poor reception on cable TV

Bobby A

Well-known member
I've notice when hooked up to cable TV in a campground the picture is very fuzzy, but when I use my dish on the satillite input in the UDC its perfect. With having a little time to kill this afternoon I started checking cables and connections and everything seems fine. So I decided to run my coax directly to the back of the TV instead of going through the cable input in the UDC and I now have a perfect picture just like when I have my dish hooked up. Could I have a bad coax cable leading from the UDC to the back of the TV ?? I took both connections off to see if they were loose and they were NOT. How hard is it to run a new coax from the UDC to the back of the TV ?? Or is there something else I'm missing hear ?? Need advise please !!

Thanks,
Bobby A
 

branson4020

Icantre Member
The satellite cabling runs directly from the UDC to the back of your TV. The CATV cabling runs form the UDC to the antenna amplifier in the bedroom, and then to your TV. Have you checked the connections at the amplifier or tried bypassing it?
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
Bobby, don't know if you have done this, but the ampifier in the bedroom must be off when using cable.

Peace
Dave
 

rebootsemi

Well-known member
Probably is bad coax connection from the factory, they have no idea what a proper coax connection is,,,just slap it and out the door.
 

Bobby A

Well-known member
The satellite cabling runs directly from the UDC to the back of your TV. The CATV cabling runs form the UDC to the antenna amplifier in the bedroom, and then to your TV. Have you checked the connections at the amplifier or tried bypassing it?

Thats one connection i DID NOT check, I didn't know the coax ran from the cable input in the UDC to the amplifier in the bedroom, I check that tomorrow, thanks for that info. Dave, I did notice that if you have the amp on it makes it worse, so I did assume to not use the amp with cable. The TV works fine with the antinna and the amp on in the air mode.
 

Chainsaw

Saskatchewan Chapter Leader
I was having poor cable reception in the living room and still none in the bedroom. Sat works in both. I started checking concections and found a very poor concection in th eliving room cable. the end was just about falling off. I know it didn't come from the factory that way as I would have caught it in my pre-check before we ever took the 5 er out. My feeling is I may have pulled it as the cabinet is very small and take much manouvering to plug all wires into the sorround sound and sat receiver. the conncectors are not welded so it is easy to pull them out if you tug just a little too much.

So that is my fault, still can't get cable in the bedroom but I get satelite.
 

lmcclure

1st Tennessee Member#1084
I was having the same problem. I went through the system and found a splitter in the living room compartment that was bad. replaced it and now all is well.
 

Bobby A

Well-known member
The satellite cabling runs directly from the UDC to the back of your TV. The CATV cabling runs form the UDC to the antenna amplifier in the bedroom, and then to your TV. Have you checked the connections at the amplifier or tried bypassing it?

UPDATE,
I finally got around to checking the connections at the amplifier and all of them were real loose. I won't be able to tell if this fixed my issue till I get to a campground with cable TV. Thanks for the valuable information.
 
Normally we'll find a bad connection at some junction which can be cleaned up or repaired quickly. You should also keep an eye on the condition and feel of the cable. If it feels like it's crunchy inside when you bend and flex it it might be dry-rotted/corroded down in the housing. This is usually found in older coax cable but it can occur quickly if the connectors are exposed to moisture and high humidity. Once the wires in the cable begin to corrode the signal begins to have difficulty traveling down each wire strand. ~ Time to replace the cable. . . Keep an eye on the condition of your coax, not just the connectors and "that little wire sticking out in the middle".

Cheers Grandpa-Bubby
 

wdk450

Well-known member
I know am going to sound like a broken record, but I have had experienced occasions of fuzzy cable signals in a campground. Many times I have seen visusal improvement of the analog TV signal after spraying the campground jack with Cramolyn DeOxideIt contact spray. Many of these campground jacks show signs of corrosion from exposure to the outside weather.
 
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