Most channels missing

my Tablo can receive only about 40% of the channels i can receive when i plug the antenna directly into my TV. i have a tablo dual 64GB version 2.2.18. It’s an amplified antenna, but when i turn the amplifier on, i lose ALL channels (that happens on both the TV and the Tablo).

What is the make and model of your antenna?

1byOne OUS00-0562

I have used those flat antennas, they are not that great.

Have you checked TV Fool to see how far you are from the broadcast towers? You use your zip or postal code for this.

Also, does the antenna have line of sight with the broadcast towers?

http://www.tvfool.com

A couple of thoughts… if you’re very close to the broadcast towers, using an amplifier may overload the tuners with too strong a signal. If not, and you’re using a splitter, try removing it and plugging the antenna directly into the Tablo. Is your antenna oriented correctly and reasonably high? Anything blocking line of sight between you and the broadcast towers?

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I am in NYC so i am reasonably close to the broadtcast towers
i am in an apartment, so i have no other option than an indoor flat antenna.
the antenna is stuck to the window
I am on the 20th floor, so i am about 200ft in the air
the antenna is plugged directly into the antenna
i am not using a splitter
i do not have line of sight
the antenna is facing north

I have gone to TVfool and all of the channels i want to view are green

Interestingly TV Fool says you’re about 1-2 miles from your broadcast tower, so that means you definitely do not need an amplifier. Your issue is either 1) the signal is too weak cause you do not have line of sight, or 2) the signal is too strong because the Tablo is amplifying it.

Let’s assume 2) is correct for now. The Tablo itself has an internal amplified 1x4 splitter so maybe you are over driving the tuners being so close. Your HDTV does not have an amplifier in it since it’s not splitting the OTA signal. Humour me, can you please put a splitter between the antenna and the Tablo? This may drop the signal so it doesn’t over drive the Tablo tuner. If this works, you could buy an attentuator to put in line between the antenna and the Tablo.

That definitely did help. Is the splitter the best it’s going to be? or would an attenuator be even better?

When you say helped, are you getting all the channels on the Tablo you are when directly connected to the HDTV?

maybe not all, but it’s good enough

Ana attenuator will likely do a better job. You could also test a splitter after a splitter (daisy chain 2 splitters), and see if this helps. But I feel the signal drop will be too much with 2 spitters.

Is there any way to figure out how many dB of attenuation is optimal?

a) If the splitter you used had 2 outputs, each output is likely attenuated about 3.5dB.
b) If the splitter had 3 outputs, one output is likely marked as being attenuated -3.5dB and the other two are likely marked as -7dB. If this is the case, try using one of the -7dB outputs to see if it improves performance further.
In either case, if you have splitters lying around, you can cascade them in series to see how it affects results (that’s a bit tedious, but it’s free). What you don’t likely have are terminating resistors to connect to unused outputs on the splitters; unused outputs can reflect signal back and affect performance of the output you’re using if they’re not terminated by a tuner or a terminating resistor. You can either purchase terminating resistors that screw onto the unused outputs or purchase an attenuator to neatly reduce the signal level.

IMO, if it’s possible, you’d do well in your luxurious case (plenty of signal) to use the second output from the splitter to permanently connect one output to your TV’s antenna input and the second output to the Tablo. Watching Live TV using the TV tuner (assuming the TV has a tuner) allows for faster channel surfing than you’ll get from Tablo.

Thank you for the suggestion

You may want to try rabbit ears. Or a paper clip.

You are right on top of the towers it seems. The other issue is it looks like some stations are vhf and lo vhf at that, hence try rabbit ears, cheap and easy to try.