# Help Troubleshooting CATV



## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

possible reasons:

poor cable connections, cheap splitter, cable run too close to wiring with noise on it, cheap crappy cable. 

what do I win ?


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## Wpgshocker (Jan 25, 2013)

Sounds like the splitter. If the frequency range is too low, you will lose channels etc...typically they use 1-2ghz around here. Not sure about your cable co. I would look at the splitter feeding the one the works, chances are, it's using a different frequency range than the one that doesn't work.


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## aftershockews (Dec 22, 2012)

Maximumbob said:


> I'm getting a periodic "choppy" signal on my 2nd floor tv's, one HD one not. Also, I can't access the advanced settings like on demand or ppv. 1st floor works fine.
> 
> The cable feed comes into the basement splitter and runs upstairs to a signal amplifier and then to a splitter which feeds all outlets on 2nd floor.
> 
> ...


What type cable goes upstairs? RG-6 or RG-59?


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## Maximumbob (May 24, 2013)

aftershockews said:


> What type cable goes upstairs? RG-6 or RG-59?


RG-6 Quad


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## aftershockews (Dec 22, 2012)

Maximumbob said:


> RG-6 Quad


The cable feeding upstairs may be damaged.
Or it could just be the connectors on the cable ends. Have you tried changing those out?


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## MisterCMK (Jul 5, 2009)

Has the cable company verified signal at the demarc?


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## cuba_pete (Dec 8, 2011)

Maximumbob said:


> I'm getting a periodic "choppy" signal on my 2nd floor tv's, one HD one not. Also, I can't access the advanced settings like on demand or ppv. 1st floor works fine. The cable feed comes into the basement splitter and runs upstairs to a signal amplifier and then to a splitter which feeds all outlets on 2nd floor. I have Cablevision with scientific atlanta boxes. I disconnected the amplifier and put a coupling on the feed directly to one room and still got the choppy signal.


Run the line in from the demarcation as far as possible to the amp, then split the high side to the second floor. Use 6 to the amp...keep your loss as low as possible as far as possible. If you are amping lossy garbage to the upstairs then you get higher amplitude garbage mixed with the desired signal...peak to peak will be low.


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## dmxtothemax (Jun 15, 2010)

Can you check your signal levels ?
First floor could be fine cause only one tv.
But second floor has extra cable length as well as two TV's,
could just be not enough signal.


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## Somewhere_401 (Apr 7, 2014)

Maximumbob said:


> I'm getting a periodic "choppy" signal on my 2nd floor tv's, one HD one not. Also, I can't access the advanced settings like on demand or ppv. 1st floor works fine.
> 
> The cable feed comes into the basement splitter and runs upstairs to a signal amplifier and then to a splitter which feeds all outlets on 2nd floor.
> 
> ...


--

Is this a NEW problem, or has it been like this for as long as you can remember? Something may have changed, corrosion on a terminated end or splitter, rodent got hungry, moisture somewhere...

Basic rule of thumb is to figure out what happened that caused this, then it become "easy" to fix. 

Sometimes it can be a bad digital box, or something as simple as a bad coax cable. I had one once, for about 2 years it was all good on a Sat Dish setup. Then channels were fuzzy and signal loss. After enough troubleshooting, the problem turned out to be the 6' coax cable that went from the wall jack to the receiver. It was the wrong cable, old school plain coax. It worked for almost 2 years though without a problem. That is what caused the biggest trouble in figuring it out.

Start with the basics, check cable specs, connections etc. Then think back to what happened. If all else fails, run a new line (using the correct cable) and see what happens. Bypass splitters / amplifiers etc. at first. 

You could also have a bad amplifier or bad power to it. 

Good luck.


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## ecelectric (Mar 27, 2009)

Check the connections but you could be over amplifying which is just as bad as a weak signal


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## ablyss (Feb 8, 2014)

It may not even be your problem. The cable co. boxes on the polls are usually warn out and they don't care. As long as you are getting the minimal signals needed they could care less. The cable co. wont recommend signals boosters either because most of them back feed noise on to their lines. But this one is really good: http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Sign...d_sim_e_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0TRV8885KEJ16R9W1TYH

I have signals problems and this fixed it. Cable co. wouldn't help.


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## FullDuplex (May 18, 2013)

Digital signals exhibit a "brick wall" effect. As long as there is enough signal for the cable box to decode - the reception will be perfect. If the signal level begins dropping, reception will continue to be perfect, until a point is reached where the cable box can no longer lock to the signal, and the video will disappear. If the signal level varies around this point, there will be random breakup. Therefore if your signal from the street is marginal, the signal to the 2nd floor TV's need only be slightly weaker to be choppy, and that can change over time.

If the signal from the street is weak, an amp won't do much to improve that, but it will eliminate the problem of further loss in splitters and cable within the house. An amp is best installed before any splitters, with one exception - if a 2-way splitter is used to feed a cable modem, it should be ahead of the amp. An amp must to be similar to the type Ablyss referred to, not just because of possible noise, but also because of the need for it to be bi-directional, passing signals both ways. The cable box needs to be able to "phone home" back to the cable head end for features such as PPV to work. Basic one-way amps won't pass the return signal.


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## Somewhere_401 (Apr 7, 2014)

Maximumbob said:


> I'm getting a periodic "choppy" signal on my 2nd floor tv's, one HD one not. Also, I can't access the advanced settings like on demand or ppv. 1st floor works fine.
> 
> The cable feed comes into the basement splitter and runs upstairs to a signal amplifier and then to a splitter which feeds all outlets on 2nd floor.
> 
> ...


--

Now that a month has passed, has the problem been resolved?


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## Maximumbob (May 24, 2013)

I forgot to post an update. 

I split the incoming signal with a two way splitter with one going directly to modem and the other going to a four way Motorola drop amp. One output feeds a four way splitter on second floor. Problem solved.

If I had to do it all over again, instead of having media panels on each floor I would probably homerun everything to the basement.

Thanks everyone for the input.


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## xpertpc (Oct 11, 2012)

Maximumbob said:


> I split the incoming signal with a two way splitter with one going directly to modem and the other going to a four way Motorola drop amp.


Makes sense to me, using Newtons inverse splitter law dictates S^2F x MA cubed to the 3rd power equals the modulation inversely to the summation of the subtrahend of the demodulated carrier wave , so why so long to figure out?


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## Maximumbob (May 24, 2013)

xpertpc said:


> Makes sense to me, using Newtons inverse splitter law dictates S^2F x MA cubed to the 3rd power equals the modulation inversely to the summation of the subtrahend of the demodulated carrier wave , so why so long to figure out?


The kids say I'm stupid dope.

Between you and Riveter I'm starting to get the Kentucky sense of humor.


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## xpertpc (Oct 11, 2012)

Kentucky is the education state, says so on a big sign when you cross the Ohio River - gotta get a neck tattoo to enter though.

Don't pay no attention to those kids, pertem' to work in the backyard spiking tobacco, after all you are the garden state.


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