Path: utzoo!attcan!telly!problem!compus!lethe!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!linac!tellab5!laidbak!obdient!vpnet!cgordon
From: cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us (Crash Gordon)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: reception problem - need help (cable and local channels)
Message-ID: <276f1fe8-669.1sci.electronics-1@vpnet.chi.il.us>
Date: 19 Dec 90 10:55:03 GMT
References: <22229@well.sf.ca.us>
Lines: 23


>Author: [Robert Chao]
>I've been having a problem with cable reception:on local channels, there
>are slight ghosts and a "bar" about 3" wide near the right of the 20"screen.

The bar is a classic symptom of reflections on your cable.  Check every
connector in the system; somewhere something's not quite right.  Also look
for sharp bends in the cable.  (Radius should be at least six inches!)

Cable companies don't necessarily use the highest-quality connectors, tools,
and/or personnel :-)  I've seen three situations which had the ghost/bar
syndrome:  In two of them the connector was poorly crimped at the back of
the TV set, and in the third case the bad connector was at the wall jack.

A quick-and-dirty fix  (which may or may not work) is to put an attenuator
just before the cable hits your video equipment.  This _may_ drop the
reflections below your detector threshold, but leave the signal OK.  The
best way to solve the problem is to find where the reflections are coming
from.  (Maybe there's a piece of furniture on the cable?)

-----------------------------------------------------
Gordon S. Hlavenka            cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us
Disclaimer:                Yeah, I said it.  So what?