Low signal strength

[Nightmare77]

Anyone know if there are any factors that affect signal strength with Digital tuner cards? the reason i ask is a while back having the tuner running on my server i was getting quite a decent signal through internal antenna. It was around 90% for most channels which was fine, this was quite recently after a fresh windows install.
Anyway laterly i'm finding that the signal strength seems to be done a bit now, i know the antenna isnt' exactly in the same spot as its been moved but its essentially int he same area. Why do you think i would be getting around 73-75% on the best channels and around 60% on other channels now?
Does this relelate to drivers and updates? or is it all purely position of the antenna?
I have a feeling if i formatted the server and re-installed from scratch i would get a better reception strength again?
If anyone has any ideas much appreciated so i dont' have to format

Just had a thought , maybe i'm getting interference from the antenna , as the cables ont eh back of the computer are near a lot of the power cables in the back of the desk and computer, do you think if the antenna cable is close or touching a power cable i would be getting 10-15% loss in signal strength?

[gloomyandy]

Well in general rf stuff seems to me to be a cross between black magic and complete randomness. So I reckon anything is possible! I think in general having a computer anywhere near a receiving antenna is not a good thing. So I would certainly try moving it around, and try to route the connecting cable away from other cables from the computer. You may have noticed that a lot of cables used with computers have those odd bulges in them, they are ferrite rings and are there to help stop the cable from acting as an antenna and broadcasting rf interference.

Good luck

Andy

PS If all else falls you may want to consider sacrificing a goat or two!

[Taipan]

Originally Posted by Nightmare77

laterly i'm finding that the signal strength seems to be done a bit now, i know the antenna isnt' exactly in the same spot as its been moved but its essentially int he same area.

Moving the antena a few millimeters, or rotating it a few degress can have a HUGE effect on the signal strength. This is not unique to DVB-T, either. Remember that the RF signal strength is affected by walls (particularly brick or concrete) and other large conductive objects, like refrigerators.

Originally Posted by Nightmare77

Why do you think i would be getting around 73-75% on the best channels and around 60% on other channels now?

Simply because the antenna is not in a good spot now - if you move it back to where it was before, you will get the 90% figures. Well, maybe - signal strength does vary by the seasons too.

Originally Posted by Nightmare77

Does this relelate to drivers and updates? ?

No.

Originally Posted by Nightmare77

or is it all purely position of the antenna??

YES

Originally Posted by Nightmare77

I have a feeling if i formatted the server and re-installed from scratch i would get a better reception strength again??

I would be very, very surprised if doing that would make any difference at all...

Originally Posted by Nightmare77

maybe i'm getting interference from the antenna , as the cables ont eh back of the computer are near a lot of the power cables in the back of the desk and computer, do you think if the antenna cable is close or touching a power cable i would be getting 10-15% loss in signal strength?

Interference won't affect the signal strength, but it may effect the signal quality (the bit error rate), especially if you have an indoor antenna and no quad-shielded leads feeding the signal to the TV card.

HTH ...

[Nightmare77]

sweet thanks for the replies , i will try to relocated the cable and move the antenna and see if it resolves the issue, if all else fails and i format and it improves without changing anything else i will report back
thanks guys