dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
uniqs
13

gchris2203
@insightbb.com

gchris2203 to owlyn

Anon

to owlyn

Re: SNR on digital cable.

Unfortunetly owlyn that isnt the way SNR works. It doesnt have flat loss from splitters. It is a ratio of the signal to noise. Granted if you remove the splitters from the scenario your signal lvl will rise and so will your SNR. But not exactly the loss from the splitters. Not that it matters from 2 splitters it shouldnt drop to 18.

My guess would be It is a combination of problems. 18snr is really bad.

It could be the drop to your house and usually is when you have tiling issues. Maybe squirel chews on the drop then water gets in it and. then you have Both Noise getting on the lines through the chews aswell as water. and water ruins your digital signal. This is probally your issue.

The problem could also be and dont take it personal cause idk what type of fittings and splitters you consider good quality. But it could be your handy work.

Heres what you do..go pick up your phone call comcast and schedule for a tech to come out and check the drop aswell as your handy work to see if they are actually good compression fittings aswell as 1ghz splitters.

To everyone who trys to be a DIY thats cool and all but I can honestly tell you out of the number of people that try and do things on their own very..and i mean very few actually succeed. Most of the time making more work for the tech. Just call your office and get a tech out it will prolly save you time in the end anyway. considering you prolly spent most of a day trying to fix it yourself and in the end its still doing the same thing..so save yourself the trouble next time

rockotman
...Blown On The Steel Breeze
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06
DSotM

rockotman

Premium Member

said by gchris2203 :

The problem could also be and dont take it personal cause idk what type of fittings and splitters you consider good quality. But it could be your handy work.

Heres what you do..go pick up your phone call comcast and schedule for a tech to come out and check the drop aswell as your handy work to see if they are actually good compression fittings aswell as 1ghz splitters.

To everyone who trys to be a DIY thats cool and all but I can honestly tell you out of the number of people that try and do things on their own very..and i mean very few actually succeed. Most of the time making more work for the tech. Just call your office and get a tech out it will prolly save you time in the end anyway. considering you prolly spent most of a day trying to fix it yourself and in the end its still doing the same thing..so save yourself the trouble next time
Well considering that the splitters were provided by comcast, I would hope that they are good quality. And as far as my handiwork with stripping/crimping cable ends... I have the proper tools (a coax stripper and a properly sized crimper for the cable ends I use). And while RF is not my forte, I am am EE, so I think I know a bit about the importance of proper technique and equipment when it comes to doing electrical/electronics work.

Greg_Z
Premium Member
join:2001-08-08
Springfield, IL

Greg_Z

Premium Member

This may help you »workmanship.nasa.gov/lib ··· set.html It was posted in one of the other forms. I remember some of the stuff in there from the Navy manuals, and my father's old Air Force books.

Quaoar
join:2004-08-11
Fort Collins, CO

Quaoar to rockotman

Member

to rockotman
Well, now... I have the best of tools, etc. I've always done my own wiring. I had the same sound issue on HD channels. I do the service call (after being beaten around the ears by my wife). The tech has a look at my work, and says it is pretty good, but he'll replace some fittings anyway. Damn, the problems go away, the HD fidelity improves, my wife is happy (and that's what counts!), and my dog is relaxed.

It seems my work was good enough for SD, but not quite good enough for HD.

Think about it.

Q

rockotman
...Blown On The Steel Breeze
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06
DSotM

rockotman

Premium Member

Ah - yer right - what do I have to lose?

Other than possibly sitting around all day waiting for someone that does not show up!

MadMANN3
Premium Member
join:2005-08-19

1 edit

MadMANN3 to rockotman

Premium Member

to rockotman
said by rockotman :

I am am EE, so I think I know a bit about the importance of proper technique and equipment when it comes to doing electrical/electronics work.
No offense, but I wish I had a crisp $1 bill for every trouble call related to THAT statement.

rockotman
...Blown On The Steel Breeze
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06
DSotM

rockotman

Premium Member

Well, if you meant no offense, then why did you say it?


Not that I mind.

I could tell you stories about techs that I have had out from Comcast, and their predecessors ATTBI and @Home. Like the know-it-all that drilled through the phone lines. Or the one that tried three cable modems before he realized that the signal strength had gone to shit because of a bad crimp that he did. This was the same guy that installed a NIC in my PC and fried my dial-up modem in the process. No offense, though.

MadMANN3
Premium Member
join:2005-08-19

MadMANN3

Premium Member

I said no offense because I am not including you in the generalization, since I have never been at your house. I can say with confidence that any experienced tech has a story about some customer professing to know more than the tech because they were an electrician, an EE, or used to work in the cable industry 20+ years ago.

My fav story that comes to mind is when I rolled to a house a few years ago with tiling digitals and choppy internet where the customer was hesitant to let me in the house because he was an EE, he installed it himself, and claimed that the problem had to be outside because his neighbor had the same service problems. So I go to the ground block and check for common problems, not finding anything. I politely asked him to let me verify that everything is OK in the home. He reluctantly lets me in and let me know in no uncertain terms that I was "wasting my time and his".

So, I look at the picture and confirm that the pictures are indeed tiling badly. I take readings at the set to find low SNR and error rates out the wazoo. Look behind the set and find a silver Radio Shack "hybrid" cable splitter that he was using for PIP along with some screw on connectors with the braid hanging out of them. Replace the splitter and jumpers and *poof* tiling is gone.

So, I ask to look at his internet problem. Signal is bad at the modem. Go to the basement and find the same type of splitter fed AFTER a four way splitter that he added so he could add an extra set in the basement. Replace and reconfigure with new connectors, and again, *poof* internet is cruisin.

As I have him sign the paperwork, I ask him if he happened to "help" his neighbor self-install their service as well. With the answer of "yes" I reach into my truck, give him two good 2way splitters and say "Tell him to call us if he continues to have problems."

I have many more similar to that story, but I wouldn't bore anyone with them. I think I make my point.

That said, I have also had many run ins with techs that don't know any more than my mother-in-law or they do and are too lazy to apply it. They typically do not last very long.

rockotman
...Blown On The Steel Breeze
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06
DSotM

rockotman

Premium Member

I agree that there are many good techs, too. I had a problem with signal integrity when they expanded the digital package to include MusicChoice. I started having tiling problems at that time, too. Tech came out and determined that the problem was the run from the garage to the TV that was some old RG-59 (I think it was) that the previous owner had installed back in the early 80's. He told me that I needed to be using RG-6, but said he couldn't do the install since it was not originally run by Comcast (or the predecessor TCI). But then he went out to the truck and gave me about 100ft. of RG-6, and told me what type of stripper, crimper, and connectors to get at Home Depot. Problem solved thanks to knowlegable and heplful tech.
NoPegs
Premium Member
join:2006-06-14
Myerstown, PA

NoPegs to rockotman

Premium Member

to rockotman
said by rockotman:

said by gchris2203 :

The problem could also be and dont take it personal cause idk what type of fittings and splitters you consider good quality. But it could be your handy work.

Heres what you do..go pick up your phone call comcast and schedule for a tech to come out and check the drop aswell as your handy work to see if they are actually good compression fittings aswell as 1ghz splitters.

To everyone who trys to be a DIY thats cool and all but I can honestly tell you out of the number of people that try and do things on their own very..and i mean very few actually succeed. Most of the time making more work for the tech. Just call your office and get a tech out it will prolly save you time in the end anyway. considering you prolly spent most of a day trying to fix it yourself and in the end its still doing the same thing..so save yourself the trouble next time
Well considering that the splitters were provided by comcast, I would hope that they are good quality. And as far as my handiwork with stripping/crimping cable ends... I have the proper tools (a coax stripper and a properly sized crimper for the cable ends I use). And while RF is not my forte, I am am EE, so I think I know a bit about the importance of proper technique and equipment when it comes to doing electrical/electronics work.
We don't ever crimp any more. Compression fittings only... Hex crimps are eeeeeevil!!!

You can actually pick up a decent compression tool for between $60-$100 on e-bay these days...

rockotman
...Blown On The Steel Breeze
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06
DSotM

rockotman

Premium Member

LOL - yeah they are... but for now, that is all I have. Besides - problem resolved for the time being.
rody_44
Premium Member
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA

rody_44 to NoPegs

Premium Member

to NoPegs
i was thinking the same thing. all compression fittings suck.
toolman1955
join:2008-03-02
Pendleton, IN

toolman1955 to rockotman

Member

to rockotman
We get bad splitters NEW right out of the box every day. If the splitters you had came from Comcast were they brand new or had they been laying around in the basement for awhile unwraped from it original wrapping it could have drawn moisture, have some internal corrosion etc.
And by the way even the best installers can accidently leave one little piece of braid wraped around the stinger and cause all kinds of problems.....