Bad DTV reception symptoms over analog OTA. What gives?
 

I just happened to tune in "Law & Order" on the 12" RCA B&W, using the rod antenna on the back of the set. Several times during the episode, the sound dropped out and the picture froze and broke up into pixels, just like it does when DTV reception is bad. What's up with this?

Believe it or not, I've had this happen often whenever there's extremely heavy rain or snow in my local area (W. New England) and/or New York City. Apparently the network satellite and/or microwave feeds can be disrupted by very bad weather.

Either the incoming signal to the station from the network fritzed up, or the playback at the station, or even the equipment that modulates the transmitter had a problem, and took a while to lock back on the digital stream.

So the source for analog broadcasts is becoming more and more digital.

I have seen it much more on the smaller networks, 23 and 26 in Chicago, especially later at night - sometimes between the video and audio it's unwatchable. I would change channels to reset the datastream on my converter only to have it continue unabated after re-lockup. I also saw the artifacts tonight on L & O.

The TV station might have just hooked up a DTV Set Top converter box to convert their DTV signal to analog to feed their analog transmitter. Well, maybe equipment a step above that, but functionally equivalent. Well, with Feb 17, 2009 not far off, they ain't gonna sink much money into it...

Most TV stations these days use a digital STL, which when the signal is dropped or broken up, will exhibit the same behavior as a DTV tuner. Probably due to a tech at the transmitter site doing some maintenance or on-the-spot repairs.

And to think about it - programs are recorded and played back digitally, which are then processed digitally and sent from NYC to their respective NJ uplink sites digitally, the paths from earth to the bird and back down to the regional master controls are digital, from the MC to the local affiliate is digital, the signal from the station to the tx site is digital, and only there is it down converted to analog for NTSC transmission. Not really much 'analog' left in analog TV. (don't confuse these with the HD signals from the nets, those are sent separately in most cases)

I too watched Law & Order on my 12" B&W Quasar with the rod antenna and had no reception problems. I have seen digital breakup on analog signals. I think it happens between the network and your local station.

As of Dec 3rd, they dropped the power output. Not sure if this is related.

I have also had these same problems with analog glitching up. can't they let us enjoy the last few months of real tv.

This has been a major problem for a couple years with the local Maryland Public Television station. The signal will lock up, and sometimes there will even be a display that comes up and says "no signal" as if you were watching a settop box. The other one of their stations I can receive doesn't have this problem, so obviously a sat or microwave problem.

We had a similiar problem with our local PBS channel, WQED here in Pittsburgh, they were off the air for the better part of the day.