IT'S an ill wind that blows no good.

And that goes for television reception problems at Tin Can Bay.

Bay publican Symon Duggan can expect a bigger crowd on State of Origin night, one nearby resident said.

Grant Heard's Bream St home is within walking distance and sight of Mr Duggan's Sleepy Lagoon Hotel.

The only thing obscuring his view of the hotel is the Tin Can Bay water tower, site for the television transmission facilities he is particularly concerned about.

He doesn't know what the difference is but the hotel has good reception on WIN stations and he does not, particularly in the evenings.

"I suppose we'll have to go to the pub on State of Origin night," he said yesterday.

He said that the past six or eight weeks he has had "shocking reception," with pixelation and no signal, especially about 8pm.

He said he has made several complaints to the broadcaster but the problem remains.

He suspected there was a fault in the broadcasting equipment, kept behind a wire fence at the base of the water tower.

"The networks have their own (broadcast) modules and I suspect the WIN module is malfunctioning," he said.

Mr Heard's near neighbour Ian Beckford shared the difficulty.

"It's amazing because it pixelates and then it can come back on for half a minute. And then it can disappear altogether," he said.

"It doesn't happen with the ABC or SBS or the other commercials, just the Nine affiliates.

"It's a shame because they have programs I like, like Top Gear and the State of Origin."

How many people does it affect in the neighbourhood?

"Everybody," Mr Beckford said.

WIN TV technical experts were not available for comment yesterday afternoon but a spokeswoman said they would be able to comment this week.