiving local CBS & ABC I have no problems with any of the 67 channels I get. The transmitters for CBS and ABC are in a location responsible for the trouble. But I do get them if I reposition the antenna or hold it with one hand. I live right off a street in  second story condo and in a path for commercial air traffic heading to and from Bush Intercontinental Airport. I get none of the interference mentioned here so I wonder if the causes given here are the right causes.


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## WhatInThe (Oct 23, 2020)

Ironic you mention that ABC is one of the stations you have trouble with. I do too even with multiple antennas and trying just to get ABC. I'm lucking to get ABC 2 days in row when I try on purpose ignoring other channels. And for what ever reason on some channels with shows & movies with special effects those scenes always play blurry.


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## Camper6 (Oct 23, 2020)

WhatInThe said:


> Ironic you mention that ABC is one of the stations you have trouble with. I do too even with multiple antennas and trying just to get ABC. I'm lucking to get ABC 2 days in row when I try on purpose ignoring other channels. And for what ever reason on some channels with shows & movies with special effects those scenes always play blurry.


What is the channel number?  Is it a UHF station?  If it's UHF you need a different antenna.  If your antenna is a combined one that is supposed to pick up UHF as well you might need a more powerful dedicated UHF antenna. Or if it's a VHF station then a dedicated VHF antenna for that station.  A Yagi antenna is highly directional and eliminates to a great extent any interference coming from the side.
Or there may be interference between the station and the antenna such as trees.  The height of the broadcasting antenna might not be high enough for good reception.  In this case raising the receiving antenna will help.
My only option is cable.  Not enough stations close enough in the area to bother with over the air.
The apartment building doesn't allow satellite dishes.


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## Pecos (Oct 23, 2020)

Camper6 said:


> Of course if the signal is weak you are going to amplify noise as well.
> I'm not familiar with over the air digital television.
> At one time we used to pick up a distant station to watch NFL football.  The television station was about 150 miles away but coming in over Lake Superior.
> The analog signal was weak and snowy but watchable.
> ...


Electromagnetic waves at the VHF and UHF frequencies have some characteristics that greatly impact signal quality:

To begin with, they are easily reflected by metal objects and the interference that the OP described could well have been caused by intermittent reflection of the desired signal off of passing vehicles. The second reflected signal could arrive out-of-phase with the original signal and thus reduce the overall signal strength. This is not uncommon and military systems have to deal with it all the time, especially aboard ships where there is a lot of metal.

Signals at VHF and UHF frequencies are greatly influenced by the index of refraction of the air they pass through. The case where the football game signal is being received 150 miles away after passing over a lake is a classic illustration. The humidity and temperature over water can create a ducting effect that can bend that signal around the curvature of the earth and keep it at a higher that normal strength. Under normal (non-ducting) propagation, VHF and UHF signals travel in a straight line of sight and would go right off into space. This phenomena is fairly common over the Great Lakes. 

I have seen equations that try to predict the range that a signal will travel over water and there were numerous factors: radiated power, transmitter antenna gain, receiver antenna gain, water temperature, time of day, humidity, antenna height above the water (sometimes lower is better), frequency, wind, and signal processing gain such as you get using a digital signal. Also a whole bunch of other stuff that I don't remember. 

The difference between analog and digital signals is a matter of how they are processed. If you are watching an analog signal and it starts to fade, you are dealing with "graceful degradation." A digital signal is processed differently and the receiver has some ability to reconstruct the signal when it starts to get weak, ..... up to a point where it just gives up suddenly. There is no graceful degradation with a digital signal, you either have enough to process, or you don't.

I see a lot of ads for digital antennas and it is pure marketing. There is not difference between receiving a digital or an analog signal as long as your antenna covers that frequency range.

.... end of lecture LOL, and I threw out my notes on this subject two years ago.


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## Camper6 (Oct 23, 2020)

Pecos said:


> Electromagnetic waves at the VHF and UHF frequencies have some characteristics that greatly impact signal quality:
> 
> To begin with, they are easily reflected by metal objects and the interference that the OP described could well have been caused by intermittent reflection of the desired signal off of passing vehicles. The second reflected signal could arrive out-of-phase with the original signal and thus reduce the overall signal strength. This is not uncommon and military systems have to deal with it all the time, especially aboard ships where there is a lot of metal.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the post.  Very interesting analysis.  As the signal over Lake Superior?  It was stronger in summer than in winter and I'm guessing it was because part of the lake froze over.
And sometimes when there was hurricanes and storms, I would pick up signals from huge distances.  One I remember was from Greensboro, North Carolina.  The signal lasted about 4 hours. That's about 1758 miles in the air from where I live.  I used to take pictures of the screen because people wouldn't believe me..
Yes I get a kick out of digital antennas.  The old standby in your attic will work just as well maybe even better.


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## WhatInThe (Oct 23, 2020)

Camper6 said:


> Of course if the signal is weak you are going to amplify noise as well.
> I'm not familiar with over the air digital television.
> At one time we used to pick up a distant station to watch NFL football.  The television station was about 150 miles away but coming in over Lake Superior.
> The analog signal was weak and snowy but watchable.
> ...


The digital tv here reacts to the interference by freezing the picture, puts picture & sound out of sync, goes through periods where video goes to slow motion, pixelization of picture, skips a couple of seconds of audio at a time. It could be crystal clear for a minute then about 10 seconds at a time all the above. This is one of those nights where I thought I had the antenna positions figured out but too no avail haven't been able to watch an uninterupted hour of tv yet.


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## Rosemarie (Oct 24, 2020)

Interesting subject! I'm having a problem with my own aerial...which is mounted on the roof. The transmitter is on high ground but, even so, if you live in a valley it can weaken the signal. Fibre optics seem to be a better option, but it means switching provider.
Why can't someone invent a tv which has its own in-built aerial...surely that would lessen the problem?


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## fmdog44 (Oct 24, 2020)

I know for a fact ABC &  CBS boost their signals at different times and days. Example is Sundays I can get ABC & CBS if I position the indoor antenna correctly.


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## Mike (Oct 24, 2020)

I am using an indoor digital aerial as I am about 2 miles
from the large booster tower for South London, I also
have a little booster box that plugs in to the electricity.

Many years ago to cut down interference on a normal
rooftop antenna, we used to put 70 ohm resistors into
the line, maybe you could make one using a lamp holder
and a lamp but no electricity, put the aerial cable in the
main contact one and out the other to the TV set, try
different sizes of lamps/bulbs till you get a result

If nothing else it will give you something to do.

Mike.


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## Lewkat (Oct 24, 2020)

My son has Verizon fiber bundle and it works beautifully.  Where I live, we have regular Optimum and it's not too bad at all.


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## Camper6 (Oct 24, 2020)

Mike said:


> I am using an indoor digital aerial as I am about 2 miles
> from the large booster tower for South London, I also
> have a little booster box that plugs in to the electricity.
> 
> ...


A resistor in the line?  That was from the good old days when they used twin lead to bring the signal in.  The twin lead acted like an aerial on its own and caused ghosting and interference from whatever was running including any electrical motors around.
The twin lead was 300 ohm resistance.  The modern coax cable is 72 ohm.  So maybe that's why the resistor worked as a filter. It's not needed now because the coax is 72 ohms and connects directly to the television set. It's called impedance matching.  The coax cable is designed with interference rejecting capability. it's a copper core surrounded by shielding material.  It's supposed to bring in the signal with much less loss.
The best way to cut interference is to use a high gain, directional antenna cut for the frequency of the  channel you are trying to pick up.  A Yagi antenna rejects any signals coming from the side.  The stronger the signal, the less interference.
Attaching picture of cables . On the rightis the twin lead.  You don't see it anymore.  On the left is the coax cable now used. Notice the shielding.


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## Mike (Oct 24, 2020)

That is interestin Camper, I never seen twin aerial wire,
the 70 ohm resistors that I used were on a coaxial cable
set up, if you split the aerial cable you needed 3 of them,
one for each cable and all the resistors joined together
at the end away from the cables a bit like a "Y".

Mike.


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## Pecos (Oct 24, 2020)

Mike said:


> I am using an indoor digital aerial as I am about 2 miles
> from the large booster tower for South London, I also
> have a little booster box that plugs in to the electricity.
> 
> ...


The purposes of that 70 ohm resistor were to reduce standing waves on the antenna cable and to prevent the first stage of the TV from being overdriven. An overdriven first stage can generate a lot of unwanted harmonics and intermodulation products.

I think that the resistance of an incandescent light bulb is about 2 or 3 Ohms so it would not have the same effect. More importantly, it would introduce a major impedance mismatch between the antenna and the TV's first amplifier stage. The signal loss could be significant.


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## Camper6 (Oct 24, 2020)

Mike said:


> That is interestin Camper, I never seen twin aerial wire,
> the 70 ohm resistors that I used were on a coaxial cable
> set up, if you split the aerial cable you needed 3 of them,
> one for each cable and all the resistors joined together
> ...


I see. But now there are splitters you can plug into . They match everything up. This is an old one i had hanging around.  I believe the insides have small resistors built in.


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## Mike (Oct 24, 2020)

I don't think any of the above would work on a
digital signal, but maybe you are still getting an
analogue one, we don't have analogue here now.

Mike.


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## Pecos (Oct 24, 2020)

Camper6 said:


> I see. But now there are splitters you can plug into . They match everything up. This is an old one i had hanging around.  I believe the insides have small resistors built in.
> View attachment 129881


That is indeed a four way splitter and they do have resistors inside. The input is one the right hand side of the unit and the other connections are all outputs. Each output will only have about 20% of the original input power since there will be signal losses in those resistors.


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## Pecos (Oct 24, 2020)

Mike said:


> I don't think any of the above would work on a
> digital signal, but maybe you are still getting an
> analogue one, we don't have analogue here now.
> 
> Mike.


It will work just fine with a digital signal.


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## fmdog44 (Oct 24, 2020)

I think those that are experiencing problems should give the manufacturer of their antennas. I am getting a feeling not all are indoor like mine. I bought three different styles and only the last one works. However the same type (I can't say it is the same manufacturer) in my bedroom gives me fits. Mine are the flat rubber like styles 11" X 9". The crazy thing is I can move my leg or arm or move around the room and it changes the reception. I can't understand auto spark plugs causing problems like they used to on radios many decades ago. I have my doubts here.


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## Camper6 (Oct 24, 2020)

Mike said:


> I don't think any of the above would work on a
> digital signal, but maybe you are still getting an
> analogue one, we don't have analogue here now.
> 
> Mike.


Oh that would work on a digital signal because I am using the same type of splitter to send my cable to both my living room and my bedroom.  It only has two outlets. One coming in and two going out.
But here's the thing about antennas.  If you have an older antenna that was used for analogue the impedance is 300 ohms at the terminals.  You need to connect a converter that will change it to 72 ohms for cable connections to the television set.
The newer antennas will have a connector.
We don't have analogue either anymore.  All the newer television sets automatically are set for digital signals.


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## Mike (Oct 25, 2020)

My indoor aerial is a "*ONE for all*", I think that they
are from Holland.

I also think that they are the only ones that are on
sale here, I didn't see another version for indoors.

Mike.


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## Camper6 (Oct 25, 2020)

Expanding on the subject.  And antennas or aerials as they are called.

All the old television sets came with an antenna.  They were called rabbit ears and they just had a hole where you could mount it on the set and you would be able to rotate it for the best picture.
Notice that it was connected with twin lead 300 ohm. You could buy an adapter to convert it to coax cable for the modern sets.
For channels 2 to 13 that's all you need.  It might even work on other channels.  I have no way of testing it.
You could extend the arms for the lower channels like channel two and collapse them for the upper channels.
In a strong signal area that's all you need. 
I'm going to test it later on in the laundry room because I'm in an apartment and blocked from the local transmitting towers which are about 30 miles away by air.
So basically what that is called is a dipole antenna.  You can make your own easily.


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## Mike (Oct 25, 2020)

My first TV aerial was home made in the early 1960s.
twisted flex opened out at he far end and hung on
the wall like a *T*, the other end still twisted was stuck
into the TV coax socket, no screening but it worked
and there was very little to no traffic on the roads.

Mike.


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## Chet (Oct 25, 2020)

WhatInThe said:


> Digital tv extremely susceptible to interference.


Describe in more detail what the interference looks like.


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## WhatInThe (Oct 25, 2020)

Chet said:


> Describe in more detail what the interference looks like.


Pixelization(bunch of tiny squares), freezing screen, audio/video out of sync, extremely glitchy including missing seconds and words or entire sentences of dialogue along momentary freezing of screen and frequently goes to no signal.

Many causes as Pecos and Campers noted. Fix one might not eliminate the other. Could even be my wireless device. Have a new 5G antenna about 2 miles away and a leased tower another 2 miles away with all sorts of signals. But the cars accelerating 1/4 mile down the road are the most puzzling.


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## Camper6 (Oct 25, 2020)

WhatInThe said:


> Pixelization(bunch of tiny squares), freezing screen, audio/video out of sync, extremely glitchy including missing seconds and words or entire sentences of dialogue along momentary freezing of screen and frequently goes to no signal.
> 
> Many causes as Pecos and Campers noted. Fix one might not eliminate the other. Could even be my wireless device. Have a new 5G antenna about 2 miles away and a leases tower another2 miles away with all sorts of signals. But the cars accelerating 1/4 mile down the road are the most puzzling.


It's not puzzling to me.  The cars are made of metal.  The signal is reflecting off the car bodies. 
It could be reflecting off buildings.  You need what is called a good line of sight.  Your antenna and the transmitting antenna must be awfully low.


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## WhatInThe (Oct 25, 2020)

Camper6 said:


> It's not puzzling to me.  The cars are made of metal.  The signal is reflecting off the car bodies.
> It could be reflecting off buildings.  You need what is called a good line of sight.  Your antenna and the transmitting antenna must be awfully low.


Funny thing is that most of transmission towers are supposedly in the opposite or different compass direction.  The signals mostly come from the SE yet the accelerating cars are coming from the NW.


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## WhatInThe (Oct 25, 2020)

One thing to note is those accelerating cars must go over railroad tracks. I wonder if the vibration is doing something in the cars or tracks causing some kind of forced interference or power surge/frequency change from that area. 

I will say some of the longer luxury cars seem to cause 50% of issue. Ironic it seems some of the more cube shaped SUV cause issues. At first I thought it had something to do with led light vs halegon or old filiment style bulbs but the interference isn't consistent in front of the house.


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## Rosemarie (Oct 25, 2020)

Mike said:


> My first TV aerial was home made in the early 1960s.
> twisted flex opened out at he far end and hung on
> the wall like a *T*, the other end still twisted was stuck
> into the TV coax socket, no screening but it worked
> ...


When we lived on a hill, we were able to get perfect reception with a coat-hanger stuck in the aerial socket.


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## Chet (Oct 25, 2020)

WhatInThe said:


> Pixelization(bunch of tiny squares), freezing screen, audio/video out of sync, extremely glitchy including missing seconds and words or entire sentences of dialogue along momentary freezing of screen and frequently goes to no signal.


I have the same symptoms when the signal is weak on a particular station but not on others since each station has different signal strength. Are all your stations behaving the same?


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## SeaBreeze (Oct 25, 2020)

We have cable TV only on the bedroom television.  The small TV in the kitchen and the one in the living room are free TV using rabbit ear type antennas.  The reception is pretty good on most days until the wind kicks up, then the channels cut in and out and I have to constantly adjust the antenna.  Luckily I don't use those TVs too often, only when I'm busy doing something in those rooms.


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## Camper6 (Oct 26, 2020)

Think about it.
Cable t.v. You buy it.
They pick up the television stations with equipment like satellite dishes, etc. and then send it along their cable network to your home.
Over the air, you have a homeowner doing their best with cheap equipment to pick up the signal from a transmitting tower without knowing the basics.   It's actually quite a miracle isn't it?


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## Mike (Oct 26, 2020)

The Pixelisation of the screen only happens when I
am in the normal TV channel, if I am in the HD ones,
the screen goes black till the vehicle passes.

Moving the aerial around 18" solves both problems.

I think that the stations that get interference are the
ones with a weaker output of their signal.

All of the BBC channels get interference, but as they
are nation wide suppliers they have lots of boosters,
so their signal doesn't have to be strong, a lot of the
more obscure TV Companies who have appeared in
the digital age also get it, some of them sound as if
they are coming from somebody's garage, or a small
office somewhere and you never see any presenters.

Mike.


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## Camper6 (Oct 26, 2020)

WhatInThe said:


> Funny thing is that most of transmission towers are supposedly in the opposite or different compass direction.  The signals mostly come from the SE yet the accelerating cars are coming from the NW.


So now there you go and that's a significant clue.
The signal is bouncing off the cars and being transmitted to your television set. It's not really interference like static being generated by motors or spark plugs etc.
With t.v. and radio waves, that's happening on the time.  Before digital you would have two images on the screen.  One from the original source and one being bounced back from a building or whatever on the way to the set.  It was called 'ghosting.'


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## WhatInThe (Oct 26, 2020)

The ghosting makes sense on several of the channels in particular. The only thing I will say the cars moving away don't produce the interference the approaching cars do(Car engine hoods the main culprit?)

 This is a bad area in general. I think that new tower 2 miles away is really starting to affect things. Radio is tough here as well on both bands AM and FM.  For the first time ever I got no signal message on digital car radio screen near a intersection with alot of utility poles.  Then a preset channel played another channel's broadcast until a cleared an intersetion with a lot of power lines. That new cell tower is ironically about a 1 mile straight line down the road that same intersection.

Also one doesn't realize all the emf coming off electric devices but I've been using a compass when adjusting the antennas and noticed if it's placed too close to something like an antenna or a speaker wire it affects the reading and they're lower power using braided/twisted wire.


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## Mike (Oct 27, 2020)

Aerials are strange things indeed, in the 1950s I had
a friend who was into short wave/ham radio and he
was able to speak to people in Canada, USA, Australia
and many other places very clearly.

One day in daylight he showed me his aerial/antenna
set up, it was huge, in his garden/yard, he had copper
winding wire, the stuff that you make a motor with, he
had two tall poles of wood at the bottom of the garden,
two large insulated hooks at the corners of the house
and lots of loops of the wire around all of them, one I
would think was about 120 yards round and he seemed
to have hundreds of them, inside where the radio was he
had a piece of plastic or bakelite rod that again was wrapped
in copper wire, he said that you can't have too much antenna
and when he plugged the outside section into has regular
radio, the reception was fantastic, this in the days when the
static was part of every programme, yet his was clear.

So maybe we should go back in time and wrap the trees in
copper wire, at the back away from traffic!

Mike.


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## Camper6 (Oct 27, 2020)

A compass needle is magnetic.  It's attracted to anything that is magnetic .


Mike said:


> Aerials are strange things indeed, in the 1950s I had
> a friend who was into short wave/ham radio and he
> was able to speak to people in Canada, USA, Australia
> and many other places very clearly.
> ...


Don't kid yourself.  That wasn't a random wrapping of wire.  It's scientifically designed to capture the frequencies he used to transmit and receive radio waves.
It was what is called a 'tuned' antenna.


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## fmdog44 (Oct 27, 2020)

Antenna amplifiers are of no use as far as I know because amplification works only from the transmitter. I read that a long time ago when I was trying to figure out a way to get signals from CBS an ABC.


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## Camper6 (Oct 28, 2020)

fmdog44 said:


> Antenna amplifiers are of no use as far as I know because amplification works only from the transmitter. I read that a long time ago when I was trying to figure out a way to get signals from CBS an ABC.


They are actually o.k. if you are getting a signal without a lot of static.  

There's not much point in amplifying a bad signal.


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## tbeltrans (Oct 28, 2020)

Camper6 said:


> They are actually o.k. if you are getting a signal without a lot of static.
> 
> There's not much point in amplifying a bad signal.



That is correct.  These things do amplify - everything.  The best they can do is have a low internal signal to noise ratio so they don't add noise of their own.  

Tony


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