Unknowingly I recently discovered that Wi-Fi devices such as smart TV sticks can interfere with your TV signal when running the diagnostics tool on my LG TV.
I had just purchased an Amazon Fire TV stick for the main TV and a Google Chrome cast for a TV in another room to upgrade our 4-year-old TV’s to the latest streaming options.
After installing and setting them up on the Wi-Fi, I began to watch my normal TV through the digital ariel connected and I found that the UHF Channel 59 frequency which provides ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and many others were suddenly distorted. At first, I tried the obvious of re-tuning and booster options thinking I was experiencing a drop in signal, however after none of this worked.
I began to delve deeper into what was causing the problem and so I ran the diagnostics tool on my LG TV, many modern TV’s will allow you to do this. I could see that the UHF Channel 59 had 100% signal quality and a good 70% signal strength but every 5 – 10 seconds the signal strength would drop to 0%. That’s when I realised, only one thing can cause this, interference.
That’s when I considered the changes I had made by adding the Wi-Fi TV sticks. The Wi-Fi emits radio waves just like digital TV signal however they are usually on much different wavelengths to avoid interference however there is something about the wavelength of Channel 59 and Wi-Fi that clashes when close together. This is what was causing my intermittent drop in signal strength.
So, I attached the TV stick to an HDMI coupler and a 1 meter HDMI lead and trailed it off down the back off the cabinet and away from the ariel lead. The TV signal picked up, stayed consistent and was back to normal; I was even able to remove the booster which was only draining extra power.
Smart TV devices are great so don’t let this put you off them just make sure if you have a Wi-Fi device near your TV consider relocating it to gain a stronger, more consistent digital signal.