Poor or bad tv reception. What could be the problem?

Do you find you have bad TV reception no matter how hard you try?

There are a number of reasons that your reception is effected. In simple terms they are: -

1. Line of sight, or distance from main transmitting towers.

The quality of reception received is directly related to the physical distance between your houses location and your local TV station transmitter stations. Good reception should be expected up to about 50km from your nearest transmission tower, though this is not the only criteria.

Another important factor is whether there is a relatively clear line of sight. For example, no major physical obstacles, mountains or tall buildings between your tv antenna and the transmission towers.
In most cases, the closer you are to a transmission tower and the clearer your “line of sight”, the better your chances in receiving good TV reception.

2. The physical environment

Should your line of sight from the tv antenna to the transmission tower be impeded by physical obstructions, then this may effect the quality of TV reception you receive.
Do you live in a valley surrounded by high mountain ranges? There are many homes located in the Otways that suffer from this problem. You could possible be surrounded by a number of tall buildings or perhaps tall trees? You could be living in what is known as a reception “black spot”. There are any number of factors could be preventing you from receiving the best possible TV reception.

If you are experiencing tv reception problems? We suggest a site inspection and antenna system check from a trained antenna technician. They are best equipped to advise what problems you may be having – and how to fix them!

3. Existing Antennas Condition, Age or Type.

There are approximately 7 million homes in Australia, yet only 600,000 antennas are estimated to be sold in Australia every year. Looked at this another way, a householder may only ever consider servicing or upgrading their antenna system once every 10 to 12 years, with the average age of antennas probably somewhere around 5 years.

A lot can happen to your antenna in that time. From a gradual deterioration of the antenna and cabling itself, changes to the local environment, or even changes in network transmissions (such as the migration to Digital Television from 2010).

Antennas older than around 4 or 5 years may not digital compatible therefore they will need to be upgraded or replaced in order to pick up full digital signal.

Edited to this point.

4. Changes to your TV or Home entertainment or set up.

This is not unusual (especially if there is a DIY/Handyman in the house!). Not many people realise that this has a direct effect on the quality of TV reception they receive.

Consider this. Have you recently;

Added additional TV points or outlets (and even more Televisions off the single antenna!),
Increased the distance between your TV reception point(s) and your antenna
Changed the actual physical location of your external TV antenna
Manually (or inadvertently) adjusted the direction of your external antenna
Upgraded your Home Entertainment System (particularly to Digital TV!) All of these factors may have a impact on the quality of reception received.

5. Condition of your Television
This sounds like it would be obvious, but often isn’t. Despite advances in television manufacturing technology, the age of your television may be a contributing factor to TV quality or poor picture quality.

6. Network transmissions (esp. Digital)
Generally speaking the transmission quality from the major networks is unquestioned.
Much has been written recently regarding the increase in general interference (in certain areas) to existing TV reception caused by test Digital transmissions by the major networks. Much of this testing has now been completed. The Federation of Commercial Television Stations (FACTS) is able to update customers on the current status of such transmissions. Their contact details are facts@facts.org.au , Mail: 44 Avenue Road Mosman NSW 2088, Telephone: 02 9960 2622 or Facsimile: 02 9969 3520.

7. Local interference
Finally, poor TV reception could also be caused by local (and sporadic) interference such as the usage of electric devices, machinery and so on.