An Interesting Problem

[ClassikFan]

Funny thing just occured.

We were getting very poor reception on DAB with the work HiFi. Having just relocated a desk and a load of computer and all the associated cable to near where the Aerial lead runs I decided to check thing out. The cable has a join in it and when I broke the cable so that only about 8 feet of cable remained coonected to the tuner reception improved considerably.

Any ideas or solutions?

 

[ClassikFan]

Yeah, got me stumped aswell!

 

[cjr]

Classik sounds to me just like a trailing wire aeriel you un-intentionally made there, I use one on my Denon for FM. Or have I read you wrong ?

 

[Sony6million]

I guess your going to lose a little signal everytime it passes through a connector. is that not where things like Eichmann bullet plugs come in, they keep the signal integrity better, or so I have concocted in my mind lol

 

[ClassikFan]

Its a digital Aerial mounted outside on the room of the building. I had to extend the cable last year, so used a pair of male plugs and a female/female connector to join the new length of cable. All was fine until late last week, poor reception not entirely unsual, but got worseand worse, to th point of not being able toreceive many channels at all.When I break the cable so the aerial is no longer connected reception improves. All that is connected to the tuner is about 8 feet of co-axial cable.

The aerial outside doesn't look like it has sustained any damage. Do they have any components likely to fail?

 

[earl of sodbury]

Bizarre...

I've just gone from somewhere that a puny indoor aerial got great DAB to a place where a whopping great external antenna is struggling - so much so that the unit will not retune to new stations, but then I'm now at the bottom of a deepish valley in the middle of nowhere, so no big surprise I guess... A real pisser, but irrelevant, just fancied a moan...

Actually, come to think of it- I bet the central conductor is shorting somewhere upstream of the break inyour cable.

 

[Davewhityetagain]

radios without aerial means you must be near the transmitter, I fine this sometimes with fm channels as I am on top of a hill only 9 miles from one of the two biggest transmitters in UK

 

[ClassikFan]

Bump

 

[Effem]

Could be water ingress into the cable, or a shortcircuit inthe cable somewhere

 

[Davewhityetagain]

Have a look here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/digital_radio/index.shtml

and here bottom of page for DAB

http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/transmitters/today.shtml

 

[ClassikFan]

Thanks Dave & Frank.

I think the answer is going to be water ingress into the cable. It explains the 2 -3 day descent from annoying interference to unlistenable, back to poor reception when aerial is unplugged.

Stuart