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  1. Member
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    I have quandary. My home setup has an outdoor antenna connected to a coax splitter and run to two different rooms in my house. The problem I'm having, is that I get different stations at each TV, even though they share the same antenna and presumably, should have the exact same reception?!?!?

    Both rooms had an analog TV with a digital converter box and there are two particular stations that I get on one and not the other. I replaced one of the analog TV's (the one that is NOT receiving the two stations in question) with a TV that has a digital tuner built in, but have the same results.

    I am pretty sure that when I connected the TV's, at first they both got all the stations prior to the one not displaying these two stations.

    I'm very confused about what could be causing this and would appreciate any ideas you may have on how to correct the issue.

    Thanks.
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  2. Man of Steel freebird73717's Avatar
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    Are the converter boxes the same models? Different converter boxes receive weak signals differently. Also there may be some signal loss from the splitter to the tv that doesn't get the channels you want.

    I had a similar situation. Antenna split into two lines leading to two tv's. One got all my available channels and the other got only some of those channels and those came in a weaker signal strength than my main tv. I definitely had signal loss on that line. My solution was to replace my cheap converter box with a better one that picked up weak signals better.

    There are others here that are much more able to help with matters like this. edDV is one who is great with helping with broadcast tv issues. Hopefully he can offer some pointers.
    Donadagohvi (Cherokee for "Until we meet again")
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    There is definitely something wrong in the physical connection. I'm pretty sure (getting old, memory's not as good as it used to be) that I swapped converter boxes and the TV that wasn't receiving the signals still didn't with the other box, and the TV that was receiving signals still got everything using the other box.

    My suspicion is that it's something in the way the splitter is working, or maybe in the coax run from the splitter to the TV, but what I don't get about that theory is that if this is a cabling issue, why am I getting some channels perfectly clearly and others not at all. If it was a cabling problem, I would have assumed I would receive all or nothing?!?!?!
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  4. Man of Steel freebird73717's Avatar
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    Depending on the stations you will get stronger signal strength from some and weaker from others. In my broadcast area some stations come in with a signal strength of 70% while a couple come in at like 30% and these are all broadcast from the same city. If you have signal loss in your line then you could still be getting those stronger stations (albeit at a lower signal strength because of the signal loss) and not get those weaker stations at all because of the signal loss.
    Donadagohvi (Cherokee for "Until we meet again")
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  5. You may need to use a distribution amp to get sufficient signal to each cable drop. Simply splitting the cable decrease the signal each drop receives. What happens if you don't split the signal and route it only to the "bad" drop?
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    @Freebird - Thanks. I wasn't aware that a poor signal meeting poor line quality could omit some stations, while others came in fine.

    @jagabo - Unfortunately, the run from the antenna isn't long enough to connect directly to the TV not getting the signal, but I will continue to look at the connections and maybe recrimp them if anything looks funny. If that doesn't work, I will look into an amp.

    Thanks for the input!
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  7. Originally Posted by HDFreeV View Post
    @jagabo - Unfortunately, the run from the antenna isn't long enough to connect directly to the TV not getting the signal
    Just disconnect the second output of the splitter. Or get a female/female coax coupler.
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  8. Member
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    Sorry, I'm a little ignorant of how these things work ... disconnecting the coax from the "good" end of the splitter will increase the signal strength going to the "bad" end of the splitter?
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  9. Originally Posted by HDFreeV View Post
    disconnecting the coax from the "good" end of the splitter will increase the signal strength going to the "bad" end of the splitter?
    Yes. It's not as good as a straight cable or a coupler though.
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  10. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
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    I would also check your coax cable. RG-6 is preferable to RG-59 in most all applications, especially for longer runs. A quad shielded version with foam core would be even better. You should have it throughout the system. I use a RF amp with my HDTV attic antenna at the antenna, then splitters downstairs to distribute the signal. The whole system has RG-6 to 5 outlets around the house, though I only use a couple of them. The unused ones have a load resistor attached to prevent noise.
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  11. Member
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    Excellent point about the cable type. It never occurred to me until your post, but the run that does work is newly installed RG6 and the run not working is older RG59. I'll replace that entire run with the new cable and see if that helps. I'll post an update next weekend on the results!
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  12. I'm guessing the cables are in the wall so it won't be easy to replace them.

    <edit>guess not!</edit>
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  13. Member
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    Yes, the cabling is in the wall and under the crawl space, so it will be a bit of a challenge to get to, but I think this is definitely the right track!
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  14. Member edDV's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by HDFreeV View Post
    My suspicion is that it's something in the way the splitter is working, or maybe in the coax run from the splitter to the TV, but what I don't get about that theory is that if this is a cabling issue
    Since you tried exchanging ATSC tuners, it seems the only difference is the splitter output used and the cable running to the TV. Most splitters split the signal 50/50. Others favor one output.

    First try swapping splitter outputs or replace the splitter.

    If that makes no difference, run a new cable to the the tuner that receives fewer stations.

    If it still doesn't work, you can add a pre-amplifier up on the antenna or use a different antenna.
    http://www.ramelectronics.net/audio-video/catv-satellite/antenna-amps-preamps/channel-.../prod7778.html
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