Poor Mnet reception at night

[jphegers]

I stay in Centurion in the Wierda Park area and would like to find out from other persons subscribing to Mnet if they also have bad transmission, specially at night after 19.00.
The picture starts to roll for about thirty seconds and the sound also disappears.If there was something wrong with my aerial this problem would manifest itself throughout the day and not only at night.
Can anyone confirm if they also have the same problem and /or give advice as I have emailed Mnet for advice for more than a year without success.

 

[jphegers]

I forgot to mention that the problem only occurs when watching sport on the spare /CSN channel and not the ordinary Mnet channel.

 

[McGuywer]

I could be wrong but doesn't CSN close at 19h00 on weekdays? Have you tested this over the weekend?

 

[jphegers]

I could be wrong but doesn't CSN close at 19h00 on weekdays? Have you tested this over the weekend?

No they open Mon & Wed at 13.00 and run through till 5.00 next morning and Tues & Thur. open at 15.00 also until 5.00
Does the same on weekends as well.

 

[Captain Beer]

Wild guess, but possibly moisture in the mast amp. How old is the install?

 

[jphegers]

Wild guess, but possibly moisture in the mast amp. How old is the install?

If it was moisture would it not affect the ordinary Mnet station as well?

 

[BLIXEMPIE]

I have Mnet as well and have found that Blackberries screw up the reception every few seconds. This is on Mnet only. It could be that your neighbors come home at night and that is when their Blackberries start intervering.

 

[ajax]

If it was moisture would it not affect the ordinary Mnet station as well?

Not necessarily as the spare channel is generally transmitted at a lower power than the main channel. MNET and the other channels, depending on how well you receive them, could become snowy if it was a moisture problem.

 

[jphegers]

I have Mnet as well and have found that Blackberries screw up the reception every few seconds. This is on Mnet only. It could be that your neighbors come home at night and that is when their Blackberries start intervering.

This problem has been going on from before the Blackberry era just wish my Phillips DVD player/recorder was still working to enable me to record the problem and send it to mnet.

 

[ajax]

Back in the late 90's my friend's pc used to "jam" their MNET decoder. It turned out that his CPU clock speed was the same as the MNET terrestrial frequency at the time. But I doubt if anyone is still running an old Pentium 1 or 2 anymore.

Then again I see on Sentech's site that MNET in Pretoria is broadcast on UHF, so maybe someone is running an old pc with a CPU clock speed of a few hundred MHz. They get home, they switch it on, and there goes your MNET.

 

[Quantum Theory]

Back in the late 90's my friend's pc used to "jam" their MNET decoder. It turned out that his CPU clock speed was the same as the MNET terrestrial frequency at the time. But I doubt if anyone is still running an old Pentium 1 or 2 anymore.

Then again I see on Sentech's site that MNET in Pretoria is broadcast on UHF, so maybe someone is running an old pc with a CPU clock speed of a few hundred MHz. They get home, they switch it on, and there goes your MNET.

Interesting... I've never experienced that. If the OP is picking up from Pretoria, CSN will be on channel 25 (503.25 MHz). So, you're saying a Pentium III might knock it out?

 

[jphegers]

The only other thing I can think of, is that there is a military intelligence operational centre on a hill about two or three kilometres from where I stay, in the same direction that my Arial is pointing that could be causing this problem?

 

[ajax]

Interesting... I've never experienced that. If the OP is picking up from Pretoria, CSN will be on channel 25 (503.25 MHz). So, you're saying a Pentium III might knock it out?

Possibly.

The only other thing I can think of, is that there is a military intelligence operational centre on a hill about two or three kilometres from where I stay, in the same direction that my Arial is pointing that could be causing this problem?

That is a possibility but why then would they only communicate at night?

Another possiblity: Have you got any boosters in your setup? Years ago an elcheapo booster that was connected to the aerial input amplified interference coming from Tygerberg in Cape Town. When we didn't use the booster the interference was gone. But again, the interference occured 24/7.

 

[Quantum Theory]

The only other thing I can think of, is that there is a military intelligence operational centre on a hill about two or three kilometres from where I stay, in the same direction that my Arial is pointing that could be causing this problem?

It's sound like interference... so, it could be that or some illegal transmitter in the area. Your neighbours should be experiencing the same thing, but there are not many people that still use M-Net's analogue service. It could also be DVB-H (channel 28/527.25MHz) for the DStv drifta overdriving a mast-amp (if you have one), but then you would expect it to be a problem during the day too.

Possibly.

That would probably only happen if the PC is standing on top of the M-Net decoder or right next to a badly screened RF cable.

 

[jphegers]

I do not have any boosters. there is not any chance that a alarm system could cause such interferences?

 

[ajax]

That would probably only happen if the PC is standing on top of the M-Net decoder or right next to a badly screened RF cable.

The distance between the pc and decoder at my friend's place in the late 90's was at least 5 meters and through a wall and the antenna was on the roof pointing away from the house. The VHF signal was not being boosted at all. Was very weird.