tv aerial

laurae

Hi - need some advice..
I want to have a tv with inbuilt freeview in an upstairs bedroom..but there isnt an aerial in this room .. What is the cheapest way of going about this..is the only option to have someone come out and extend the aerial for me? Ive heard something about 'splitting' the existing aerial .. I dont know if it makes any difference but the room directly beneath the bedroom where the aerial is, is where the sky box is connected..so whether splitting the existing aerial will affect this or not, i dont know.
Thanks in advance xxx

juliescot

If you have a strong enough signal, and can already get freeview, then you could split the cable and fit a new point in the bedroom.

Better still to get an amplifier (costlier) and fit that near the aerial so that you can then distribute the signal. Can you see the route the cable takes at the moment or is it buried behind the walls?

The Sky box will not be affected as it gets the signal from a dish not an aerial

tfspark

I had an aerial fitted professionally a couple of years ago so that we could get freeview. It has a mast head amplifier to boost the signal and it just fed one downstairs room.
The installer said that most freeview signals were a struggle to get right (may just be this area, East Midlands) so he was very careful with the cable run.
He gave me the impression that if I messed with it then it would stop working.

Prior to having this installed I had a distribution box in the loft. It has eight outputs so was feeding a tv signal to all rooms in the house. It was used to send a cable tv signal to all tvs.
It did take me a while to mess with the freeview signal but eventually I plugged the new aerial into the distribution box and we now have freeview in at every tv.
The installer implied that this was a complete no no but it worked ok for me.

I think the distibution box was about £40 but of course you may not need as many outputs.

juliescot

tfspark wrote: »

I had an aerial fitted professionally a couple of years ago so that we could get freeview. It has a mast head amplifier to boost the signal and it just fed one downstairs room.
The installer said that most freeview signals were a struggle to get right (may just be this area, East Midlands) so he was very careful with the cable run.
He gave me the impression that if I messed with it then it would stop working.

Prior to having this installed I had a distribution box in the loft. It has eight outputs so was feeding a tv signal to all rooms in the house. It was used to send a cable tv signal to all tvs.
It did take me a while to mess with the freeview signal but eventually I plugged the new aerial into the distribution box and we now have freeview in at every tv.
The installer implied that this was a complete no no but it worked ok for me.

I think the distibution box was about £40 but of course you may not need as many outputs.

Methinks the installer was having you on. Well done for getting it sorted yourself. They key of course is a decent signal in the first place.

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

laurae wrote: »

Hi - need some advice..
beneath the bedroom where the aerial is, is where the sky box is connected

Have you thought about the option of running another cable from the Sky dish into the room and then buying a Freesat TV?

laurae

ok..so im probably even more confused now! Heres the scenario .. im going to uni..im moving in with my uncle .. Ive just bought a new tv with built in freeview..but there is no aerial currently in the bedroom. Im gonna assume that the tv with no aerial isnt gonna get a signal because where I am currently living, I needed to plug the main aerial into the tv for freeview to work well. So.. what are my options??? The cheaper the better

tfspark

Go to the Argos website and search for an aerial booster. You want a two way one. ie one input two outputs.
The main lead from the aerial plugs into the input on the booster. Then run a lead from one output to the existing tv, and run another lead from the other output to your tv.

laurae

I dont have an aerial cable in the room..thats the whole problem!

juliescot

You might, and I say might advisedly, get a freeview signal with a set-top aerial.

How difficult would it be to run an extension cable from the main tv point?

Is it possible to get at the cable near the aerial?

Just a point - do you actually get freeview "downstairs"?

laurae

downstairs is sky. Dont think running an extension is feasible..id have to have it coming out of the living room, up the stairs,along the hallway and into the bedroom.. arghh.. im moving in next week and I need to watch tv!

macman

laurae wrote: »

downstairs is sky. Dont think running an extension is feasible..id have to have it coming out of the living room, up the stairs,along the hallway and into the bedroom.. arghh.. im moving in next week and I need to watch tv!

Assuming the sat dish is around the height of the first floor, wouldn't it easier to take another feed off that and straight into the bedroom, then just use an old eBay Sky box on that.
Anyway, being a student of course you'll be too busy studying to watch much TV...