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Thread: PVR and Astron External HDD WD 1TB drive RF rx Signal Degradation while connected

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    Default PVR and Astron External HDD WD 1TB drive RF rx Signal Degradation while connected

    Gday to all, I own a Strong SRT-4910 set top box that has a Astron External HDD WD 1TB drive but I have huge issues RF rx signal degradation when to HDD in connected and I have tied a few Astron's and some other makes and still have to issue and I have it with a Topfield PVR box and it has the same issue when the external hdd is conected I losse ta good strong rf signal. I have tried non switch mode power packs and have the same issue. The only thing that helps a little is using a long cable from the PVR to the external hdd. I would like to know if anyone can help with this issue, I emailed the Strong guy and I got I know but no fix so I am keen to know what other people are doing. Thanks for your time and possible help it is greatly appreciated. Regards Richard



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    Is your HDD a USB 2 or USB 3 as this may be your problem.

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    Richard,

    Does this affect both terrestrial and satellite signals?

    Are the external drive enclosures well-shielded (eg: steel or foil-lined) or just plain plastic?

    Have you tried ferrite chokes on the drive power and USB cables?

    Does the issue cause actual loss of reception, or just a drop in levels?

    What level readings do you have with and without the drive connected?

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    Default PVR and Astron External HDD WD 1TB drive RF rx Signal Degradation while connected

    Thank you so much guys for taking the time to help me out it is greatly appreciated.

    Does this affect both terrestrial and satellite signals? Yes both but less so on the Sat

    Are the external drive enclosures well-shielded (eg: steel or foil-lined) or just plain plastic? All steel see this link

    Have you tried ferrite chokes on the drive power and USB cables? Yes

    Does the issue cause actual loss of reception, or just a drop in levels? Yes

    What level readings do you have with and without the drive connected?
    The singnal drops from about 80% without the Astone full metal case and ferrite choke on the drive USB cable and with it on the signal goes down to under 5%. I have used a 5m cable to move it away from the set top box's and that helps and moving the Astone HDD metal case 180 degrees from the box also helps a little but it is still a very poor signal. I am going to use a 16gb usb dongle but it is a far from user friendly way to operate. I have tried it with a sold state plugpack and it was no change. Well thats all for now, thanks for your time and help it is greatly appreciated and have anice weekend. Regards Richard

    Does this affect both terrestrial and satellite signals? Yes both but less so on the Sat

    Quote Originally Posted by mtv View Post
    Richard,

    Does this affect both terrestrial and satellite signals?

    Are the external drive enclosures well-shielded (eg: steel or foil-lined) or just plain plastic?

    Have you tried ferrite chokes on the drive power and USB cables?

    Does the issue cause actual loss of reception, or just a drop in levels?

    What level readings do you have with and without the drive connected?

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    I have noticed the same thing with some External Hard Drives.. Some interfere with the signal quality on some of my Radio Scanners and a 1TB Portable WD HDD kills the wifi signal on my laptop.. A older PVR (one of the first out) also used to kill some weak signals on terr tv.

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    Gday to all, I have just bought a Seagate Expansion 1TB USB 3.0 Portable 2.5 to use with my great Strong SRT-4910 and it works fantastic, I am now able to use a hdd and not a 16gb usb stick drive, that was mind numbing at best. I now have no signal loss at all while the Seagate unit is in use. The Astone Western Digital WD 1TB External Hard Drive eSATA was just crap and I have tested to of these units and both have the same issue, it is like one of the units the military use over a wide spectrum to stop ied rf activation. The Astone Western Digital WD 1TB has all the good spec's ie FCC and CE tested on the box but I suspect the names on the box is as close to each service as it gets. It seems to be a huge issue now with gear out of China have printed on the box and unit that is meets all the CE - FCC standards but it hs never been tested and is just diabolically noisy on the RF side of things. I have a Twin-SATA-IDE-HDD-Hard-Disk-Drive-Dock-Docking-Station and it wipes out AM radio stations in Sydney totally when plugged in. Well that's all for now, thanks to everyone who helped me with this issue it is greatly appreciated. Richard

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