The onset of heat and high temperatures bring in a phenomenon known as fading effect, meaning that some DTT channels are almost impossible to watch in specific areas.
How can we work out this issue? At Televes Corporation, we would like to give you some keys on fading effect, and propose some measures that can be implemented to mitigate it.
Fading effect, what is it?
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the verb “to fade” as “to change gradually in loudness, strength, or visibility”. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, this phenomenon is more frequent in the summertime because high temperatures make more water evaporate. Water particles in suspension make DTT signal propagate faster and reach further.
Increased propagation of waves makes signals reach and go past the ones coming from other repeaters, to the point that they are degraded when fluctuations arise. When this happens, images pixelate or irregular signals are received.
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the verb “to fade” as “to change gradually in loudness, strength, or visibility”. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, this phenomenon is more frequent in the summertime because high temperatures make more water evaporate. Water particles in suspension make DTT signal propagate faster and reach further.
Increased propagation of waves makes signals reach and go past the ones coming from other repeaters, to the point that they are degraded when fluctuations arise. When this happens, images pixelate or irregular signals are received.
A clear example of how it impacts signals is an incident that took place in Spain in 2021. Back then, fading effect provoked the amplification of Moroccan DTT signal and brought about a cross effect with the signal of Costa del Sol, so TV was temporarily out of service in this area. In southern Spain, cities of Marbella and Málaga have been lately affected by fading signals because of interference coming from Morocco.
During nighttime, this reaction generally dies down because temperatures drop. This decrease keeps water from evaporating and, therefore, less particles are suspended in the air.
Another factor affecting the quality of signal is the poor performance of dipoles in most receiving antennas when temperatures are high, making it even more difficult to receive good DTT signal.
Which areas are most frequently affected by fading effect?
Fading effect is much more frequent in coastal areas because of the presence of large amounts of water. This is why in Spain – a country surrounded by miles and miles of coast –, this phenomenon occurs quite regularly.
In some areas, other elements are also posing related problems. Let’s take Marbella, for example. As there are 3 emitting centers ahead and a fourth one behind, instability provoked by fading effect in this area is even greater.
Which solutions can help me tackle fading effect?
Though this effect is difficult to cope with because of its nature, the DTT antenna should be the first aspect to be addressed in order to attenuate it or even remove it.
Antenna models have been increasingly evolving and measures to avoid this kind of issues have been implemented. Some tests have already proved that old models – like DATHD Boss – have been improved to reduce the impact of echoes and to keep DTT signal stable.
The Ellipse antenna: the perfect fit to reject interference
In this sense, one of the best choices is the Ellipse antenna. This model has been tested in any kind of condition and is fitted with a system able to remove just about every type of interference – including fading effect, among others. Thanks to its built-in “intelligent electronics”, the Ellipse antenna can reject interference generated by other signals (such as 4G or LTE), as they are filtered out in a very selective way.
The Ellipse model features a self-adjustment system allowing for adaptation to inconstant signal-reception conditions. It also uses powerful SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) filters to remove interference at the bandwidth limit. In other words, this antenna adapts to every circumstance and is able to receive DTT signal in the best possible way, regardless of the environmental conditions like humidity levels or temperature.
Further measures to avoid fading effect
We strongly recommend the use of antennas able to remove this kind of interference; still, there are other alternatives to deal with fading effect.
In some cases, positioning your antenna to point to another repeater might help you solve this issue. The antenna should be ideally oriented towards a repeater with its back to the sea. This should be the first measure to be taken, as you can change the orientation yourself.
However, if neither this measure nor changing the antenna work, contact the public administration or your town’s city council to get this situation sorted out. In the worst-case scenario, reception conditions of every region experiencing this problem should be optimized. This would imply, among other things, the update of emitting or receiving centers. This task can only be performed by either the companies owning repeaters or authorities in charge of regulating radio-broadcasting space.
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