mediancat wrote:
need help understanding what is wrong with the reception of one
channel. i have an old metal antenna on the house that works great for
the strong local signals. years ago i added a small antenna that was
designed to pull in one particular local channel. it is installed on
the same pole, and plugs into a small box also on the pole that acts
as a splitter i guess. anyway, regardless of whether i am running the
signal into the vcr or the tv, all the powerful channels come in fine.
however, this other one, channel 13 (Hmmm...) doesn't come in well
unless i disconnect the coax from the tv, then very gently touch it to
the connection on the back of the tv. the improvement is dramatic,
but i'll be damned if i'm gonna watch tv this way. i don't understand
why the same connection works great for the other channels, but not
for this one. i have tried changing out the cable, using splitters,
not using splitter, directly from wall, from vcr, etc. it never seems
to come in unless i am holding the cable connection to the connector
on the tv in this very specific way. what's going on? i know this
station used to come in better, but now its crap. help. anyone?

Although you've provided a good bit of detail, some questions still arise:
just 'how' do you "touch the coax to the connection?" Are you touching just
the inner conductor to the outside of the connector, or the inner conductor
to the inner connection on the connector (not allowing the ground to make
contact)? Are you touching the coax connector on the TV at all...perhaps
instead the 300 ohm (if any) connectors?

Without being a bit more specific, I doubt anyone's going to be able to help
you. For one thing, I don't understand how the two antennas are connected
on the pole in such a manner as to preclude interaction (perhaps a ch. 13
trap in series with the 'all channel' antenna before the
splitter/combiner?).

In any case, your problem is probably 'up the pole.' If it worked before, i
t should work now; unless conditions have changed. Have any tall buildings
been constructed between you and the transmitter?

My best advice would be to have the same people who installed the array (or
other competant service people) service it. It sounds like your technical
knowledge is limited, and I doubt you're going to want to climb that pole...

....or get cable.

jak