When I'm out of answers, I ask you guys

Here's my setup: Big broadcast Antenna in the attic. Coaxial cable runs
from the attic to
a powered signal booster from Radio-Shack that I bought a long time
ago.

Coax goes from the booster to the VCR. Medium quality RCA audio plugs
go from VCR to
Amplifier and finally from Amp to TV. (I use Monster composite cables
and digital coax
for the DVD but that's outside the point).

Been like this for about 1.5 years now. Recently, maybe 2.5 weeks or,
my CTV channel (the
Toronto CTV local signal) has horrible scratching and scretching sounds
every so often (maybe at 20 second intervals or so). Makes it
basically impossible to watch that particular channel. The odd thing is
that there is absolutely no loss of video quality or reception.

My reception of CTV, channel 9 from Toronto is by far the channel I get
the best
reception on. Very, very nice video quality. Except, like I said, the
audio channel
scratches very baddly and we can't stand to watch it. When it
scratches, it has absolutely no
visible impact on the video reception of this channel. What's more,
this doesn't happen
on any other channel from Toronto or Buffalo.

What could explain this, what should I look into ? I don't know that I
can fault my
equipment as it doesn't do it on any other channel. Could it be that
the booster is to
blame because that station comes in well already without a boost ? This
only started
happening about 2 weeks ago or so and now there's a new episode of
Lost on Wednesday
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have tried turning off the amplifier and trying to use the TV
speakers directly but it has the exact same problem.

Let me know what you think I should look into first.

FYI, I have a Toshiba 34HF83 Television, the radio-shack powered
booster, broadcast antenna in the attic, a Toshiba DVD/Video combo.

On another note, I picked up a second DVD player from Best Buy in
Buffalo last week. This
one plays DivX material It's awesome and such a great experience. The
only
problem is that both my new and my old DVD players are Toshibas and
each remote control
operates both players. That's a pain but not a problem.

Cheers,
Philippe

"GeeZer" wrote ...
Been like this for about 1.5 years now. Recently, maybe 2.5 weeks or,
my CTV channel (the
Toronto CTV local signal) has horrible scratching and scretching sounds
every so often (maybe at 20 second intervals or so). Makes it
basically impossible to watch that particular channel. The odd thing is
that there is absolutely no loss of video quality or reception.

My reception of CTV, channel 9 from Toronto is by far the channel I get
the best
reception on. Very, very nice video quality. Except, like I said, the
audio channel
scratches very baddly and we can't stand to watch it. When it
scratches, it has absolutely no
visible impact on the video reception of this channel. What's more,
this doesn't happen
on any other channel from Toronto or Buffalo.

I have tried turning off the amplifier and trying to use the TV
speakers directly but it has the exact same problem.

Let me know what you think I should look into first.

I would first rule out local RFI interference by asking your neighbors
if they have seen/heard anything strange on that channel lately. Do
you have any other TV receiver you can try?

Try another TV at the same antenna connections. This will quickly rule out
if it is a reception problem, or a defect in the front end of your TV set.

--

JANA
_____


"GeeZer" wrote in message
oups.com...
When I'm out of answers, I ask you guys

Here's my setup: Big broadcast Antenna in the attic. Coaxial cable runs
from the attic to
a powered signal booster from Radio-Shack that I bought a long time
ago.

Coax goes from the booster to the VCR. Medium quality RCA audio plugs
go from VCR to
Amplifier and finally from Amp to TV. (I use Monster composite cables
and digital coax
for the DVD but that's outside the point).

Been like this for about 1.5 years now. Recently, maybe 2.5 weeks or,
my CTV channel (the
Toronto CTV local signal) has horrible scratching and scretching sounds
every so often (maybe at 20 second intervals or so). Makes it
basically impossible to watch that particular channel. The odd thing is
that there is absolutely no loss of video quality or reception.

My reception of CTV, channel 9 from Toronto is by far the channel I get
the best
reception on. Very, very nice video quality. Except, like I said, the
audio channel
scratches very baddly and we can't stand to watch it. When it
scratches, it has absolutely no
visible impact on the video reception of this channel. What's more,
this doesn't happen
on any other channel from Toronto or Buffalo.

What could explain this, what should I look into ? I don't know that I
can fault my
equipment as it doesn't do it on any other channel. Could it be that
the booster is to
blame because that station comes in well already without a boost ? This
only started
happening about 2 weeks ago or so and now there's a new episode of
Lost on Wednesday
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have tried turning off the amplifier and trying to use the TV
speakers directly but it has the exact same problem.

Let me know what you think I should look into first.

FYI, I have a Toshiba 34HF83 Television, the radio-shack powered
booster, broadcast antenna in the attic, a Toshiba DVD/Video combo.

On another note, I picked up a second DVD player from Best Buy in
Buffalo last week. This
one plays DivX material It's awesome and such a great experience. The
only
problem is that both my new and my old DVD players are Toshibas and
each remote control
operates both players. That's a pain but not a problem.

Cheers,
Philippe

Thanks for your replies so far. We watched different channels last
night without any sound issues. Tonight, there's suppose to be some
good stuff on CTV. As soon as I get some scratching again, I'll bring
up the TV from the basement and verify it that way.

I'll report back soon,
Philippe

Well, Murphy's law. We were able to watch Lost on our CTV affiliate
yesterday without any sound trouble. I've brought up an older TV set to
plug in on that channel if the scretching happens again this coming
weekend. I'll report back to you guys as soon as something happens.

Thanks,
Philippe