Faulty LED Fixture causes loss of symbol quality in HD Homerun

Playground Antenna Help
#1

Thought I would post this to perhaps help out others

Been using Channels for over three years without an issue - but over the last few weeks , I have had signficant issues with reception on my main OTA station broadcasting on High VHF channel 11
Signal Quality will go from ~90% to less than 70% Symbol quality will drop to 0-20%

I have traced the problem to a faulty LED fixture in my garage - my antenna is mounted in the attic directly over the fixture - maybe 3' away

Early summer , I installed a three lobed LED bulb in the garage to get better lighting - Worked great for several months and didnt cause any issues - however over the last few weeks I had occasionally noticed some flicker - Finally one of the lobes stopped working altogether. about this time the interference became a daily issue.

This fixture is the issue - I literaly could turn off the symbol quality of my HD Home run by switching on the light switch

I should have realized this was the problem - some time ago, I had issues with a cheap LED bulb causing interference with my garage door opener - they even sell special "garage door" LED bulb designed to prevent this interference.

Anyway - replacing the light fixture with a quality Phillips Brand LED bulb fixed it - Cheap LED bulbs are prone to this. Poor Build Quality. Phillips/GE and Cree are the three brands I have seen recommended for interference resistance

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#2

Been there. I put LED bulbs in my garage door opener - you would not believe what the opener would do. Crazy crazy. These were supposed to be "good" bulbs too. By a name brand company.

#3

I had the same problem. Another reason for me to get up in the attic and mount my antenna there. Betting the distance from the noise will help. Hoping anyway.

#4

or get it on the roof. That will avoid the interference and get better reception than the attic.

#5

Nah. I’m lucky and get 95% of what I need from the below. Attic should be fine in my case. Trust me, nobody wants me on the roof.

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#6

I agree - Roof Mounting might be needed for some circumstances, but if you are getting what you need with a leaf style indoor antenna, an attic antenna will do you fine -

its not just mounting a Roof Antenna that is serious - weather and lighting protection are major considerations.

Frankly, I could have mounted my antenna on the outside wall of a spare bedroom - but I didnt want my grandaughter tempted by all the wires !!!

one recommendation - if you have a long run ~>35', consider RG6 cable. Its worth the extra money , especially if you consider this a "do it once" type of install.

#7

LOL! Mine is in my guest bedroom too. Every once in a while my dog will go on a house-wide tear and bump the antenna. Needless to say, we know when that happens :slightly_smiling_face:

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#8

Welcome to the world of antenna tv, where literally anything can cause interference.

LED lights, wifi smart devices like smart plugs or dimmers, anything with a motor, like a ceiling fan, appliance, fan (and its switch), a muscle vibrator/massager, some times wireless computer mice/keyboards. All these things i have found at least one device to cause me antenna signal issues in my household.

#9

Years ago, I used to have issues with a motorized reclining chair. That was before I roof mounted my antennas, though. Now nothing interferes, and my house is filled with stuff that gives off emi. Signal is great all the time, even in bad weather.

#10

Great post. I've noticed a lot of that recently as well on my end. Just curious, what preamp and other things are also in your setup?

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#11

I have a channel master omni 50 on a 3' post in my attic over a garage.

connected with ~35' run of rg6 cable to my hdhomerun quattro tuner

I chose the omni 50 because its compact and has a positionable vhf element that I direct to my vhf station of interest. It also has a omni directional element which picks up the other uhf stations very well

#12

So no preamp?

#13

No preamp, I do have a 5g/lte filter by channel master in line

Line of sight to my vhf station crosses over a major interstate exit with several cell towers, so I thought I would take that precaution

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#14

I think it helps if you cover your antenna with aluminum foil. Also, if you have kids, having one of them stand and touch it was proven effective by a crowd-sourced research campaign in the 70's.

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#15

I think psperry needs a permanent “likely sarcasm” flair. :joy:

#16

That would be pretty cool, and much less tiresome than the opposite.

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#17

I don't use any amplifiers. its roof antennas (2x) -> rg6 -> hd homeruns (each antenna has its own).

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#18

I appreciate that everyone has different circumstances.
But an option which many people don't even think of is -- place the HD Homerun (or whatever your digital box is) RIGHT NEXT TO the antenna. Then instead of a long run of analog coax, you just need a (much easier and more robust) long run of ethernet cable.
I do this, with my SiliconDust box connected to the antenna by literally two inches of coax; an absolutely tiny little cable. No need for a preamp, no worries about signal degradation. All you need is a power supply "close enough" to the antenna.

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#19

That is a good way to do it in some circumstances

This was a topic that I looked into on the silicon dust forums when I was testing and found that the HD Homerun tuners are designed to operate between 32--104 degrees

My attic here in the Midwest USA will certainly be out of this range for several months of the year

Running RG6 cable in my case was just as easy as running cat5 and I still have 100% signal strength at the tuner

#20

I was intrigued by the discussion of running long cables from the antenna to the HDHR box. When I set up my OTA infrastructure three years ago, I was unable to get any OTA signals at my house. Nothing. However, the mountain behind my house showed promise. For a proof of concept, I dragged a TV, an antenna, and a portable generator up on the mountain, and I pulled in 88 channels! I then mounted two antennas on the mountain, and I have two 600' RG11 coax cables coming down the mountain to my house. Each one connects to a dedicated HDHR box, and from there is all CAT5. I have two amplifiers at the antennas up on the mountain, powered by 5V on the coax. It works perfect! I used the RG11 coax to overcome the distance challenge, and it proved effective.

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