Digital TV Problems

Terrylw1

Hi,

Hope someone can offer me some advice?

We had 2 TV's set up on 1 aerial on the roof which is connected to some sort of booster box which the engineer advised we could have up to 4 TV's conencted to. This box and the current aerial was installed over 10 years ago now.

So, it's not been upgraded for Channel 5 but we get that pretty well.

However, we seem to experience a lot of interferance from passing vehicles (bokes,buses, lorries etc) from the vibration and that the signal seems to suffer as the whether gets worse.

I've heard that the vibrdation issue is common. Is it worth upgrading the aerial to strengthen the signal?

Are aerials over 10 years old possibly not strong enough for digital TV transmissions?

Is it best to have more than 1 aerial with having 2 digital set top boxes in the house?

Thanks in advance

pepsi_max2k

hmm i went through the same problem last year. to fix i ended up making my own aerial cable (v. easy). it shouldn't be a problem with the aerial itself, more with the cabling quality and the booster box. i have an old aerial split twice, once to the main tv and the other to a second splitter, again split twice to two tv cards in my pc. they all have very few if any signal problems.
firstly, not liking that booster box. i think a general rule is "you can't boost what isn't there". and splitting the signal four ways when you only need it done twice probably ain't helping either, the signal will probably degrade depending on the number of times it's split within the box, regardless of how many connections there are to it. much better just to split twice if you only need it split that much.
the main aim for a good signal is to have as few a connections between stuff as possible. preferably a cable soldered on to the aerial going straight in to the stb would be best, but that ain't gonna happen. you can cut out any extra splits, face plates and patch cables though.

getting the whole cabling replaced could well help, and it's relatively easy to do. if it were me, i'd do as follows (all the components listed are identicle to what i'm using):

here's a list of cable quality: http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/coaxcablequalityhmdim.htm

and heres a splitter i'd suggest using (the guy selling it is v. helpful if you need questions answered): http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-way-professional-TV-aerial-splitter-with-F-type-plugs_W0QQitemZ150167325646QQihZ005QQcategoryZ73383QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

start at the main aerial cable, try to see what quality it is; if it's good then leave as much length as you can, if not then cut it pretty close to where it enters the house. screw on an F plug:
www . satcure . com /tech/fconn.htm
and then connect to the splitter input.

if the two cables running to your tvs are good quality then you could leave them, or you an make sure it's good with two new lengths of good quality coax cable. maplins do some for £1.29 a metre:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=275&criteria=coax&doy=8m10
there's cheaper but that's probably no better than you already have.

start by running them from the splitter to the tvs (either indoors or out), then at the tv end attach a coax plug:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1606&criteria=coax&doy=8m10
again, not too hard to do:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/g_knott/elect18.htm

at the splitter end attach f plugs to each the same as with the aerial, screw them in to the splitter and pray. and be thankful you saved paying someone £100 for doing it for you.

MiserlyMartin

Its worth recabling yourself if you are up to the job as the last poster says. Freeview is good and all but also is a big money spinner for aerial installers, most of which quote OTT prices for what they do.

It sounds like you are in a fairly good signal area if you are getting CH5 well with 2 TV's on one antenna. This booster box, how far is it from your aerial? ie, how much cable is there between the aerial and the splitter/booster? If theres loads you could stick it in the loft instead or even upstairs to improve things. I live in a very poor signal area, but I managed to get reasonable freeview by using a high gain aerial in the loft and a booster as close to the aerial as I could get it for the long cable run downstairs. You should always have the booster at the aerial end not the TV end otherwise all you will be doing is boosting the noise as well... no help at all! I have a bit of blocking and breakup when traffic goes by, this is due to electrical noise on the weak signal as the traffic passes. Personally it doesn't bother me too much and I can wait until the freeview transmitter powers are increased as the analogue channels are slowly turned off. Then any weak areas should be fine. You can bet that any people who can't get freeview when analogue is turned off will have a new transmitter put in sharpish or advised to use Freesat instead (which will launch next year sometime)