TV Aerial

leaskovski

leaskovski

leaskovski

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Joined
22 Oct 2004
Posts
9,086
Location
Berkland
I've been living in my new gaff for over 6 months now, and I am about to sort out the room that is to become a make shift office.

When we first moved in we weren't able to pickup any TV signal on any of the points in the house. We have 2 sockets in the lounge, one in the office and one in a bedroom upstairs.

I think the reason we aren't able to get any signal is the naffness of the in line splitters that are randomly chucked in along with a mast head splitter.

Does anyone know of any good resources on reading up on signal improvement or just being able to test the current wiring and aerial to see if they are any good or not.

I would rather not have to pay someone to change the aerial if possible.

Cheers
 
Have you got any spare coax hanging around? First thing I'd do is run some cable from the antenna that bypassed the splitters, just to make sure that they were the problem and not the antenna.
 
Have you got a picture of the setup in the loft? I have just changed all of mine out as the splitters that were installed were causing all manner of issues.
 
I'm gonna jump up the ladders today to have a look at the masthead splitter and take some photos. Will also upload a wiring diagram of the cables as well.
 
Justin Smith on this forum runs http://www.aerialsandtv.com/ which is really helpful for stuff like this. Although the motors crowd did pee him off so I hope he's still around.

Splitters are a bit of a bodge, a distribution amp in the loft is a better solution and I think you can get masthead versions of these.
It does all come back to the aerial though, so that has to be functioning properly (as pointed out by Robbie)
 
bitslice said:
Justin Smith on this forum runs http://www.aerialsandtv.com/ which is really helpful for stuff like this. Although the motors crowd did pee him off so I hope he's still around.
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I emailed that guy a while back as I was going to buy an aerial from him but never heard anything back. Ended up adjusting the direction of the aerial in the loft and now I get all the freeview channels, so glad he didn't respond now :D.
 
Ok, so pics of said aerial and cables coming out of it...

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You can see that the cable going over the roof and in under a tile (ergh!) is feeding straight to the 2 lounge sockets and it split in the loft via a cheapo plastic housed splitter (not good according to above site).

The cable that goes via the green mast head box (cable joiner?) runs down the soffit to what will be the office.

The cable going under the onto the gable end from the pole is running to the back bedroom, which I will eventually remove all together.

Pretty horrible stuff.

According to the digital switch over site, I should be in a fairly good area if using one of the masts, but I suspect I still need to get a good replacement aerial.

Hmm, should I hire a good size ladder and do the job myself or get someone in. I'm thinking i just want the drop cable fed into the loft and then I can do as I please in there be it with an amplified splitter or passive one.

Edit: Oh and what lovely weather we are having! Cracking blue sky I just noticed! :D
 
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bitslice said:
Justin Smith on this forum runs http://www.aerialsandtv.com/
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Brilliant site, full of useful information.

Leaskovski: cost of hiring ladder, probably cheaper to hire someone, if he falls off he is insured, also he will align the aerial with a meter.


Aerial also looks rather grotty, I would replace it, & as you said single drop cable into loft to do as you wish.
 
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I'd get a ladder and then do it myself. Won't take long at all, can you not borrow a ladder?

You'll be looking at around £150 for someone to do that for you.
 
That aerial looks like the old type for getting analogue tv. Ours was useless at receiving digital, so got a cheap high gain one and installed it in the loft.

You can align it easily by just looking at the other aerials in the area. It was a bit more difficult for me as I couldn't see them being in the loft, but got it near enough and now I have gone from 8 or so channels to too many :D.

Should be easy to do with yours being on the gable. Mine was on our chimney, so i'd have to walk on the roof to get to it :eek:.
 
Mark A said:
That aerial looks like the old type for getting analogue tv. Ours was useless at receiving digital, so got a cheap high gain one and installed it in the loft. QUOTE]

I replaced the old one here with high gain version which had a F connector, so much easier to connect.
Like you I was surprised at was the number of freeview channels I had missing.:eek:
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Not the best aerial, have a look on his site for a suitable Grouped Aerial for your transmitter, not the usual wideband type. It's the same price, just better at picking up the frequency bands you need.

You don't appear to need a J bend pole either, so it would look neater with just a straight one.

You could wire the lot in advance, unbolt the old one, bolt in the new, point it at the right compass heading and job done.
 
Good spot, I have a straight pole I can use in the garage, so all I need is a new aerial (yagi18b or log36) and some new down cable which I will feed into the loft where I can split the feed for one of the lounge sockets that we use and also the new office.
 
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Mark A said:
I emailed that guy a while back as I was going to buy an aerial from him but never heard anything back. Ended up adjusting the direction of the aerial in the loft and now I get all the freeview channels, so glad he didn't respond now :D.
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Hello Mark
When did you E Mail us ?
I take non answering of E mails quite seriously as I think it`s a bit ignorant. We answer all the E mails we get (though I admit we fob off the timewasters, not that I`m saying you`re one of the latter ! ) so I`d like to find out how your E Mail got lost. I don`t like E mail anyway, lost E mails can happen, you can`t beat the phone in my book.
 
You can so beat the phone. Emails are a record of an exchange, phone conversations are not records and can become chinese whispers between colleagues and customers. I use email exchange with suppliers whenever possible, as this way they can't deny x and claim I never asked for y, etc.
 
Justin Smith said:
Hello Mark
When did you E Mail us ?
I take non answering of E mails quite seriously as I think it`s a bit ignorant. We answer all the E mails we get (though I admit we fob off the timewasters, not that I`m saying you`re one of the latter ! ) so I`d like to find out how your E Mail got lost. I don`t like E mail anyway, lost E mails can happen, you can`t beat the phone in my book.
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No worries, it probably got lost :). I have found your site very informative and will give you a call if I ever do decide to get a better aerial. Currently getting all the channels with the use of a booster, but that could change when I hook up more TVs in the future.
 
Participant said:
You can so beat the phone. Emails are a record of an exchange, phone conversations are not records and can become chinese whispers between colleagues and customers. I use email exchange with suppliers whenever possible, as this way they can't deny x and claim I never asked for y, etc.
Click to expand...

But E Mails do get lost. I`ve sent E Mails (which haven`t been "returned") and they`ve never got through, that includes to my Dad, and he`s certainly not going to say he`s not received something when he has ! E Mails are OK for some stuff but for instant real time two way communication you can`t beat the phone. If I ever need anything urgently I always phone, that way I know it`s done, though I always get the name of the person I`ve spoken to if it`s someone I`ve not dealt with before.
 
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