Cable TV Reception Problems, a Personal Vendetta

Cable TV reception problems have, at one time or another, sent us all into the nether realms of aggravation. Nothing is more frustrating than finding your favorite show cut short by the blanket of gray fuzz, which has apparently overtaken the soul of your television set. We’ve all stormed across the room to cut off the television and cable boxes, waiting for at least half a second, and then turned them back on only to mutter an explicative when we don’t see the picture we’re hoping for. Even more frustrating is when a viewer can actually see the show he or she is hoping to watch, but due to some unknown cable tv reception problems is unable to hear the dialogue that is supposed to partner the image.

These various cable TV reception problems are caused by a variety of issues. First and foremost would be incorrect installation. Whether the cable person left off a connection during installation, or we’ve reconnected our own system incorrectly to a new television set, we’re often left muttering and fumbling around behind the TV switching connectors and rechecking power plugs. Secondary problems usually arise from loose connections. This is the instance in which we often find we can see the picture being broadcast, but for some reason have no audio feed to accompany it. Luckily, this type of problem is usually solved with just a touch or two to whichever cable is loose, and a quick tightening generally has the problem solved.

The last and most frequent on our list of cable TV reception problems is Mother Nature. Or more specifically, the weather that she is so talented at creating on a moments notice. While it’s no secret that thunderstorms can cause blackouts and loss of cable service due to weather damage outside, it is also fairly common to have bad weather not knock out service completely, but simply make it less desirable than it might have been ten minutes before. Pictures can flicker and become fuzzy, audio can be lost and found again intermittently, and broadcast of certain channels can be cut off completely.

While the cable company can help with most cable TV reception problems, even they cannot control the weather, so occasionally we have to sit back and accept that we’ll just have to wait until that show comes out on reruns. But if you’re really in a bind, and are willing to pay the price, you might consider keeping an electrical engineer on call for these television emergencies.