Signal Strength?

[sto22]

I'm at 63126 zip code with a lot of trees and 2 story houses/buildings around.

I've got a Zenith Silver Sensor hooked up to my old SAT-HD300 for OTA purposes only.

The signal strength meter jumps all over the place? It will hold at approx. 90% for a few minutes, then jump from 0-75 numerous times, resulting in pixellation or picture loss. At times, the signal will dissappear completely.

This happens to a varying degree with all of my digital channels.

I'm not that far from the towers and I have the antennae on a 20 foot RG6 cable next to a large west facing window. (1st floor).

Two Questions:

I thought digital signals were either on or off, signal strength was relatively constant?

Should I invest in a signal amplifier or am I trapped by the trees and buildings?

I'm living in a townhome while we look for a house so an outdoor antenna is not an option.

Thanks,

sto22

[mjones73]

Sounds like you could be suffering from multipath, it gives ATSC tuners fits...

[sto22]

So would an amplifier make a difference or am I likely stuck with the situation until I move?

Thanks,

sto22

[mjones73]

An amp would only make it worse, you need to experiment with antenna placement and/or a smaller beam antenna to help keep from picking up stray signals bouncing off things. One thing you can try to help determine if you have multipath is to tune in some analog UHF stations and see if you get ghosting...