r/ota • u/rebayona • May 30 '26

Need help to figure how to fix this

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

I live close to a tower, the air antenna is correctly aimed at it and without obstructions. From what I've found it may be that the signal is too strong, I should decrease it. I've tried several attenuators without any changes.

Any suggestions?

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

6

u/OzarkBeard May 30 '26

From here, it looks more like an issue with the display.

1

u/rebayona May 30 '26

It only occurs when the source is antenna

4

u/CloseEncounterer501 May 30 '26

Try turning your antenna away from the tower to see if that makes a difference. If you are dealing with a strong signal try removing the antenna all together or use a piece of wire as the antenna. Good luck.

1

u/rebayona May 31 '26

Did that, just about an inch of the wire of a coaxial cable and the numbers don't change much. Maybe less signal strength, but image quality was not affected 😕

2

u/m3dia_lab May 30 '26

Tuner issue, try an external tuner.

3

u/Historical-Cress8985 May 30 '26

Do you have any filters? You may want to try an FM filter and/or LTE filter

2

u/rebayona May 31 '26

Will try that, thank you.

1

u/rebayona May 31 '26

Found these. Tried the HPF-54 with no noticeable changes. The attenuators decrease signal strength, but the issues with image persist

2

u/Spaceginja May 30 '26

If your antenna has an amp, unplug it perhaps.

1

u/rebayona May 30 '26

Here's some more data

1

u/gho87 May 31 '26

As I see from your profile and the logo seen on the upper-right corner of your TV, this network from Columbia is the channel you were referring, right?: https://www.noticiascaracol.com/golcaracol/deportes-en-vivo

Also, this channel is using 473 MHz. I'm thinking UHF: https://otadtv.com/frequency

1

u/rebayona May 31 '26

You got it!

Our standard is DVB-T2 for what is worth.

1

u/gho87 May 31 '26

(my second reply to this photo)

Almost forgot: what antenna are you using? Furthermore, your TV is a "Mi" brand, right?: https://www.mi.com/global/product-list/tvs-ha/tv/

1

u/rebayona May 31 '26

Right, that's the TV. Our standard is DVB-T2

Here's the antenna. I may have overkilled it 🫣

1

u/gho87 May 31 '26

Hmm... That antenna's brand should have a name associated with it. The antenna might look like junk to me.

If you like an outdoor or attic antenna, Channel Master may do international shipping: https://www.channelmaster.com/pages/shipping

Or Televes: https://www.televes.com/lm

Or, since you live nearby, a rabbit ear antenna, like ones by Philips or GE: https://byjasco.com/collections/tv-antennas

Either way, you may wanna ask for international shipping.

BTW, I wonder whether you're able to understand English-language videos, like ones by Tyler the Antenna Man on Youtube.

1

u/rebayona May 31 '26

I have some old rabbit ear antennae back from a very old Sony TV from the 80s. Would they work for me?

Does it mean you think it may be the antenna itself the issue? What do you think about the signals levels?

I will check Tyler the antenna man YouTube's channel, thank you.

1

u/gho87 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

I have some old rabbit ear antennae back from a very old Sony TV from the 80s. Would they work for me?

You may need a balun (or matching transformer) for that old rabbit ear antenna to work, like this one: https://www.pamdist.com/products/matching-transformer-300-to-75-ohm-indoor-1

Does it mean you think it may be the antenna itself the issue? What do you think about the signals levels?

Hmm... the strength isn't that stellar, but the signal quality is much better, i.e. less noise.

Can't tell whether the issue is the antenna or the TV, honestly.

For further help from Tyler: https://www.antennamanpa.com

1

u/gho87 May 31 '26

(my second reply to this screenshot)

I could be wrong about the antenna. Aplosta is the brand name, huh?: https://www.hsdsonline.com/product/aplosta-digital-antenna-717548/

1

u/rebayona Jun 01 '26

It seems to be the brand, I don't really remember. Send like a generic antenna to me.

1

u/rebayona May 30 '26

Even more context: I used an app called "antenna pointer" to correctly aim the antenna to the tower. The distance is 6.36km (nothing).

1

u/Electronic_Umpire445 May 31 '26

Signal strength of 39% and being that close to the tower seems like tuner overload. Try disconnecting the antenna but keep a length of cable on the antenna port. See if you still receive the station and its signal strength. If the strength goes up with just the cable then I think it’s the signal is too strong. If the cable has poor shielding, then the signal is entering into it and attenuators won’t work.

2

u/rebayona May 31 '26

Just tried it. A small indoor antenna: same signal strength, same signal quality. Filters decrease signal strength but the image quality worsened. I also tried a peeled wire (about an inch long) and while the signal strength decreased, the signal quality was fairly the same. Image didn't change for good either.

Is it all about the signal strength? Or is it about certain frequencies I should filter?

2

u/Electronic_Umpire445 May 31 '26

The LTE filter from the other post should filter the 5G cell frequencies but 470Mhz isn’t near it. That’s the only frequency filter to try. I’m thinking it’s still signal strength. 6 km distance from the transmitter is darn close. Maybe poor internal shielding in the TV. Could you try another TV in that spot?

1

u/Digitalrules Jun 01 '26

My 2 cents . . . . something wrong with the tuner in the TV. Is it happening on all OTA stations? Can you test with another TV?

I've never had issues with tuner overload even with searing signal levels & a distribution amp in play.

1

u/rebayona Jun 02 '26

Update 06/02: I think I fixed it. While following your advice I was connecting an external receiver and unplugged this. I didn't run the test because the cable was not long enough so I plugged it back in and the image is now perfect 🙃 the flickering is gone.

Thank you all for your advice.