Amplifier for use with Sky

Good luck with running that extra cable.

If it helps, there are diagrams showing the typical loftbox arrangements at http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/loftbox.htm and http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/loftbox5.htm (pretty sure they're not a competitor for anything OcUK sells). These all seem to use F connectors, so you'd need to get some of these as well as any TV/FM decombiner wall plates you might want.

Re the masthead amp, lucid & I are wondering if you currently have one (we're not suggesting you would need a new one). Let us know if you find one, and if it has it's own power supply, as it may affect what you'd need in the porch.
 
whoa Wonko that stuff looks great! A little too much for me to want to carry it out by myself though but oh how I would love that! LoL thanks dude! Will defo have a look in to it, might just give me a little more than I expected!
 
Ok guys so coincidently my friend has also been looking for an amp so we banged our heads together and thought if I buy one and it doesn't work for me he can buy it off me...but lo and behold it works! I fitted it in this morning and is working like a charm, even has a simple diagram of how to attach the transmitter aerial just like Lucid said will need a second coax cable, will do that soon enough too but need a decent aerial as the one in the loft is from the previous homeowner and personally I want to change it and get the more contemporary digital capable ones, which leads me to ask...

Any decent loft aerials (for out and indoor use) with digital capabilites u could recommend?
 
Pretty much every TV aerial now made for the UK will pick up digital. Lots of older aerials pick up digital too.

If your existing aerial works fine for digital including the weaker stations then there's very little point in changing. Replacing a professionally installed and correctly metered aerial that works fine with a newer one DIY installed could actually be a backwards step. You risk losing more signal from poorer alignment than you would gain with a newer aerial.

You may have already checked and the signal strength and found it okay, but you still feel the need to make an improvement. If so then have a look at the aerial cable. This is often where economies are made because it is difficult to tell good cable from bad once the connectors are fitted.

Yours might be fine, but I still see a lot of the older type coax with barely any shielding
wpf1f9fffa_02.jpg
This isn't good enough anymore. Builders merchants sell it. You'd be surprised how many newbuild £1/2 million+ homes are wired with this tat.
 
Yh I agree with u Lucid but I know my existing aerial is a cheap old one, it only picks up terrestrial TV. If I were to get a new aerial I would get it installed by a pro, of course I can manage the DIY work of running the cables and drilling some holes but I would rather leave it to a pro than ruin it for myself =P

I know I keep saying I will look up in the loft and I promise I will tomorrow (parties and places 2 b 2day and 2night) =P

Lucid any decent aerials you could sell me and what are the average quotes to install an aerial on the loft/chimney outside?
 
manisinghb said:
Yh I agree with u Lucid but I know my existing aerial is a cheap old one, it only picks up terrestrial TV. If I were to get a new aerial I would get it installed by a pro, of course I can manage the DIY work of running the cables and drilling some holes but I would rather leave it to a pro than ruin it for myself =P

I know I keep saying I will look up in the loft and I promise I will tomorrow (parties and places 2 b 2day and 2night) =P

Lucid any decent aerials you could sell me and what are the average quotes to install an aerial on the loft/chimney outside?
Click to expand...
I've known a few cowboys and bar props who will chuck an aerial up for £50. Those installs are never metered though, and the person clambering about breaking your roof tiles is rarely insured. It's more 'point and hope'.

In my part of the country Pro aerial installers like myself will only put up the gear we ourselves supply. Check how it is in your area. You should then decide whether you are going full-DIY or full Pro. It's better from your point of view as well. Either the Pro is responsible for the entire install or it's the DIYer.

If you decide to go DIY then the type of aerial I use for caravanners would be a good choice for you.

Many camp sites are in bad geographic locations for signal. It's often made worse by trees blocking any line of sight. Those round "spinning top" aerials just don't work for digital in anything less than strong areas, so they use conventional aerials on poles instead. The compact high gain aerial I supply 'vanners and to the narrowboat crowd is brilliant at pulling in signals. It would work well in a loft install if you go DIY.
 
manisinghb said:
...it only picks up terrestrial TV.
Click to expand...

I'm a bit confused by this - do you mean it only picks up 'old' analogue but not digital channels? Maybe you could explain what the reception problem is that you've got with the existing antenna?

Personally I wouldn't consider buying an antenna from Argos. If you got a professional in, they could advise what sort of antenna was most suitable and fit it for you. If you buy one from Argos, then all the installer can do is the best job he can with the antenna he's been given.

There's really no such thing as a "digital aerial", only aerials that are better suited to receiving the frequencies that the digital transmissions are in. Those ones you list in Argos will presumably be 'wideband' ones, which try to do as good a job as they can across the whole UHF band. If you know what transmitter area you are in, you can find out what channels your digital MUX (and any remaining analogue) signals are on and what type of antenna would be best (e.g. gain, group A/B/C/D etc.). If you're curious, there's a good website here that has lots of info: http://www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe?

Obviously you can get better reception with the antenna on the roof, but you could be in such a strong signal area that it's not needed (or be in an area with planning restrictions or covenants).

Hope that helps a bit
 
Yes sorry by terrestrial TV I mean it only picks up old analogue TV. The problems I have with the existing antenna is overall poor quality...the picture quality is 'hazy'.

& I do agree with what you are saying about Argos...and thanks for the help again, check the pic:

 
Hi again,

If you'd said 'snowy' it would suggest a weak signal, but 'hazy' sounds like something else. Does it look like any of these: http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/analoguetv/picture.shtml?

Have you tried connecting your antenna downlead directly to your tv or freeview decoder (i.e. bypassing all distribution amplifiers, the sky box, etc.) to see what happens for both analogue and digital channels? If that works ok/better then it suggests a different problem.

It looks like you're in a strong signal area, and from a quick search, if you're pointing at Crystal Palace then both analogue and digital channels are all in Group A. There will be a signifiant increase output power of the digital MUXs come the switchover in April 2012, so you'll want something that works both before and after. (It is possible to have too strong a signal).
 
Hi guys sorry about the RIDICULOUSLY slow response.

Wonko - after looking at the BBC website you kindly shared, I would actually say the signal is snowy as well as some patterns/dots. The antenna used to be connected directly to the TV before I had the house rennovated and the bypass amp installed. As far as I recollect, I had the same issue.

As you state, and asking the locals, we will have the digital switchover in our area in April for sure, so obviously I am thinking to get an antenna installed in/on the loft that will pick up digital channels too.
 
Take a look at this site... http://www.tvlink.co.uk/tvlink.htm

My setup is 1x Sky+ box, and 2x Sky+HD boxes, all in the same room, but I have to cover the RF on one of the HD boxes - no drama, that's the way I want it, although I may in the future move all 3 into my hall cupboard out of sight, which will also alleviate the problem of having to cover 1 up.

They are all connected to an SPC4 combiner via the RF2 outputs, which then leads up to the roofspace where it meets a T180 amplifier (this is powered using a Power Injector downstairs, which runs inline on the RF cable) then it is sent around the house, currently to 6 other TV's.

It works great, although was a bit of a fiddle when I added the 2nd HD box to find 3 suitable RF channels that don't pick up interference. It's not 100% perfect from RF2, but not too shabby either.

What it does allow though, is that any of the 3 boxes can be viewed in any room, and they can all be controlled independant of each other thanks to the SPC4.
 
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