Hauppauge WinTV Digital Signal Strength Monitor App

dfex · Mar 26, 2009

Markham: Woodbine & Major Mac

Hi guys,

I have a CM 4228 mounted on my roof and attached to a CM 7778. The cable (RG6) run is around 50 ft to my basement. Attached to the CM 7778 is a 4 way splitter which then connects to the following:

1 - Samsung LNS4696D LCD TV
2 - Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 (SageTV PVR)
3 - Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 (SageTV PVR)
4 - Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 (SageTV PVR)

I have been having trouble with CBS (and sometimes I have issues with NBC & ABC). Once in awhile CBS will work but for the most part, I don't get any signal. Since spring is here I'd like to re-peak my antenna to hopefully get a stronger signal from CBS (as well as NBC & ABC).

Before I could re-peak my antenna, I wanted to measure my current signal strengths. To do this, I have found a tool from Hauppauge called WinTV Digital Signal Strength Monitor. Does anyone know if this tool is a reliable way to measure signal strengths? Below are the numbers I got from the tool.

Does this indicate that I need to point my antenna a little more to the west (I'm located at Woodbine & Major Mac - Markham) ?

Channel: SNR
2.1: 0 - 23
4.1: 0
5.1: 29
7.1: 0 - 17
9.1: 27
17.1: 27
23.1: 28
25.1: 27
29.1: 23
41.1: 25
44.1: 24
57.1: 18
64.1: 27
66.1: 23

WinTV Digital Signal Strength Monitor
http://hauppauge.lightpath.net/software/utils/wintv_sigmon.exe

recneps77 · Mar 26, 2009

The signal monitor is more reliable than a % tool, as it actually tells you the information need to know the most - SNR
The higher the SNR, the better your signal.
A signal monitor tool makes the percent/bars/whatever based on the SNR it's receiving (there's probably lots of methods used, so that's not too important)

I've found, with my tuner, that SNR >18 is a good lock.
17-18 is borderline, and it won't register below that, just zero, because it can't lock on the signal at all (or not enough to identify it)

dfex · Mar 27, 2009

Thanks for sharing that information. I'm planning on adding an antenna rotator so that I can make adjustments without going onto the roof all the time.

Snake785 · Mar 28, 2009

Have you tried taking out the splitter to see if you get CBS, NBC and ABC more reliably? If you can get a good signal with those channels without the splitter, maybe you can try a different type of splitter? I'm not 100% sure on this but I think you can get a powered splitter that negates the loss you usually get from using a regular splitter. Using one those might be enough for you to not require a rotor.

Hauppauge WinTV Digital Signal Strength Monitor App

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