Doesn't wind sway DTV transmitter towers?

I have no trees around, a zenith stt900 third gen lg chip set, indoor antenna ) 75 mile range outdoor-style) that is in attic. I am also 21 miles from antenna farm. 10 of the 13 stations peg at 90 percent signal, three at 65 to 75 percent.

In theory, wind should not affect my signal--indoor antenna/no trees. However, on windy days the signal drop 30 percent on some frequencies. I can see wind in Parma and wind here in Akron via wunderground. The wind here can be dead, while blowing near tower, affecting signal. Since I cannot control the wind, I cannot reproduce this in any scientific manner to rule out chance.

Obviously, wind should blow the transmitter towers, affecting the signal. But is this documented?

Yes, if you have studied Physics and material properties. I would be impossible to design a cable securing a tower that didn't have play. It would be hard to imagine a TV tower that didn't sway in the wind at least a few feet at the top.

That said, perhaps most towers do sway, but not enough to affect signal. But I am not so sure with WKYC's tower (Cleveland NBC affilate).

I read an attic will give a loss of 30%. So with a 75 mile antenna (18 db boost at point of antenna- $60 from lowes), (starting to have doubts if UHF portion is 75 miles or something like 45 miles), I should still have no problem with 21 miles (25 foot above ground). And as stated 10/13 channels are 90% and 3 others (60 to 75%). So, station pull pretty strongly. The weakest of the bunch %65 will occassional drop out, but only for 1 or 2 seconds--still watchable tv, as you can guess the dropped out words. While WKYC drops out for a minute--unwatchable, since the thread it totally lost, and the entire punchline of an hour long drama can be lost in one minute.

Something is causing mutitpath, most likely. But only with WKYC (channel 17). WKYC signal stays strong 75%-70% most the day, but at times (I suspect windy), drops out every 10 minutes for a few seconds to a minute to %40 breakup.

My Options: 1. Get WKYC to move to better tower- LOL. 2. Stop watching WKYC--after precipitated divorce. 3. Try a second antenna and switch in Attic a few feet away or Zenith Silver Sensor. (I tried outdoor, but on a small house the antenna took over look of the house. Wife screamed!) 4. Buy a better 2011 box, which can handle multipath better than the Zenith/lg third generation chip set.

In 2008ish, the Zenith/Insignia 3rd gen chip set set top box, was king of mutipath control. I paid about $40 with coupon for two boxes, and put old 2005 $250 DTV box in basement storage; it was that much better. So, can I buy a better multipath handling converter box in 2011? (I cannot afford a TV, nor have an interest in any TV over concerns of cost/longevity/size/continued obsolescence.)

https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D6019894_600_759236804 Is the TV fool png

So, ya'll don't think buying a new set top box would help improve over the Insignia/zenith. How far have they come since 2008/2009?

Out door antenna isn't an option, unless I built a tower a few hundred feet in back yard. But db over line drop, would negate the benefit, I bet. This would also cost$, and probably not help much. Would be fun. Makes more sense to try the second indoor antenna first.

My father has a lot of antenna tower experience as a radio/tv/dishnetwork antenna engineer going back to the 60's. I might give him a call this year. I believe he said they sway quite a bit when you go up to the top. I also have talked to painters that have painted them, who also commented on their swaying. Conversations that go back to the early 90s and 80s, that are vague in my mind.

It would be impossible to make a guy wire that didn't have play, unless you made a mechanism that kept tighting and loosing with changes in Temperature and Sunlight.

Sounds like a job for MythBusters!!

My insignia is nsdxa1 and zenith is dtt900, both are identical and have interchangeable remotes. This was right before the fcc mandated a pass through.


Rattman, it is conceded not enough info with those reading to know if signal is affected by sway. Based on pertinent post about storm in California, probably not with most towers. Then, there is a possibility of electrical wire movement that could cause interference. (Trees or outdoor securing of my tower/wires are a non issue for me.)

Now, I still do not know from reading effects of orientation on DTV propagation without errors, how that is exaggerated over distance, and how much sway would affect a signal. That is assuming the engineer didn't miss install, and forget some bolt on the actual transmitting antenna that could exaggerate movement or just wind.

I think laws of physics say towers do sway, the guy wires probably are just fail safes and dampen some, more due to inertia than anything. Sam can attest to this, who has no reason to lie. I will take that as FACT, and it squares with conversations with other people I have had who have climbed them. This is what it is. It is time to just let others add to this with their experiences.

To recap, about the wind and effects on a well designed reception system: swaying electrical lines, trees, ones own tower sway/connections, mysterious weather effects, mis-erected tower with loose bolts/non-ordinary sway, constantly shifting ideal angle of antenna pointing per channel.

If DTV had more redundancy, this would be no issue. (cbs, woio, is broadcast on two frequencies, excellent!) If there were a super, multipath correcting box, this would solve a ton.

I was hoping with better CPU chips the newer converter boxes could more quickly recalculate and fix multipathing. As noted, NBC WKYC, drops out for about a minute many times, or it seems like the box could be doing multipath corrections in this time. Also, this just started happening (or being noticed) with WKYC recently.

Interesting... And out of mouth of someone in California.

I was told by KYC engineer that antenna is in Parma. And by wife, that the airport is pretty close. Also, they transmit on channel 17, low vhf. (Channel 15, abc affiliate, is rock solid)

A handful of guys grounded the airline industry for a day in 2001. I suppose I could think of something. All I need is enough time to see if signal clears up... Else, I could find out flight schedules webpage, that is, if I can't dig up some box cutters first. (Sigh-- bad joke, I know.)

Wind direction, not sure. Upper, cloud level winds come from north or west, nearly always. Ground winds vary.