[Maury Markowitz]

I've had the same no-name 4-bay on the roof for a decade, connected to a HomeRun in the utility room in the basement. This got me many channels from Toronto and Buffalo, many of them rock solid, like PBS and TVO. Others were more hit and miss, but all the major channels were at least OK with the exception of CFTO on VHF. I often considered adding a 2-bay for Toronto but never bothered.

About three months ago everything stopped working. Every station, including PBS and TVO, break up constantly. PBS will get you stretches of a couple of good minutes, but there will always be pixelation and picture loss is inevitable at some point. This was working one day and dead the next.

Before I start pulling everything apart, what is the chance this is cell interference? I assume this occurs largely on one band? There are no new towers in the area, but I suppose they could have added new channels to some of the building-mounted systems so I suppose it could be this. I just don't know how I would test it?

 

[pinto]

Maybe a dumb question, but have you done a rescan recently? I have noticed some tropo issues in Whitby, but nothing major.

 

[rob50312]

There are many possible causes including the new cell band ;You can try an 607MHZ filter from Amazon as a test.Corrision at connections or water in balun box or cables.Is it only on HD homerun ?

 

[Humbar]

Check all your connections for water leakage, that would do it, before spending any money.

 

[Maury Markowitz]

Maybe a dumb question, but have you done a rescan recently? I have noticed some tropo issues in Whitby, but nothing major.

Well I just figured out how to get the signal strength from the HDHomeRun on the Mac, and it's down around 45 to 60% on these stations. Very peaky though, one minute it's 70% and the picture is solid, and the next its 60% and stuttering.

 

[Maury Markowitz]

There are many possible causes including the new cell band ;You can try an 607MHZ filter from Amazon as a test.

Ordered, arrives tomorrow. Phillips, $15, certainly not going to break the bank!

I'll have a good look at the wiring when I'm putting it on.

Is it only on HD homerun ?

Yep, everything is ether from there on. Going to mount the HD under the eves to reduce coax.

 

[Gibsons]

All to nothing is usually a bad connection, balun, tuner, etc.

Maybe a big building just got erected in the signal path. Do you have an amp? Maybe it's blown.

 

[Maury Markowitz]

All to nothing is usually a bad connection, balun, tuner, etc.

Tuner seems fine, and its also time-of-day I noticed. I was checking yesterday afternoon and night and things were OK, but they were bad this morning. Once the filter arrives I've have a look at the wiring.

All to nothing is usually a bad connection, balun, tuner, etc.

Maybe a big building just got erected in the signal path. Do you have an amp? Maybe it's blown.
[/QUOTE]
That would be difficult, the signal path is over the lake

 

[Gibsons]

Tuner seems fine, and its also time-of-day I noticed. I was checking yesterday afternoon and night and things were OK, but they were bad this morning. Once the filter arrives I've have a look at the wiring.


Maybe a big building just got erected in the signal path. Do you have an amp? Maybe it's blown.

That would be difficult, the signal path is over the lake
[/QUOTE]

Problem could be on the other side of the Lake, new condo goes up and blocks you or new cell towers built.

Willing to bet it's wiring, but up to you. If the signal is right over the Lake, my guess is your LTE filter will do almost nothing as you'd only lose certain channels due to this kind of interference and not everything.

Get your tuner, disconnect the antenna and put on a rabbit ears antenna. If you get Locals with rabbit ears and can't with your outdoor setup, it's the wiring most likely. Sometimes you have to do trial and error to see what the problem is. I had a loose connection on a coax termination that led to intermittent reception - then loss of it. Check your amplifier(s), connections and pointing to see if something has changed.

 

[majortom]

didn't see an answer to the "you have an amp" question. i too would be checking fittings.
Since the system is >10 yrs old, I would just chop the connectors off from both ends an inch or two back, and put new connectors on.
If there's a balun, they can get loose where they connect to the antenna, and or get water in them.