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Inconsistent Cable Reception

August 25, 2017, 11:11:13 am

Susan & I have a question about inconsistent cable reception.

Holding variables that we can control constant — the park and site in which we are located; the TV channel; the AV equipment in the coach, etc. — we have days when the image is crystal clear; days when it is grainy/full of "snow." For a while we thought it might be weather related, because so many parks use a satellite service provider like DirecTV, but that doesn't consistently correlate with good or bad reception either.

Our guess at this point is some issue with the AudioVox distribution box in the coach? We've replaced almost everything else (digital flatscreen TVs, digital-to-analog converter runs TV sound through the Bose, new DVD players front and back, Bluetooth receiver to play music from our iPhones and laptops through the Bose, etc.).

We've checked that the connections are clean and tight on the AudioVox. We once thought reception went from bad-to-good by going back and forth between different inputs, pushing adjacent AudioVox buttons, as if jiggling the box or somehow establishing better contact inside the box made the difference.  But the one time we saw improvement in reception by doing that must have been pure coincidence, because we haven't been able to repeat the outcome.

Thoughts appreciated — with our thanks, in advance!

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Re: Inconsistent Cable Reception

Reply #1 – August 25, 2017, 11:21:18 am

We fought reception problems for years, particularly for the bedroom TV.

Take a look at the connectors on all the coax connections on the cables the coach was built with.  We discovered they weren't the greatest - in particular sometimes wiggling would change the amount of "snow".  We redid all of them and never had a problem again.

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Re: Inconsistent Cable Reception

Reply #2 – August 25, 2017, 11:57:19 am

One of the first things to do is to check the signal strength by running a cable from the park connection to your "box" on the coach and then one to the TV. If your TV has a tuner built in, run a cable directly from the park's hookup to the tv and check the reception. You can then start eliminating components in your system that may be giving you the trouble. With a digital TV, you should have no snow, only a good picture or drop outs with no picture at all.

Upgrading your cable from RV59 to RG6 will give less loss and the impedance is the same.

Pierce

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Re: Inconsistent Cable Reception

Reply #3 – August 25, 2017, 12:13:09 pm

We did learn that the TV coax 90-degree, right-angle fittings are not a good choice for carrying RF signal.    We have used an inexpensive very long coax from campground TV outlet directly to TV, bypassing everything to temporarily diagnose problems.

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Re: Inconsistent Cable Reception

Reply #4 – August 25, 2017, 12:27:50 pm

To add to this thread, I also have snowy picture when connected to cable. The antenna gives a clear picture on the channels. That tells me my cable from antenna to the front is good. There is a box under my closet that the antenna power goes into. Does my cable go there also?

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