I have a Mohu Sky 60 mounted in the attic facing the TV antennas about 7 to 8 miles away and all about 296 degrees. They get NBC, ABC, CBS, and PBS on both Tablo and TV. But FOX which is the same distance and angle as the other stations only comes through on TV but not on Tablo. I run the antenna coax through a
Channel master lte filter plugged into a
channel master ultra mini 4 that has +8 Db amplification per line. Two lines go to TVs where Fox comes in fine. The other line goes to the Tablo and the last line is capped with a 75 ohm terminator.
I can’t shorten the coax runs, the angle and height of the antenna seem fine. The distance to the stations is sufficient. Other stations work fine. It seems like a cop-out to say it’s too strong or weak so it’s the old digital cliff. Tablo has taken a look at the logs and says it’s working fine. This doesn’t seem impossible so what else can I try?
Several user discovered issues with “over amplification” causing issues. If you’re only 8mi away and add an antenna amp, try un-amping a run to the tablo.
Is the FOX station in your area VHF or UHF? I’ve read reviews of your antenna and some claim they have issues receiving VHF stations. That one station may be falling off the digital cliff while using the Tablo that does have an internal splitter that your TV does not. Does your TV have signal strength/quality meters? If so, that may shed some light on the situation.
I took a look at the signal or Fox vs. ABC, CBS, and OPB on my LG TV and Fox fluctuates from full bars to one less bar than the others which come in at full strength. Based on this it would seem the Fox signal is coming in sightly weaker rather than too strong. Wouldn’t you agree?
The Fox station is VHF but so are PBS and NBC which come in both on the TV and Tablo no problem so I wouldn’t think that would be the culprit either.
I have/had a similar situation. One of the PBS stations in my area is VHF. Must have a very powerful transmitter because it always comes in strong on my TVs and Tablo. I also had a Fox station that was VHF and it was very hit or miss. In fact more miss than hit. Recently that station moved to UHF in an effort to give its viewers a better experience due to the fact that most antennas do a better job with UHF. Very nice of them.
My LG has signal strength and signal quality. They’re great, yet I see them as “consumer” grade measuring. Based on that, I wouldn’t make an absolute conclusion, although likely.
I’d still try a cable run to my tablo without an amp’d signal. This way there is no true doubt… but that’s me.
Fair enough strategy. Not sure how to implement it though without splitting the antenna coax between the Tablo and at least one TV to see if I can get it on both without the amplification unless I switch back and forth between direct connect to Tablo and direct to TV. Any suggestions?
When I setup an antenna system, the first thing I try is a straight cable to a device (no splitters, no amplifiers, etc), and make sure it is pointed perfectly. If not enough signal, then I try an amplifier to see if it makes a difference. If it is enough, then you can try the splitter and cable to another device. Sometimes an amplified splitter is needed to overcome the signal loss.
Remember, the common causes for loss of signal in include lengths of cable (usually more than 50’), splits and poor cable quality. Hooking everything up without any variables makes it easier to troubleshoot reception problems.
Trouble-shoot the tablo, if it works -cool. If is doesn’t then… figure next step.
Suspect the TV will continue to work, with your location. The issue is over-amp - not do you have enough signal to start with. But, yes, there is an unusual possibility you could fix one and break the other.
So I tried your recommendation of connecting the antenna directly to the Tablo and guess what? Fox showed up and I was able to record at least 10 minutes of content. So, how should I set my system up? Should I keep the LTE filter on the end of the coax from the antenna then split the output to the Tablo and the other end goes into the amplifier/splitter to feed the two TV’s? Should I keep the LTE filter? Should I ditch the amplifier all together and split the signal 3 ways to the Tablo and two TV’s? Thanks for your help. I wouldn’t have thought the signal was being over amplified and was skeptical especially given the signal on the TV that showed it wasn’t a full signal at times but it looks like you were spot on.
The signal indicators for Tablo DVRs aren’t 100% accurate.
The problem with any amplification is it amplifies noise as well, and that noise can lead to reception problems when amplified. Tablo DVRs seem to be highly sensitive to noise.
I would try the setup with the split first, and see if all the channels come in on all the devices.
I would also suggest only making one change at a time to see what the impact is on the signal. The more variables you put into the equation, the more difficult it is to troubleshoot. The last thing I try is the amplifier to see if it is needed or not. Since you are splitting the signal 3 ways, I would suggest using your current splitter first, and if it causes drops in the channels, then change to an distribution amplifier (it is designed to amplify the signal only to overcome the splits in the cable).
ronintexas pretty well sums it it. One piece at a time. If you don’t need it, don’t bother. I see it somewhat fearmongering when it comes to splitting cable. If you have a good quality signal, adding a splitter won’t/shouldn’t kill it. I use several. Signal strength isn’t the same as signal quality. Regardless of strength, if you get a 100 quality …that’s as good as it’s going to get.
So after coupling the Coax leading into the Tablo with the coax from the antenna and getting all the channels I expected and wanted, I put 3-way splitter from the antenna to my 2 TV’s and the Tablo. The TV’s work fine. But the Tablo doesn’t pick up any channels when I do a channel scan. I tried disconnecting one of the TV’s from the splitter to see if that made a difference and still Tablo can’t find any channels with a scan.
Then I tried feeding the signal from one of the 3 way splits back into the amplifier then on to the Tablo thinking maybe the first splitter was weakening it and that amplifying would bring it back to a level Tablo could detect the channels but same result. No channels detected when I do a channel scan.
I think the amplifier I have is a distribution amplifier. It’s the Channel Master Ultra Mini 4 TV Antenna Amplifier, TV Antenna Signal Booster with 4 +8 db Outputs.
So any thoughts on what’s going on now and what to try to get the signal reliably to two TV’s and the Tablo?
Did you try using the amplifier’s outputs and not using the three-way splitter? Using a distribution amplifier AFTER a splitter that reduces the signal generally doesn’t work.
That’s the first thing I tried. Antenna coax into amp/splitter to 2 TVs and Tablo but couldn’t get Fox unless removed amplifier. Connected to Tablo with no splitting fine. Connected as part of 3 way split with no amplification no channels.
I do. I put a 75 ohm terminator cap on the unused port and still could get the channel I was missing. it showed up when I stopped amplifying the signal so thought I’d be home free with a regular splitter unamplified but that’s when I lost every channel on the Tablo even though the TV channels are coming in great.
Since you know that the cable from the antenna to the Tablo works good, you know that the antenna is working. The variables are going to be the amplifier, the splitter, and the additional cables. The Tablo is a little more sensitive to losing channels because of the internal splitter (it is amplified).
Splitters, amplifiers and cables can “go bad” (rust & corrosion can result in lower signals), so I would try another splitter to see if that is the cause. If you have a device that has a good signal meter (TV or other device), you can check to see if there is signal drop off when using any of the cables/splitters/amplifiers. The signal meter for the Tablo is not reliable for troubleshooting.
I have one 2 way amp / distribution splitter - then a total of 3 others. One on the end of a 50’ cable run all from a pre-HD antenna with a distance of 40 - 60 miles from any transmitter tower.
Just saying splitters aren’t automatically bad, and long cable runs won’t kill an otherwise good aka adequate, signal.
Antenna placement is paramount to everything, well after a having the right antenna to start with. But seems you have that.
I’m not sure if the non-amplified 3 way splitter is. It’s a GE 3-Way Coaxial Cable Splitter, 5-900 MHZ Range. Doesn’t say in the specs. Is it worth getting one that specifies it is balanced?
I’m only 7 to 9 miles away from the towers, the splitter is brand new and it, and the coax cables work fine for the TV’s and the Tablo works directly connected so I don’t think I have a bad splitter or coax or the runs are too far.
