can't pick up 1 channel on 1 TV

[pos1]

Here's the problem:

Analog TVs with digital converters. 1 upstairs, 1 downstairs. Both hooked up to original antenna in the attic. I have a 1-to-4 Radio Shack amplified splitter in the basement (has been in use forever), currently hooked to 3 TVs (ignore the 3rd tv...I don't have a digital converter hooked up to it yet...although now that I think about it I should as another data point).

I spent some time in the attic a couple weeks ago aiming my antenna where it should be. Didn't change anything. Although, I will admit the signal upstairs wouldn't go any higher than about 11%. I just had my wife look and it's currently showing a 16% signal.

I cannot get ABC on the tv downstairs (currently UHF ch. 50). Always comes in upstairs fine. I've swapped positions in the splitter, swapped it with a non-amplified splitter...no luck. Comes in good upstairs, nothing downstairs. About a month back it came in randomly. Now, it never comes in.

What would cause the TV downstairs to lose the signal from the splitter? It's only about 20-feet of cable away (I'm guessing the tv upstairs is more, but don't know because that cable is in the wall). Obviously it's getting as far as the splitter if the other tv is picking it up.

Also, I do have 2 separate coax cables running to the downstairs tv. One is quite a bit longer wrapped in a coil behind the tv. I swapped them to try both over the weekend with no luck on either. I do plan to run a new cable direclty (as short as possible) to see if that helps, but that's a couple days away.

I've been debating about a new antenna, but now I don't think I need one if all my channels come in on the other tv.

Any help or debugging you can provide would be much appreciated.

[redwudz]

Make sure that amplifier is capable of amplifying the higher UHF frequencies. Sometimes older amps don't have enough frequency range (Bandwidth).

My amplifier is right next to the antenna and the splitters are downstream, closer to the TVs. If you are amplifying a already weak signal, you will also amplify noise and interference. With the amp by the antenna, you should have a stronger signal and the splitters will also have a stronger signal and less noise to work with.

What cable are you using? I would use RG-6 with a foam core for long runs. RG-59 is OK for short runs, but RG-6 is still a better choice.

[ntscuser]

Get drunk and shoot it?

http://i.gizmodo.com/5157325/70%20year-old-man-shoots-tv-engages-in-standoff-with-poli...yline=true&s=i

[edDV]

This may be a short term problem. Is that ABC station moving down the band in June?

[SLK001]

One TV may just be more sensitive than the other. You can check this by moving the non-working TV to where the other TV is and use the working set's input cable. This is a pain-in-the-ass, but it may be the only way that you can tell.

[usually_quiet]

Are both converter boxes the same make and model? Some converter boxes are better at tuning a weak or fluctuating signal than others.

[pos1]

Thanks for all the feedback. I actually figured out the problem, by accident, last night.

I noticed that the new digital PBS stations stopped coming in recently and, realizing it was too much of a coincidence to be this close to Feb. 16, found out that they actually moved those stations last week (and canceled a couple). So, when I went into the converter set-up to scan for the new channels, I noticed the ABC channel showed up in the channel list at ch. 50 (vs. ch. 5). Why it was in the channel list at 50, yet wouldn't go to ch. 50, and didn't come in on it's virtual ch. 5 is beyond me. Anyways, after doing nothing other than viewing the channel list and saving the changes, it then started showing up on ch. 5. I still can't figure out how to make it stop going to the old PBS channels (which of course now show "no signal"), but I'll get to that some other day.

So, in the end it was some odd digital converter box configuration.

What a mess.

[SLK001]

This isn't a converter box issue. A virtual channel won't be found unless a scan finds it. I recently had to rescan to pick up two channels 60 miles away on my Sharp 42".

To get rid of the old station, you just go into setup and delete it from the memory. However, I would have thought that a scan would have removed it from the available channels.

[usually_quiet]

During a scan, if a channel is found that has the same virtual channel as one already in the list, strange things can happen. (Ordinarily, it wouldn't happen, but it may happen while stations are setting up new transmitters and moving to their final post-transition frequencies.)

One of the out-of-market channels I receive switched to digital only on Feb 17. The station has been transmitting on both its final frequency and its interim frequency for a few days. After scanning for all channels, my CM box listed both channels using their real channel numbers. My DISH box only showed one, but the virtual channel number listed did not match either the real channel or assigned virtual channel. (The channel list shows 70-1, when it should show either 8-1 or 29-1. The remote tuned it as 8-1)

Deleting the old channel and manually adding one new channel is possible for my DISH boxes (if the real channel number is known for the channel being added), and fixes the problem but not all converter boxes can do that. People using converter boxes may have to put up with some odd situations for a while.

[edDV]

So, when I went into the converter set-up to scan for the new channels, I noticed the ABC channel showed up in the channel list at ch. 50 (vs. ch. 5). Why it was in the channel list at 50, yet wouldn't go to ch. 50, and didn't come in on it's virtual ch. 5 is beyond me. ...What a mess.

What is the final post transition channel for your ABC? 50 is the temporary digital channel. I doubt the final channel slot will be 5 or 50 but the virtual channel will continue to be listed as 5 for branding purposes.

Enter your address into tvfool.com to get the current and post transition channel assignments. Or give us your zip or city and so we can look it up.