mediancat wrote in message
om...

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?

i believe i am touching both pieces, ever so slightly. i tried one of
the other cables in the scheme that has a longer inner conductor - to
allow the connection of that alone, but it didn't improve the picture.
perhaps i really am only touching the gound part of the coax to the
ground part of the tv connector. that would explain why when i fully
engage the connector, the signal gets crappy. i will try some other
combinations to see if i can clarify what i am doing.


It sounds like you no longer have a good circuit up to your antenna, and by
just touching one conductor to the TV antenna connector your downlead is
acting like a "longwire antenna", which gives some signal. When it is fully
connected, the shield is grounded and now little if any signal reaches the
TV.