Loss of Signal on Saorview

Aerohead

I have the Saorview antenna and when I check my signal strength and quality they are at 99% however every few weeks I get complete breakup of all channes and the signal strength and quality are down to almost zero. I am just wondering if this is a fault of my antenna or the fault of the transmitter, how could I have such a strong signal and then for it to drop so dramatically.

I am in Galway and the Saorview guide says I should be pointed at Maghera which it is and my antenna is horizontal

Peter Rhea

It will be a problem at your own end.

Is your antenna outdoors & mounted high up? Professional or DIY installation?

Aerohead

Self installed and roof mounted, always done my own antennas and Satellite dishes, Amauter radio ham so pretty clued up with regards to antennas, I will check it out when the weather improves and re-check the direction with a compass.

Peter Rhea

I wouldn't rely on receiver quality displays. Some seem to show 100% when the signal is only just above the threshold required for glitch-free viewing & a small drop in signal will send you over the 'digital cliff'.

Aerohead

Peter I forgot to mention that I have a splitter and also feed the Saorview into the TV in the living room, when the signal in the kitchen goes bad the one in the living room is perfect, I have switched around the leads to the TVs with no difference in the kitchen one, as a matter of fact the Samsung TV in the living room with built in Saorview shows a perfect signal and the Philips with a built in Saorview shows a complete loss of signal, could it be a fault in the Philips TV, its perfect now as it usually is but goes bad at least once a fortnight.

Peter Rhea

So when you swap the cables, you're actually unplugging at the tv aerial input, so each tv is now using the cable the other was using? You're not just swapping the connections at the splitter?

Aerohead

When it happens I unplug the living room TV and take the single lead from the aerial without a splitter and plug it into the kitchen TV with no change in picture it still breaks up, I have then connected the single lead again from the aerial directly into the living room TV and its perfect no picture break up and shows full signal quality. Baffling to say the least.

Peter Rhea

Well, if you think the problem lies with the Philips tv, then it may indeed have a fault of some kind, or possibly can't cope with a poor signal as well as the Samsung. Maybe something in the kitchen is causing interference.

What kind of aerial are you using btw?

Aerohead

Its an aerial purchased from a sat shop in Ireland for Saorview, horizontal as instructed by the Saorview website for the Maghera transmitter. MUst check and see if I can fine tune the Philips

Antenna: http://www.satellitetv.ie/saorview_rte_aerials/saorview_long_range_aerial

Peter Rhea

The aerial pictured in your link looks very like a Triax SG.

Antiference XT31 & XT87 are tri-boom designs. No sign of an XT48 on the Antiference site, though the model is also listed here.