I have some analog cable questions but hopefully someone can answer
it.

What I want to know is if hot weather can cause signal loss? For
example, the signal was boosted at the tap about two months ago and
the picture was nearly clear. Then about 1-2 weeks ago the outside
temperature got into the 90's (Fahrenheit ) and the picture on the tv
started to get gradually grainy each day. Is this due to heat?

What makes the signal drop that it needs to be boosted at the tap? For
some reason our signal needs to be boosted every couple of months and
no one can ever answer what makes it get so low. Any ideas?

Last thing is that I called to have a repair guy come out here to fix
this poor reception and he installed an amp but the picture was still
bad. He said that's all he could do because the signal is where it
should be and I should call the cable company and complain to them
about the problem. My concern is if the signal is where it should be
but the channels are grainy and distorted, on all the TVs, then what
could be the problem? That doesn't make sense to me. Oh, and I think
that the day before the amp was installed the cable was like +6 and
now it's like +7, does that mean it's better or worse? The guy also
said that if I was to switch to digital cable that I wouldn't have
enough signal for it to work right (or something like that) and if I
had the high speed cable internet that it wouldn't be working at all.
So doesn't that also mean something? I was considering getting digital
cable but it doesn't seem like such a good idea now.

Mike wrote:
Mike,
It is quite possible that you have a problem with the actual wire
that brings in the cable signal. It appears that your cable service
people are either incompetent, or simply don't care.

You can ask to speak to a supervisor, explain your problem, politely,
and firmly insist the problem be corrected, or you can investigate the
possibility of changing your service to a dish.
As a matter of principle, I would insist that the cable company
correct the problem. If they don't do so after a reasonable time,
contact your city's franchise department and file a complaint.

Mike wrote:

There may be an intermittent connection, that's temperature sensitive.

--

Fundamentalism is fundamentally wrong.

To reply to this message, replace everything to the left of "@" with
james.knott.

One possibility is that at a connector (outside, at the groundblock or
tap) a piece of braid is just a half a hair away from the center
conductor. As the temp goes up that piece of braid expands, causing a
short between the center conductor and shield.


CIAO!

Ed N.

James Knott wrote:

enough signal for it to work right (or something like that) and if I
had the high speed cable internet that it wouldn't be working at all.
So doesn't that also mean something? I was considering getting digital
cable but it doesn't seem like such a good idea now."

I don't know who your cable company is, but I went both routes with my cable
company(internet & digital) and they'll do whatever it takes to get either
service working. In my case, internet was working but the signal was
borderline. They ran a new RG6 cable underground from the underground drop
on the other side of my neighbor's yard. Not only did that increase the
signal strength from -14 to -2, it also made all my tv pictures crystal
clear. When I converted to digital 6 months later, signal strength was not
an issue.
Rich

On 18 May 2004 21:38:15 -0700, littleboyblu87@yahoo.com (Mike) wrote:


There's several different things that could be causing issues outside.
It sounds like to me that something at the tap or before is causing your
problem. If the signal keeps dropping at the tap, then it sounds like
either an amp is bad or going bad, or that cable company has some pretty
incompetant techs working for them. More than likely, if your cable
company is using an LE (line extender, type of amp) with AGC (automatic
gain control - basically means the amp will adjust its own signal
according to TEMPERATURE), then that AGC module is going bad, since it
changes the signal levels according to the temperature.

As far as them saying there is nothing that they can do. That is just a
bold-faced lie. I work for Time Warner Cable and if there is a problem,
we do whatever we can to fix it. There are no problems that can't be
fixed. We do whatever we can for every customer, every time.

And also, not only low signal will cause snowy/grainy pictures, but too
much signal will cause the same thing.

I worked in Cable modem tech support for 3 years.
Weather, like a big change in temperature can affect the signal on the cable
system.
The cable company should be doing maintenance on the cable to correct the
problem(s)
Check with other local people who have cable
see if they are having the same problem.

"Mike" <littleboyblu87@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3e7445e7.0405182038.40f359e4@posting.google.c om...

Rich wrote:

"sundance" <sundancekid17@yahoo.com> wrote in message
for the signal levels on one of the status pages that can be viewed.

Brian <nodontemailme@somewhere.in.the.world> wrote in message news:<nte2b05li8b9pmhbv0ah5ve103cfg5nrj0@4ax.com>. ..


Thanks for the responses. I have a few more questions though.

1. I'm having problems getting a maintenance tech out here. They
apparently don't work on schedules and you never know when they're
going to show up and if they already have. I was wondering if it would
be appropriate for me to call the last maintenance tech that was out
here and ask if he could get someone out here for me. He gave me his
work cell phone number two months ago because no one was showing up
when they were supposed to, so he told me to call him if they didn't
show up. I've thought about calling him rather than to keep calling
the cable co. asking where the tech guy is. Anyone think I should call
him?

2. I keep wondering if my cable problems are related to the way the
cable was originally installed in my neighborhood. I'll try to explain
it the best I can and maybe someone can figure it all out. So
basically there's this secondary road that goes in front of my house,
then there's a private road that goes beside my house. On the private
road there are maybe 14 houses (including mine). There are (I think)
two taps on this private road. The one tap is located near my house
(near the middle of this private road) and the other one is located
near the end of this road. My house is the only house hooked up to the
one tap and I assume 10 of the houses are hooked up to the other tap
(if that's possible) and the other 3 houses are hooked up to the one
on the secondary road. Why am I the only person connected to the one
tap? Why is everyone else connected to the other tap? That really
seems odd to me. I don't think any of these other people have problems
with their cable, so why am I the only person who does?

3. I was told that if I switched to digital cable and high speed
internet that I wouldn't have enough signal to get an internet
connection. So doesn't that mean something? If my signal in the house
is normal but is too low for digital cable, what exactly does that
suggest?

4. I don't know if this is important but I think it's worth a mention.
I noticed this problem with the cable the same time that I noticed
that my phone line wasn't working properly. These both occured after
the electric co. replaced our digital meter with one of those old ones
with the dials on it. I'm told by people in newgroups that the
replacement of the meter wouldn't have an affect on the cable or phone
lines but I just think it's odd that I had problems with them both
after the meter was replaced.

"Mike" <littleboyblu87@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3e7445e7.0405182038.40f359e4@posting.google.c om...
When you say "all the TVs" just how many are you referring to? What kind of
cable and splitter arrangement do you have inside the house? Cheap coax and
cheap splitters daisy chained all around the house degrade the signal big
time.

mike
--
__________________________________________________ ________
"La Longue Carabine"

|"...no elector should ever submit himself
| so implicitly to party as to support a man
| whose private acts prove him to be unfit
| for a public trust. The basis of the rep-
| resentative system is character, and without
| character, no man should be confided in."

-James Fenimore Cooper

<snip>

AFAIK the maximum number of spigots/connections on a tap is eight (at
least on the gear I have seen) but I could easily be wrong. It is
possible for your spigot (f-connection) to be faulty, the tap face plate
to be loose or faulty or even for the trunk cable centre conductors to
not be tightened in the tap body correctly (Assuming the other people
are downstream from you the last two faults seem unlikely if they are
not having issues). A thorough tech should be able to identify this.

As for why you are the only one connected, this could come back to
design and as this is done in an office somewhere the design doesn't
always match what is on the street.

This doesn't make sense, AFAIK the digital cable signal is effectively
the same type of signal as the Internet signal just a different
frequencies. It could mean that at certain frequencies you don't have
enough signal which could indicate a problem.
Only if they disturbed your cable/phone wiring/drop in the process.

HTH

Paul