Help Wanted From Techy Types!

Pross

OK please bear in mind I'm not very good on technical stuff!

I'm trying to get a digital TV supply to 3 rooms in my house off a high gain aerial. I used the aerial previously in another room (now on Sky) before the switch over and had a great picture. I have now re-routed the cable into my loft and then connected it to 2 bedrooms via a splitter. The result was no signal in either room. I then tried the existing coax from one bedroom to the aerial with no splitter, just an extension connector and still no signal. I then took the TV into the loft and joined it directly to the aerial with a perfect signal and picture. Following this I tried a short shop bought fly lead and still had the picture although the quality may have been lower.

Do you think I will get a signal that works on all 3 TVs if I buy a 3 way splitter / amplifier together with some better quality coax plus (currently using cheapy B&Q plastic ones) or is there another solution (other than additional aerials!!!).

jimmcdonnell

There must be a solution because e.g. hotels have multiple screens but not a forest of aerials outside. Not sure what this solution might be though.

I willl say though, that signal amplifiers are a dubious fix at best, simply because they amplify the noise as well as the good signal.

Will good old reliable Google not answer your question?

Mettan

Pross wrote:

Do you think I will get a signal that works on all 3 TVs if I buy a 3 way splitter / amplifier together with some better quality coax plus (currently using cheapy B&Q plastic ones) or is there another solution (other than additional aerials!!!).

Not sure - we got some bloke round to fit an amlifier/splitter thing on the outside of the house (about 1 ft off the ground - where the aerial cable comes into the house) - we've got 3 FreeView TV's running off that - (previously, I tried to connect it all up indoors myself to no avail - using Argos splitter/cables) - cost about £70 all-in for the TV engineer route (cost of outside-splitter, cables & labour cost).

VirtualCyclist

I have an aerial in the loft and an amplifier/splitter very close to it which works well.

Avoid passive splitters as these have a 3dB (at least loss). You want to amplify the signal at the point where the signal to noise is maximum, i.e. as close to the aerial as possible.

NormanPrice

Hi Pross,

You need one of these:

http://www.dastv.co.uk/shop/Global_F140 ... er_401.php

or

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/54224/Ele ... -4-Outputs

Re-route the aerial cable back to the room with Sky in it and connect it to the RF / Aerial input on the back of your Sky box.

Now, from RF Out 1 on the Sky box run a co-ax lead to the TV.

From RF Out 2, run a length of good quality co-ax up to the loft. Fit an F connector and connect to the IN of the distribution unit.

Now run your cables from the loft to each of the rooms that you'd like a TV signal. In the loft, fit F connectors, at the TV end, fit co-ax plugs.

You'll need to activate the RF Out 2 power supply on your Sky box. How you do this depends on whether it's a standard box / Sky+ or if it's a HD box. Post which one and I'll post the instructions.

Tune your TV's in and voila - freeview in each room. As an added bonus, if your TV's have analogue tuners in too (which 99% still do) then you'll be able to watch whatever is showing on your Sky box on each of the 3 additional TV's. As an added added bonus, add one of these:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/30854/Ele ... R-Digi-Eye

to any or all of the rooms and you'll also be able to control your Sky box from the remote locations. They're only £3 at DAS TV though - not the extortionate amount Screwfix charge.

FInally, make sure you use decent quality connectors. An F connector is generally an F connector. However, co-ax plugs can vary. Use ones that either have a screw clamp to clamp the centre co-ax core to the connector or alternatively a tiny dab of solder in the connection. Also ensure you don't have any of the outer braid touching the centre core on any of your connections.

Where about are you? If you're close to me I can help you out.

If you're not close and you'd like me to send you some connectors then PM me your address and I'll send you some in the post. I can also make up a couple of dummy connections so you can "de-construct" them and copy how they're done.

NormanPrice

Also, as Jim says, Amplifiers also amplify the noise. A masthead amp is the most effective and should really be fitted within about 3ft of the actual aerial (edit: which I've just noticed has already been pointed out by VirtualCyclist). However, the actual amplification aspect of them is generally not necessary. As long as signal strength is good with good signal quality then it can be split many times without amplification.

The splitter reduces the strength with each split but the quality remains the same on each feed. It's the signal quality that really matters.

Pross

NormanPrice wrote:

Hi Pross,

You need one of these:

http://www.dastv.co.uk/shop/Global_F140 ... er_401.php

or

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/54224/Ele ... -4-Outputs

Re-route the aerial cable back to the room with Sky in it and connect it to the RF / Aerial input on the back of your Sky box.

Now, from RF Out 1 on the Sky box run a co-ax lead to the TV.

From RF Out 2, run a length of good quality co-ax up to the loft. Fit an F connector and connect to the IN of the distribution unit.

Now run your cables from the loft to each of the rooms that you'd like a TV signal. In the loft, fit F connectors, at the TV end, fit co-ax plugs.

You'll need to activate the RF Out 2 power supply on your Sky box. How you do this depends on whether it's a standard box / Sky+ or if it's a HD box. Post which one and I'll post the instructions.

Tune your TV's in and voila - freeview in each room. As an added bonus, if your TV's have analogue tuners in too (which 99% still do) then you'll be able to watch whatever is showing on your Sky box on each of the 3 additional TV's. As an added added bonus, add one of these:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/30854/Ele ... R-Digi-Eye

to any or all of the rooms and you'll also be able to control your Sky box from the remote locations. They're only £3 at DAS TV though - not the extortionate amount Screwfix charge.

FInally, make sure you use decent quality connectors. An F connector is generally an F connector. However, co-ax plugs can vary. Use ones that either have a screw clamp to clamp the centre co-ax core to the connector or alternatively a tiny dab of solder in the connection. Also ensure you don't have any of the outer braid touching the centre core on any of your connections.

Where about are you? If you're close to me I can help you out.

If you're not close and you'd like me to send you some connectors then PM me your address and I'll send you some in the post. I can also make up a couple of dummy connections so you can "de-construct" them and copy how they're done.

Norman, thanks for the response wouldn't have thought to run it through the Sky box but I 'll give that a go. I actually have one Sky+ box and a standard Sky box. The standard one will be easier for me and I am currently running a TV in the bedroom off it via a digi eye so I can easily extend that cable into the loft. Does the amp then run off the power of the digi box so no power source necessary in the loft? I'm in Newport BTW

Thanks to everyone else too, that's what I like on here there's someone who will know the answer to pretty much anything and freely share it!