Clever Name
Premium
join:2005-05-06
Davenport, IA
1 edit | [IA] Clear QAM public tv feeds in QC
Is anyone else getting really bad reception on the two public tv stations in mediacom's HD QAM signal? They used to come in perfectly but now they're breaking up constantly. NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX are all fine. |
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Clever Name
Premium
join:2005-05-06
Davenport, IA
1 edit | Just me? I find that hard to believe. The local ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX stations all come in strong, my tv has a signal meter that goes up to 8 bars and those are all around 6 bars. The two PBS stations ( WQPT and KDIN) don't come in at all during the day and at night they both have 1 bar and break up constantly. They used to work fine, a few months ago.
This is in Davenport, IA. I'd appreciate it if someone could pass this along to whoever monitors this stuff. |
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OldCableGuy1
@ncs.com
 from:
Clever Name 
| I had a similar issue last year with ClearQAM in Cedar Rapids. Mine turned out to be a bad fitting on a line leaving a splitter so when it would get cold and damp I assume moisture was getting in there. I replaced that and many other fittings and fixed the issue. Unless you have the tools and SNS fittings, you might be up the creek. Mediacom won't come out and look at it unless you have digital cable, as they don't support QAM.
At least in Cedar Rapids QAM is seems to be the highest channels, in the upper 110s, therefore most likely to have signal loss anyway. Check your upper analog channels and see if they appear fuzzy. If so, its more than likely just a signal issue in your home.
As for the signal strength on the TV -- with digital those just aren't that accurate. Calculating signal strength is complicated and TVs usually just take the easy way out when it comes to digital (its not as simple as whats the strength, because it has to factor in error rates and other such things). |
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Clever Name
Premium
join:2005-05-06
Davenport, IA
1 edit | Thanks for the info. I was hoping it was an issue with their satellite wherever they pump the signal from since the other stuff is in the same channel range and works very nicely. But that sounds less likely now I guess. Oh well. |
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OldCableGuy1
@ncs.com | I am not sure that the QAM feed and the ClearQAM feeds are the same. At one point I heard that their digital boxes actually get different feeds of the locals. Not sure I believe that, but it does explain the issues... |
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iowabuck
@mchsi.com
| reply to Clever Name
i had same issue with a couple HD stations including both of the PBS stations and HDNET. An amplifier instantly fixed that issue and I rarely see pixelation or freezing of picture.
On advice from Mediacom, I have my first two-way splitter ahead of the amplifier, with one side feeding my cable modem and the other side going to the amplifier and all tv's.
The amplifer seems to meet the requirements for good twoway communication with my DVR/HDTV receiver. |
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OldCableGuy1
@ncs.com
| That might be a good bandaid, especially for a TV that is not very sensitive, but unless you're driving more than 8 outlets you shouldn't need an amp. If you have a bad fitting, the amp will boost the good parts of the signal, but also boost the bad stuff (ingress, noise, AC current, etc). A mediacom tech could come out and turn up your port on the tap, which would give more power to your home. Or, they could actually fix the issue, which would need to have strength measured at every connection from the tap to the TV. Chances are, neither of those things will happen though.
I was a contractor for 5 years and I never left an install unless there was -1 to +1db at the connection for the TV. But, like most things, when I had Mediacom installed a few years ago, they didn't even carry a signal meter with them. My how times change. |
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Anonymous
Premium
join:2004-06-01
IA
 ·Mediacom
| said by OldCableGuy1 :
That might be a good bandaid, especially for a TV that is not very sensitive, but unless you're driving more than 8 outlets you shouldn't need an amp. If you have a bad fitting, the amp will boost the good parts of the signal, but also boost the bad stuff (ingress, noise, AC current, etc). A mediacom tech could come out and turn up your port on the tap, which would give more power to your home. Or, they could actually fix the issue, which would need to have strength measured at every connection from the tap to the TV. Chances are, neither of those things will happen though.
I was a contractor for 5 years and I never left an install unless there was -1 to +1db at the connection for the TV. But, like most things, when I had Mediacom installed a few years ago, they didn't even carry a signal meter with them. My how times change.
Times change. Now most people need an amp if they have 4 or more outlets. Min required is +5 on the high band at the dct. Also due to fact that Mediacom does not wallfish anymore they can only crank up the signal hoping that will do the trick since most customers don't want cables run on the outside or there is no way to replace an outlet without wallfish.. |
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wardfan
join:2007-08-14
Moline, IL
·Mediacom
| reply to OldCableGuy1
said by OldCableGuy1 :
A mediacom tech could come out and turn up your port on the tap, which would give more power to your home.
ROFL, obviously you were a contractor. How is a tech supposed to turn up the port at the tap, is there a power knob up there kinda like a volume knob? That's great!! You made my day, thanks. |
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ClimberVP
@mchsi.com | Uh...yeah I was kind of wondering about that myself.
I am assuming he will clarify what he means?? |
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Clever Name
Premium
join:2005-05-06
Davenport, IA
2 edits | reply to Clever Name
DirecTV just made this a moot point. They just added all the local channels here in HD. No signal issues anymore, crystal clear. Sweet.
How does the directv hd selection compare to mediacom's hd offerings? I haven't had digital cable in years. Check the attached dtv channel guide.
Edit - The public tv channel is mia at the moment. CBS, ABC, NBC and FOX are up and running though. Looks like they're working on the rest atm. |
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OldCableGuy1
@ncs.com
| reply to wardfan
If you take the cover off the tap there are pots on each output that control how much power is fed into the port. You were supposed to balance it out so that at the subscribers home it was +10 both at 2 and 76, and at each tv it was +0, but this was when the highest channel was 76 and I'm sure times have changed. This was when digital was added between 60 and 75. |
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wardfan
join:2007-08-14
Moline, IL
·Mediacom
| said by OldCableGuy1 :
If you take the cover off the tap there are pots on each output that control how much power is fed into the port.
UMMMMM, No there is not. They are set loss taps and the line signal strength is set at the line amplifiers for the entire cable run. The only way to get more signal at the tap is to replace it with a lower value tap, but that screws up the designed plant. |
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OldCableGuy1
@ncs.com | Oh? Thats odd, because I ADJUSTED THEM when I worked out in the field. So, unless you've got some more information I'd say you're in the wrong on this one here, bud. |
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Anonymous
Premium
join:2004-06-01
IA | Line techs do signal adjustments. Service techs can put in a request for them to do it. |
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wardfan
join:2007-08-14
Moline, IL
·Mediacom
| reply to OldCableGuy1
said by OldCableGuy1 :
Oh? Thats odd, because I ADJUSTED THEM when I worked out in the field. So, unless you've got some more information I'd say you're in the wrong on this one here, bud.
A contractor adjusting signal lvls?
Signal lvls are adjust by line techs as Anonymous stated, but that adjustment is done at the line amplifiers NOT the tap. I could be wrong, but I'm not!! I was a field service tech for over 2 years and changed out probably 200 taps, and NONE of them had adjustment pots on them. |
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Anonymous
Premium
join:2004-06-01
IA | Well they can cheat and change the tap value but they can't really do adjustments at the tap. |
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