For those experiencing TV reception problems, you might need to consider that the cause could be unrelated to your antenna system, even though you might have chosen the correct type.
For most of our clients, they like us to come and diagnose the issue ourselves. While others asked us for a quick guide on the causes of TV reception interference issues.
Remember to check you have got an appropriate TV receiving system ‘the antenna’. If you are not sure if you need to fix your antenna or check for interference issues, contact the Antenna Genies.
A major cause of TV reception issues is interference, and you might be able to guess this is the cause if the problem is not consistently happening, and might affect multiple TVs in your neighbourhood at the same time.
Simply put, your TV is not happy with other signals coming from other devices, which is basically the electromagnetic energy for those who prefer the scientific terminology. The effect of these signals is on the quality of the signal, rather than its level, which means buying a signal booster will not fix your TV reception issue but will tend to worsen it.
What could cause TV reception interference?
- Electrical appliances
Your electrical appliances emit an impulse noise, which are short and high-energy bursts. These could be emitted by various appliances including motor-based and thermostat-controlled devices. Washing machines, refrigerators, light switches and LED lights are the most common ones. If you have got a swimming pool in your house or nearby, a common cause of signal interference is a pool chlorinator or a swimming pool pump.
Tip: to identify the source of signal interference, try few tests by turning possible causes off and then testing if the reception problem has been solved.
- Overload of signal booster
The usage of signal boosters and distribution amplifiers will not improve the signal quality, as they only tend to increase the strength of signals received in regions receiving weaker signals from distant broadcast sites, or as a channel to provide signals to several television receivers. Actually, signal amplifier is a source of high-level unwanted signal, leading to reception interference and poor signal quality.
Tip: if an amplifier has to be used, opt for one that has a built-in filter or add a filter in front of the amplifier after installing it to limit the impact and chances of signal interference.
- Power line and street light
Unfortunately, this factor is not something users can control or test. You can ask your neighbors about their experience or if they know of any defective street lights and power line infrastructure, as these can cause interference to TV reception.
You can expect their effect to peak during hot, dry and windy weather as well as in the evenings, the reason for this being the sparking between insulators and metal supporting brackets. Their effect will become mild after rainfall.
Tip: Contact your electricity supplier and report any faulty problem, do not personally attempt to fix any suspected faults on power poles, power lines or street lighting yourself.
Still having problems and need someone to fix your TV reception interference issue?
Call the genies! Antenna Genie has a team of quality, experienced technicians with up to date equipment to do the job right the first time. We are able to identify if your reception is affected by interference or not, will provide full support and fix your antenna reception problem.
