Over the air antenna issue

[TLS Guy]

There has not been any analog TV broadcast since June, 2009. If his issue just showed up and he had the full spectrum of stations before than it seems it's probably that TV preamp he metioned.

His unit is analog, I looked it up. It will not receive any digital TV signal. I was actually surprised to find there was any place in the US that had analog TV transmission, but I guess there a few left, until the FTC put a stop to them. He needs a Tablo like you have, they look a really good unit.

I think what the antenna cable is connected to makes a difference, and I bet not all are created equal, especially in terms of error correction. So, when the OP upgrades, he should not go cheap.

 

[Omega Supreme]

Thanks for the help guys. I think I may need to get on the roof and check for any oxidation and any connection issue. My guess is that it could be the preamp but new ones cost around $100 so I just wanted to see if I could be anything else.

Also, just an FYI, analog stations have been down nation wide for years now in the US. And when it comes to antenna and antenna equipment there is no analog/digital equipment. Its all the same. Digital stations broadcast on the same frequencies as the now defunct analog stations. I have had this same equipment back when they broadcast analog and digital signals at the same time and received both. The only difference in the equipment is the tuner itself that is in the TV or external tuner if you have one of those. My old plasma TV has both analog and digital tuners. Now TV's only come with digital tuners since analog got phased out. The new broadcast standard is ATSC 3.0 that I believe broadcast a 4k signal but that is in very few markets and the tuners have issues receiving them because the broadcasters are adding DRM to the signal to keep people from recording. I get the feeling ATSC 3.0 is going to be about as good as HD Radio unless the FTC makes them remove the DRM. Anyway, that's not my issue since no stations around here broadcast in ATSC 3.0.

Thanks again for the help. Guess I'll be climbing the roof to check my connections.

 

[highfigh]

Yeah analog channels have been gone for a while now. I'm talking about the digital channels. In the past I could probably get 60 channels now only 6. Just wondering if anyone has had this issue and how they may have resolved.

Is your house surrounded by tall trees? Those eat RF signal very efficiently. How far fromt he broadcsast antenna(s) are you located?

 

[trochetier]

I suspect the issue is the coaxial cable, it has either deteriorated over time or squirrels have chewed through it. Or the pre-amp has gone bad. I'd try bypassing the pre-amp. and redoing all the connections.

I was having reception issues from my rooftop Channel Master Extreme80 (no pre-amp) two years ago. I have had the antenna installed in early 2000's when the first digital broadcast started in my area. Found out squirrels had chewed through sections of the outer jacket and in places even through the copper ground mesh. I got the whole 100ft length of the coax replaced and also took the opportunity to upgrade from the original RG-59U (no idea why the installer had used RG-59U) to triple shield RG-6 all copper from Phat Satellite.