HD Homerun 4k Flex - lost one channel that previously worked fine

[Gatman]

Hi everyone,

I've had and HD Homerun 4k Flex for about 3 years now. I mounted an antenna in my attic because our local Fox affiliate couldn't get picked up with a window-based antenna. That channel worked fine for about 2.5 years, and a few months ago when I would try to tune to that channel I'd get a "no video data" message in both the HD Homerun software and in Plex. The show I had been watching on that channel ended a while back, so I kinda forgot about it.

Decided to trouble shoot a bit today. Checked all cables and connections, and everything seems fine. Did a channel scan, and every channel for the local fox affiliate (WJW Fox 8 in Cleveland) disappeared (and a few others - the list is definitely a bit shorter than it was before). My ex-wife has my old HD Homerun still going stong, so I checked with her (same antenna as I have here in her attic), and she's receiving Fox 8 just fine. Grrr.

The frustrating thing is, this worked just fine for a couple years, and then just abruptly stopped. I'm NGL, when I logged in it seems there are a fair number of similar posts from 4k Flex owners about disappearing channels. Should I put it in diagnostic mode, run a scan, and then open a ticket? Something else I should try? My kids are home from college for the summer and want to watch stuff on this channel.

Thanks,

Gary

[Gatman]

Just to add, checking antennasdirect.com, this station is just over 13 miles from me. I have about 70 channels that show "STRONG" for my location, all of which are around 11.5 to 14 miles away. They are all to the southeast direction (112 to 132 degrees). My antenna is pointed at about 112, and the missing channels are at 116.

What's frustrating is this came in solid and strong for a couple years. It wasn't like it was fringe or anything. Now it can't be picked up at all.

[jasonl]

What antenna is it? WJW is almost always the most difficult of the major stations to receive in Cleveland being VHF and operating at a very low power level compared to most major network stations on VHF (WJW is only 11kW vs. WOIO's 30, or WTVG and WTOL over in Toledo both being over 20).

[Gatman]

What antenna is it?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082DN8L6T?th=1

There's the link to the Amazon page for it. Again, this worked perfectly fine for over 2 years. I specifically mounted so high (attic above my second floor) and got this antenna because I knew WJW was difficult. Even when I had a window antenna on the east side of my house on the first floor it at least detected this channel, but wouldn't play it reliably. My ex-wife is 1 mile from me with the same antenna in her attic and gets WJW fine. I know at some point I could see signal strength type bars, and this channel was solid and never dropped. Now it doesn't even come in at all, even as a low signal.

[jasonl]

OK, definitely a suitable antenna, wouldn't expect problems from that unless something damaged it. If you tune to WOIO and go to the HDHomeRun's web page at http://hdhomerun.local/ and click on Tuner Status, then whichever tuner it's using for that, what signal numbers do you see there? Wondering if there's some new source of interference nearby that is strong enough to knock out WJW but not enough for WOIO due to its stronger signal. The usual culprits:

• Fluorescent lights, especially cheap CFL light bulbs
• LED light bulbs
• Powerline network adapters (devices that let you run your home network over power lines)
• Anything that converts electricity into motion, including fans, motors, pumps, and compressors
• Dimmer switches
• Solar panel inverters
• Amateur radio transmitters
• "Wall wart" type power supplies, especially ones that are more than 5 years old
• Gasoline engines, including vehicles and generators (from the ignition)
• Cable modems
• Wireless routers and access points
• Cell phones, tablets, and hotspots
• Cordless phones
• Baby monitors

You can try turning off any of those that you control to test, but the problem with a lot of them is that it isn't necessarily something that you control that is the problem, it might be something your neighbor is using, and unless it's a really obvious thing like an outdoor light on a timer or motion sensor, tracking down the exact source of problems is very difficult. One thing you can try is picking up the OBTV filter that Channel Master makes, https://www.amazon.com/Channel-Master-F ... B0D5T9NDL3, as it basically filters the signal to only allow the specific ranges where TV signals live and block everything else, and that can help for at least some of these potential sources.

[Gatman]

Thanks Jason,

I'm out of town for work until Thursday evening. I'll take a crack at checking WOIO 19 signal levels Friday when I'm back home and I'll report back.

[Gatman]

Just remembered I could VPN in and run this. WOIO 19 is 100% signal strenth. I know I checked WJW before and it was up around 90%. I wasn't able to receive it initiallhy because I only had a window-mounted flat antenna on the first floor. Once I got the antenna I linked to up in my attic, it came in strong and solid. I regularly recorded a weekly show I was watching on mg Plex DVR without incident.

[Gatman]

The usual culprits:

• Fluorescent lights, especially cheap CFL light bulbs
• LED light bulbs
• Powerline network adapters (devices that let you run your home network over power lines)
• Anything that converts electricity into motion, including fans, motors, pumps, and compressors
• Dimmer switches
• Solar panel inverters
• Amateur radio transmitters
• "Wall wart" type power supplies, especially ones that are more than 5 years old
• Gasoline engines, including vehicles and generators (from the ignition)
• Cable modems
• Wireless routers and access points
• Cell phones, tablets, and hotspots
• Cordless phones
• Baby monitors

I've gone thru this list, and can't come up with anything new or changed. Tried shutting off anything on the list that was in the general vicinity, but no joy. As noted above, I'm showing 100% signal strength for WOIO, and can't get even WJW to show up as a weak signal. It's not even detected. I'm going to hook this antenna up to an HDTV tonight and see if it can detect WJW...stay tuned (pun intended).

~Gary

[Gatman]

Well, figured it out. Ended up climbing up into the attic and looking around, and it was antenna positioning.

The antenna is in a section of the attic above the 2nd floor, and the RG6 cable runs a short distance from there to an unfunished storage space on the second floor above the garage. There was a metal shelving unit in that unfinished space with nothing on it. When I went in there to check the cable, I found out the metal shelving had fallen over (might need to check for critters) and in the process had pulled the RG6 cable, thereby pulling on the antenna and changing it's orientation (it's a directional antenna). Checking Attenasdirect.com and a couple others, Fox8 is at about 118 degrees. WJW is 114 degrees. When the shelving pulled on the antenna cable it moved the antenna to point at bout 85-90 degrees. I just turned it to point towards the Fox8 transmitter and it's now coming in like it used to:



I may fine-tune the position a bit more to see if I can get above 79%, but it seems solid now like I remembered.

Mystery solved (except for how the shelves got knocked over).

Thanks,

Gary

[jxxaxxy]

Man never a dull moment.