Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 6, 2015 11:22:16 GMT -5
I've noticed that mine (and others) cellular phones, when in 10' proximity of any modern TV or cable box, causes interference when the phone is transmitting. You might say, "but I wasn't on the cell phone". Most of these smart phones "ping" the tower from time to time on their own whether it's to check for emails, IM's, update apps, ect. My Fios TV box will intermittently blank out if a cell phone is transmitting near it. Great point! I had a pair of cheap unshielded computer speakers and anytime someone with an iPhone came near them the speakers would randomly make weird noises. I can remember "Ol zero-five's" phone getting into his mixer panel and EQ connected to his radio, and it would periodically couple through the phone's annoying data bursts.
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Post by MonkeyMan on May 6, 2015 20:33:59 GMT -5
Hmmm, looks like it might be more related to the Wi-Fi. More on this later, but a larger, higher gain antenna seems to be in my future.
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Post by cbrown on May 7, 2015 8:37:36 GMT -5
I can remember "Ol zero-five's" phone getting into his mixer panel and EQ connected to his radio, and it would periodically couple through the phone's annoying data bursts. Even on news programs on TV you can sometimes hears a phones data burst. You'd think the news studios would used shielded equipment.
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Post by BBB on May 7, 2015 9:53:02 GMT -5
I finally did away with the LAN (Local Area Network) CAT 5 cable runs in my house that connected to the Verizon WiFi router box. That P.O.S. Verizon router puts out horrible carriers all over the spectrum emanating from the LAN CAT 5 cables acting like an antenna. No amount of ferrites or coil wraps would contain them. Now all of our PC's utilize upgraded WiFi radio cards in them with external antennas when possible.
Evidently this type of RF interference over CAT 5 cable feeder cables from routers is common. There are however, reportedly, some wireless routers that do not cause RF interference problems. There's lots of info from other Hams on the interweb.
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Post by MonkeyMan on May 7, 2015 10:36:44 GMT -5
Our phones automatically use VOIP if within a wifi signal. I turned both off last night, but there was still some minor pixelation going on. Then my daughter opened up the laptop at which point there was a "burst". A short while later after the laptop went to sleep, she gave it a "jab" to wake up and there was another burst. Again, I think these things are happening so quickly the "meter" in the tuner is too slow to react. I may try shutting down the wifi to see what happens, but it just seems like a waste of time. I know what needs to be done.
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Post by cbrown on May 8, 2015 9:50:40 GMT -5
I finally did away with the LAN (Local Area Network) CAT 5 cable runs in my house that connected to the Verizon WiFi router box. That P.O.S. Verizon router puts out horrible carriers all over the spectrum emanating from the LAN CAT 5 cables acting like an antenna. No amount of ferrites or coil wraps would contain them. Now all of our PC's utilize upgraded WiFi radio cards in them with external antennas when possible. I went the opposite direction. I pulled all the CAT 5e cabling and installed CAT 6A shielded. I also removed the wifi.
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Post by MonkeyMan on May 8, 2015 13:43:22 GMT -5
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 8, 2015 20:36:58 GMT -5
I can remember "Ol zero-five's" phone getting into his mixer panel and EQ connected to his radio, and it would periodically couple through the phone's annoying data bursts. Even on news programs on TV you can sometimes hears a phones data burst. You'd think the news studios would used shielded equipment. Most of them do, but those dirty digital phone signals blast right through it.
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Post by MonkeyMan on May 11, 2015 13:02:22 GMT -5
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 11, 2015 19:44:16 GMT -5
Interesting how this has all gone full circle. Cable TV was initially developed (In Pa. too!) to serve remote areas that could not get usable reception of OTA channels. It was in the 70's when extended and premium services enticed people, who otherwise had good OTA reception, to sign up with cable. Now after years of price increases, and 500 channel of nothing, people are rediscovering the appear of free OTA TV.
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Post by MonkeyMan on May 11, 2015 21:35:45 GMT -5
Everything old is new again...
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Post by cbrown on May 12, 2015 8:33:43 GMT -5
Now after years of price increases, and 500 channel of nothing, people are rediscovering the appear of free OTA TV. When we signed up for cable, it was for the extra channels. But HBO stopped airing movies and started making their own shows, most of which did not interest me 9although I loved 1st & 10). And do I really need 30 home shopping channels? Plus the price increases just kept on coming with no additional services added.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 12, 2015 10:07:46 GMT -5
Now after years of price increases, and 500 channel of nothing, people are rediscovering the appear of free OTA TV. When we signed up for cable, it was for the extra channels. But HBO stopped airing movies and started making their own shows, most of which did not interest me 9although I loved 1st & 10). And do I really need 30 home shopping channels? Plus the price increases just kept on coming with no additional services added. I don't have much time for TV as it is. I have to DVR everything I regularly watch, and then I'll watch 3 or 4 shows in a row when I get a free night. But 98% of what I watch is on the network channels anyway, so there's less and less appeal for those "extra" cable channels. My only real need for cable is for internet access.
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Post by No Streak on May 12, 2015 22:11:38 GMT -5
I have to say if there was no Netflix's it would have been ruff to cut the cord. The kid's would have drove us nuts without some of their shows. OTA TV is a great way to go, but streaming service is great backup for when nothing is on. I didn't do all the research that Monkey Man did but I had a house antenna up before they went digital TV. They had both going when I did it and just used the old setup I had from analog it worked just fine. Sometimes you get TV skip channels you get them for a couple hours then they are gone.
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Post by MonkeyMan on May 13, 2015 6:07:53 GMT -5
Is skip still an issue since the digital transition? I haven't experienced any yet but it's still early in the season.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 13, 2015 6:14:23 GMT -5
I have to say if there was no Netflix's it would have been ruff to cut the cord. The kid's would have drove us nuts without some of their shows. OTA TV is a great way to go, but streaming service is great backup for when nothing is on. I didn't do all the research that Monkey Man did but I had a house antenna up before they went digital TV. They had both going when I did it and just used the old setup I had from analog it worked just fine. Sometimes you get TV skip channels you get them for a couple hours then they are gone. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. With so many people now deciding to cut the cord and go back to OTA TV with outside TV antennas, I'm waiting for those in newer developments, who will run afoul of those typical "No antenna" CC&R restrictions, when they want to put up something for TV. Since most people had switched to cable for the last 25 years, those restrictions didn't pose a problem (unless you were a radio op). But now, it may be a different story.
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Post by cbrown on May 13, 2015 9:05:47 GMT -5
I don't have much time for TV as it is. I have to DVR everything I regularly watch, and then I'll watch 3 or 4 shows in a row when I get a free night. But 98% of what I watch is on the network channels anyway, so there's less and less appeal for those "extra" cable channels. My only real need for cable is for internet access. I use Netflix for that. Plus they also started making their own shows. I loved the fact they made another 'Arrested Development' season, also a 'Trailer Park Boys' season.
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Post by cbrown on May 13, 2015 9:16:27 GMT -5
Since most people had switched to cable for the last 25 years, those restrictions didn't pose a problem (unless you were a radio op). But now, it may be a different story. Now that might actually be interesting to see. I wonder if all this cutting the cord will do anything for 2 way radio communications?
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 13, 2015 10:00:43 GMT -5
Since most people had switched to cable for the last 25 years, those restrictions didn't pose a problem (unless you were a radio op). But now, it may be a different story. Now that might actually be interesting to see. I wonder if all this cutting the cord will do anything for 2 way radio communications? Looks like the FCC has already ruled on this: www.fcc.gov/guides/over-air-reception-devices-ruleBut unless you can disguise a 2 way radio antenna to look like a TV antenna (not a big problem if you run weak signal VHF/UHF, not so good for 11 meters), this can't be leveraged to help radio ops.
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Post by MonkeyMan on May 13, 2015 10:30:47 GMT -5
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 13, 2015 11:55:35 GMT -5
Throw in free installation, and it might go over.....
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Post by MonkeyMan on May 14, 2015 9:06:16 GMT -5
Throw in free installation, and it might go over..... I dug into this a bit and they're offering a Mohu Leaf 50, amplified indoor antenna. It's UHF only square you hang in a window, so if you're not line-of-sight and relatively close to the transmitter(s) it's not going to do much good. More aluminum is more better.
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Post by MonkeyMan on May 14, 2015 9:29:29 GMT -5
Made and sold in good ol' Reading PA.... www.omnitenna.com/features.html I wonder how this would stack up to the larger Antennacraft unit I have my eye on? Search omnitenna on Facebook, he has more info there.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 14, 2015 9:30:57 GMT -5
Throw in free installation, and it might go over..... I dug into this a bit and they're offering a Mohu Leaf 50, amplified indoor antenna. It's UHF only square you hang in a window, so if you're not line-of-sight and relatively close to the transmitter(s) it's not going to do much good. More aluminum is more better. Clearly, this is aimed (no pun intended ) at metropolitan dwellers who could literally pull a good TV signal with a piece of wire shoved into the antenna jack, since they're less than 5 or 6 miles from the transmitters. It's not going to work in more remote areas, and they will have P/R problems if they try to get away with pawning off an indoor antenna in an area where lots of aluminum outside is the only reliable solution.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 15, 2015 6:01:10 GMT -5
Made and sold in good ol' Reading PA.... www.omnitenna.com/features.html I wonder how this would stack up to the larger Antennacraft unit I have my eye on? Search omnitenna on Facebook, he has more info there. When it comes to antennas, the same rules pretty much apply regardless of what band you are on. Comparing an omni-directional TV antenna to a typical log periodic beam, would be like comparing an Imax-2000 to a 7 element Maco beam. An omni directional TV antenna has some advantages, such as the ability to pull in stations from several different directions without the need to re-aim with a rotor. But it's not going to have nearly the gain for the more "fringy" signal areas. Also an omni would be more susceptible to multi-path signal distortions. So unless you plan on trying to work in Lancaster, Allentown and Harrisburg stations on top of the Phila cluster, I wouldn't even consider an omni. You need the gain to get channels 2, 12 and some others in reliably.
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Post by MonkeyMan on May 17, 2015 8:38:56 GMT -5
So we had a line of thunderstorms blow through last night and I noted a few interesting observations. After the line passed and was between me and the transmitting towers channel 2 went haywire. Signal strength was jumping between 92 and 100, while quality was jumping between 0 and 100! Occasionally it would drop completely to double zeros for a second then come back. Channel 6 was exhibiting the same behavior albeit not as severe. I was even getting a higher signal level on channel 12 and a 5-9 on quality where it's usually a big fat zero. After the storms cleared the towers I had a solid 97 strength and 100 quality on channel 2! This morning we are back to normal. I realize this is all weather related, but interesting nonetheless.
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 17, 2015 8:49:33 GMT -5
So we had a line of thunderstorms blow through last night and I noted a few interesting observations. After the line passed and was between me and the transmitting towers channel 2 went haywire. Signal strength was jumping between 92 and 100, while quality was jumping between 0 and 100! Occasionally it would drop completely to double zeros for a second then come back. Channel 6 was exhibiting the same behavior albeit not as severe. I was even getting a higher signal level on channel 12 and a 5-9 on quality where it's usually a big fat zero. After the storms cleared the towers I had a solid 97 strength and 100 quality on channel 2! This morning we are back to normal. I realize this is all weather related, but interesting nonetheless. That was all due to tropospheric ducting and mulipath effects. The same sort of things happen on VHF ham radio.
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Post by MonkeyMan on May 18, 2015 14:46:56 GMT -5
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Sandbagger
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Post by Sandbagger on May 18, 2015 16:00:32 GMT -5
And this author seems to think that those newfangled "digital" indoor antennas will work just fine no matter where you are. Obviously someone who doesn't understand RF......
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Post by firehydrant562 on May 29, 2015 17:12:03 GMT -5
We cut the cord.The Comcast bill was over $180 a month. Yes, I was paying someone to make me watch commercials. I put up a TV antenna on my 2 meter mast. (Antennas Direct, inc DB8e Extreme Range Multi-Directional Bowtie UHF Antenna) www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C4XVOOC?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s02The panels are aimed in two directions to capture three of the local translators. I bought an amplifier but didn't need it. The antenna paid for itself in three months. The land line phone is through Magic Jack at $60.00 a year and internet is through the phone company at $40.00 a month (and it's faster than Comcast). We do get Netflix at $12.00 a month. My monthly cost is now under $60.00. RFI
The biggest culprit in our home was the WI-fi router. It was in the room with the radios but it was causing all sorts of hate and discontent. It has been relegated to a bedroom in the basement. The other night I was on the air at 7.272 MHz, with 100watts and the wife said that the DVD player kept turning on and off and the disc tray kept opening and closing. I put a ferrite choke on the power cord. When I transmitted again nothing happened. Time will tell.
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