• The forum software that supports hummy.tv has been upgraded to XenForo 2.3!

    Please bear with us as we continue to tweak things, and feel free to post any questions, issues or suggestions in the upgrade thread.

Signal strength jump

H

Hugo

New Member
Hello.

Long time listener, first time caller. Thanks to the forum for all the answers I've found the last few years and big fan of the customised firmware.

My HDR-FOX T2 has been fine over the last 6 years. I'm connected to a communal aerial somewhere along my row of houses which I still haven't identified. I have been able to receive Winter Hill well and Moel-Y-Parc intermittently.

Around 10 +/- 3 days ago, I noticed that the Winter Hill signal strength had jumped by about 8-10% (transmitters varying around 45-60% before hand and 50-68% afterwards) while Moel-Y-Parc had remained the same. Now the Winter Hill channels that are above about 60% have intermittent interference (quality varies between 30-100% compared to 100% before). The TV (fed by the loop through) appears to be fine.

From what I've read on this forum, the signal quality can drop if it is too strong. Does anyone know if there been an increase in the Winter Hill transmitter power? Can't find any evidence of such online.

Otherwise, maybe someone has messed around with the communal aerial, but I wanted to be sure that it wasn't the Humax or the transmitter.

Hope you can help :).
 
I'd put significant money on whatever has changed being between the aerial and your wall outlet, and very little on anything else.
Somebody's randomly shoved in an amp. for whatever reason (bodgery most probably).
 
I have noticed on a few occasions that my FOX boxes appear unable to display 56-65%; when the signal crosses this boundary it jumps directly from one side to the other. I assume it's a bug (I have mentioned it on here). That means that a couple of % change in signal in the mid-50s or -60s can look like 10-12%.
 
MikeSh said:
I have noticed on a few occasions that my FOX boxes appear unable to display 56-65%; when the signal crosses this boundary it jumps directly from one side to the other. I assume it's a bug (I have mentioned it on here). That means that a couple of % change in signal in the mid-50s or -60s can look like 10-12%.
Click to expand...
Not all HDR-FOX T2s are like that. l just now checked and a 1.02.20 (mac 00-03-78-) is displaying 60% fine, and the 1.03.12 (mac DC-D3-21-) is displaying 61% fine. I haven't got one of the more recent vertical tuner version to check on that (mac 08-EB-74-).
 
prpr said:
I'd put significant money on whatever has changed being between the aerial and your wall outlet, and very little on anything else.
Somebody's randomly shoved in an amp. for whatever reason (bodgery most probably).
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help in diagnosing. I think bodgery sounds very plausible! Fortunately, I have a wall to mount a new aerial, so I think I'll try and find an installer and get my own aerial :).

@MikeSh, the issue has worsened and as of yesterday is also affecting the TV reception, so I guess that rules out the Humax.
 
MikeSh said:
I have noticed on a few occasions that my FOX boxes appear unable to display 56-65%; when the signal crosses this boundary it jumps directly from one side to the other.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I'll see if I can get the signal level here down to that level.
 
everthewatcher said:
Interesting. I'll see if I can get the signal level here down to that level.
Click to expand...
I thought it was only if the signal strength reached 100% that you needed to consider reducing it.
Signal quality is more significant and you want it to be consistent and high
 
MymsMan said:
I thought it was only if the signal strength reached 100% that you needed to consider reducing it.
Click to expand...
I have certainly seen circumstances where reported signal strength above 90% gave signal quality less than 100% and fitting an attenuator and reducing the signal strength to 80% gave 100% signal quality.
Signal quality is more significant and you want it to be consistent and high
Click to expand...
Agreed. Anything less than 100% signal quality warrants investigation.
 
MymsMan said:
I thought it was only if the signal strength reached 100% that you needed to consider reducing it.
Click to expand...
Just to see if I can repeat the reported 56-65%; issue and also see if it only affects one version as I've got both V1 and V2 here.

Signal quality is more significant and you want it to be consistent and high
Click to expand...
Oh yes, definitely.

It would be interesting to see at what signal strength it starts to drop from 100% - that's yet another rainy day project added to the list...
 
everthewatcher said:
It would be interesting to see at what signal strength it starts to drop from 100% - that's yet another rainy day project added to the list...
Click to expand...
That depends on the cause of the loss of quality. If it is caused by driving the receiver stages into non-linearity, we should expect the signal level to be 100%+. If the cause is an interfering signal, the reported signal level may be less than what would be needed for non-linearity
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top