# does EMS radio traffic cause...



## meldar_b (May 16, 2006)

does EMS radio traffic cause interference 

I am new to OTA,:eek2: I have always used cable or satellite to watch the networks. I am moving back to D* but D* does not carry my local CBS affiliate WYMT So I decided to do some experimenting and try to receive the station myself. Since the DTV channel 12 (204-210 mhz) is close to the FM band (88-108) I decided to try using my FM network to see if it was possible for me to get the channel YES FM! :righton:

Using my Radio Shack directional FM antenna I can receive the station. The signal is showing in the normal range on my LG TV. But I am having some signal dropouts from just audio to complete signal loss only lasting for a second or 2 to several minutes. I was thinking that this from using the WRONG ANTENNA:uglyhamme So I went out today and bought a Radio Shack OTA antenna 80" Boom Length, 32-Element Antenna http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103085 I was going to install it today but 3-5 inches of snow has stopped me doing that today.

I was thinking about the very large radio tower that is on top of the mountain less than a half mile from my home which is the head-end for my local cable company also serves for a repeater site for several EMS services and FM broadcast station 100.1 FM using that tower.

So my question is:
Does transmissions from EMS or FM broadcast interfere with my DTV reception :scratch:

Thanks


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## jkane (Oct 12, 2007)

No, but that cable company has a dish pointed right at your house to make you think it does so they can sell you cable. !Devil_lol

The question we need to know is how far away is that TV stations antenna? What is between you and it? The mountain? That mountain can for sure interfere with that signal!

FM will travel farther than VHF and VHF travels farther than UHF. I don't know here your EMS is located on the bands. It should not interfere though. Although, lower VHF channels are more susceptible to interference than the higher VHF and UHF. It's a trade off. The farther the signal can travel, it seems the more interference prone it is.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

It isn't likely that anyone can tell you what kind of intereference you could see in your area. RF issues are always local (you could get perfect signal and your neighbor could get nothing). To answer your question: yes, it's possible that the radio repeater could be causing interference, but it could also be other things. Many stations are still working out the bugs on their digital transmitters, especially the ones that just went live recently, so it may have nothing to do with those other RF sources.


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## meldar_b (May 16, 2006)

5 inches of snow on the ground but I still needed to get my OTA installed. I did get the new OTA today and it did help the signal strenght, but I'm still having some audio drop outs. No where near the number dropout as with my test setup. At least now I can get my local news and UK ball games now :grin: without having to pay out my a$$tro-dome to my cable co. just to get the one station that DirecTV does not carry :joy:


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## meldar_b (May 16, 2006)

Looks like I will also need a fm trap or a tv amp w/fm trap. I found this while searching the net about my problem at www.solidsignal.com :scratch:



> from www.solidsignal.com
> 
> "FM trap is especially useful for those with nearby FM transmitters. The high signal strength can swamp your tuner causing you to loose stations completely on a digital tuner. For analog it causes the signal to bleed over on to the other channels. It causes all sorts of interference that shows up as a herring bone pattern or other distortion. Sometimes the FM audio even comes over the channel. "


I am odering this one tonight *Winegard FT-3000 FM Trap AC/DV and UHF Passive* (FT-3000) http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=FT-3000 it Eliminates FM Interference on Channels 7-13 and since I need DTV channel 12 to be clear this one should work:grin: hopefully

Also I'm ordering a new tv amp, since the one I am using is around 12 years old or older I have used with my yagi fm antenna amp for years. So I'm thinking about this one *AntennaCraft 10G212 30 dB High Gain TV/FM Mast-Mounted Signal Amplifier*
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=10G212 :allthumbs

Man getting this tv infrastructure in place is costly:eek2:


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## jkane (Oct 12, 2007)

A signal trap is possible to fix it, but VERY RARE! Watch out for snake oil salesmen in the area of signal interference. Get a good return policy.

An amp and a trap are the opposite! If you need an amp to get enough signal, then a trap is not going to help. An amp only amplifies interference and noise. Amps work only for a few people in a small ring at the edge of reception. Let me put it this way. An amp is only good if you are losing the signal during some times of the day. If you have weak signal all the time, it won't work that well.


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