aerials - is it one per room?
Discussion
I have pretty new house (about 4 years old) the living room has a panel on the wall with TV aerial outlet, FM outlet and two Sat1 and Sat2.
There is similar in the master bedroom too.
I went into the loft to find the wiring to these and can only find a single wire that I have already rigged an aerial to in order to receive tv in hte living room.
Now i want to install a tv in the bedroom and cant find the wiring. Would the builders have wanted one to wire a single aerial to both wall outlets or does this need two aerials?
Also, when i took te wall panel off, the socket marked TV has cable with silver foil and grounding and the FM one has gold coloured foil and grounding. The tv in the living room is using cable with gold foil and wiring.
Any idea what is going on?
There is similar in the master bedroom too.
I went into the loft to find the wiring to these and can only find a single wire that I have already rigged an aerial to in order to receive tv in hte living room.
Now i want to install a tv in the bedroom and cant find the wiring. Would the builders have wanted one to wire a single aerial to both wall outlets or does this need two aerials?
Also, when i took te wall panel off, the socket marked TV has cable with silver foil and grounding and the FM one has gold coloured foil and grounding. The tv in the living room is using cable with gold foil and wiring.
Any idea what is going on?
You don't need multiple aerials, just a decent powered splitter. So one cable from the aerial to the splitter then multiple cables out from the splitter to the various points.
But you need to find the other cables up in the roof - they should be there somewhere unless it's been done on the cheap and the cables run on the outside of the house to an old exterior unpowered splitter (you should be able to see them on the outside).
Cabling behind the points just sounds like different coax - same thing just different manufacturing, does the same job, but would need a photo to be sure. I presume the earthing you talk about is just the outer mesh...
But you need to find the other cables up in the roof - they should be there somewhere unless it's been done on the cheap and the cables run on the outside of the house to an old exterior unpowered splitter (you should be able to see them on the outside).
Cabling behind the points just sounds like different coax - same thing just different manufacturing, does the same job, but would need a photo to be sure. I presume the earthing you talk about is just the outer mesh...
Thanks Sleepezy - Yes its the inner mesh and the foil screen.
I have nowhere to take power for the splitter - only a single light up there.
The cables are all up in the loft, its just they are not marked and I am unsure of what FM cable would look like and what Sky or Sat cable would look like. I will connect up a 1.5v battery to the outlet in the bedroom and test which of the cables show 1.5v up in the loft with my multimeter tomorrow.
I have nowhere to take power for the splitter - only a single light up there.
The cables are all up in the loft, its just they are not marked and I am unsure of what FM cable would look like and what Sky or Sat cable would look like. I will connect up a 1.5v battery to the outlet in the bedroom and test which of the cables show 1.5v up in the loft with my multimeter tomorrow.
If you know the cables aren't connected in the loft, easiest way to identify them is to short one end with a paperclip or bit of wire, then do a continuity check with the beep function on your meter at the other end.
However, if there's a powered splitter in there somewhere, and it doesn't quite sound like there is, be careful as you might damage it.
However, if there's a powered splitter in there somewhere, and it doesn't quite sound like there is, be careful as you might damage it.
Yes, I would say so. You could always put your meter on the terminals in one or all of the rooms, just to double check there's no voltage sitting on them.
It's possible that the previous occupant had a powered or passive splitter up there and just took it with them when they left. Bit lazy to simply cut the cables though when the connectors unscrew.
If you manage to ID the cables, tag each one so you know where it goes for future reference. Masking Tape will do for this purpose, you can write on it to make things simpler.
It's possible that the previous occupant had a powered or passive splitter up there and just took it with them when they left. Bit lazy to simply cut the cables though when the connectors unscrew.
If you manage to ID the cables, tag each one so you know where it goes for future reference. Masking Tape will do for this purpose, you can write on it to make things simpler.
The wall outlet panel is like this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quadplexed-Satellite-Aeria...
My only issue is that there are two co-ax cables attached to the back. Where do the sat connections go then?
I just want to use the TV outlet to a second aerial i have in the loft. We live under the Marlborough transmitter, so aerials in lofts are ok.
It was supposed to be an easy job :-(.
R
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quadplexed-Satellite-Aeria...
My only issue is that there are two co-ax cables attached to the back. Where do the sat connections go then?
I just want to use the TV outlet to a second aerial i have in the loft. We live under the Marlborough transmitter, so aerials in lofts are ok.
It was supposed to be an easy job :-(.
R
Are the sat connections actually wired up? If so, there's either an old Sat dish on the side of your house or the cables have been cut off somewhere. It's possible the cables have been cut back to the point where they exited the wall and pointed over so you can't see them.
Either way, they oughtn't be going into the loft as, correct me if I'm wrong, but satellite dishes don't work all that well in loft spaces. However, stranger things have happened.
It should be straightforward enough to identify which cables in the loft go to which wall plate. A few minutes with your multi meter should do the job. I suspect the Sat cables are a red herring, so I'd be inclined to ignore them for the moment.
Either way, they oughtn't be going into the loft as, correct me if I'm wrong, but satellite dishes don't work all that well in loft spaces. However, stranger things have happened.
It should be straightforward enough to identify which cables in the loft go to which wall plate. A few minutes with your multi meter should do the job. I suspect the Sat cables are a red herring, so I'd be inclined to ignore them for the moment.
It will just have two cables, Sky+ needs two satellite feeds, then one of the feeds would have TV/UHF multiplexed onto it by a separate piece of equipment which you may or may not have somewhere..?
Like this
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/multiswitches.htm
..but if you are not bothering with sky then just connect your TV aerial to the cable which goes to sat1 and it should be ok.
Like this
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/multiswitches.htm
..but if you are not bothering with sky then just connect your TV aerial to the cable which goes to sat1 and it should be ok.
Edited by essayer on Wednesday 29th July 08:16
WindyMills said:
I was looking to install these in my place a while back. IIRC, they were all wired together via some hub; and all 4 sockets were fed by 1 or 2 wires. Again, IIRC, it wasn't a simple coax either. Might be wrong though.
Looks like you are right - the amazon ad says that these must be used with a splitter.Anyway - good news from my point of view. I shorted the cable together using a paperclip (thanks for this suggestion) and them took my meter up in the loft. Found the cable and connected to the aerial. Remembered to turn it through 90 degrees as its an old analouge job and hey presto!
The only issue now is that I live under the Marlborough transmitter, but want to watch tv channels (quest - wheeler dealers) on the Hannington Transmitter. Time to call the experts - me thinks!
Thanks for your help - I love this community!
Result!
Can't you just point your aerial at the other transmitter? The only thing is, if you're really close to your local one, it might overwhelm the other signals.
Looking at the maps of each transmitter, you should just be able to turn your antenna to the horizontal as the Hannington TX seems to be horizontally polarised. Doing this should also mean that your local Marlborough TX signal level is attenuated at the aerial so I wouldn't think you'd have interference issues.
This is assuming your aerial's frequency band is in the correct region of course.
Can't you just point your aerial at the other transmitter? The only thing is, if you're really close to your local one, it might overwhelm the other signals.
Looking at the maps of each transmitter, you should just be able to turn your antenna to the horizontal as the Hannington TX seems to be horizontally polarised. Doing this should also mean that your local Marlborough TX signal level is attenuated at the aerial so I wouldn't think you'd have interference issues.
This is assuming your aerial's frequency band is in the correct region of course.
Thanks Jet - one of my TVs looks like it does have a setting that will send 5v up the co-ax. I will look into it.
I had a local aerial chap come out today. He said he could help - but when i asked him what sort of techniques he would use - amplifiers, filters, aerial on outside of property etc, he flipped out.....
He just didnt want to tell me and got really nasty.
I will live with the tv for now and look into Jet's suggestion tomorrow.
I had a local aerial chap come out today. He said he could help - but when i asked him what sort of techniques he would use - amplifiers, filters, aerial on outside of property etc, he flipped out.....
He just didnt want to tell me and got really nasty.
I will live with the tv for now and look into Jet's suggestion tomorrow.
He did apologise as he left and made excuses that he was a grumpy old man....
He also said that the aerial i had was rubbish.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-tv-aerial-high-g...
Im worried that he will suggest all sorts of things and con me.
He also said that the aerial i had was rubbish.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-tv-aerial-high-g...
Im worried that he will suggest all sorts of things and con me.
I'd not bother wit a powered splitter if you live close to the transmitter. I live a few miles from the nearest one and used one of these http://www.screwfix.com/p/4-way-splitter-with-powe... with no issues. Have look at the reviews.
Ray Singh said:
He did apologise as he left and made excuses that he was a grumpy old man....
He also said that the aerial i had was rubbish.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-tv-aerial-high-g...
Im worried that he will suggest all sorts of things and con me.
To be fair, it's not a proper yagi, however if it works, don't worry about it. They all do the same thing but with varying degrees of gain (amplification) and beam width/directionality. He also said that the aerial i had was rubbish.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-tv-aerial-high-g...
Im worried that he will suggest all sorts of things and con me.
I'd be inclined to try a passive splitter too as suggested by the previous poster. They're cheap enough that it's not the end of the world if it doesn't do the job.
Super Slo Mo said:
To be fair, it's not a proper yagi, however if it works, don't worry about it. They all do the same thing but with varying degrees of gain (amplification) and beam width/directionality.
I'd be inclined to try a passive splitter too as suggested by the previous poster. They're cheap enough that it's not the end of the world if it doesn't do the job.
A colleague of mine lives within a few hundred metres of the transmitter and manages to get a good picture with no aerial, just the coaxial going up into the loft of his bungalow !I'd be inclined to try a passive splitter too as suggested by the previous poster. They're cheap enough that it's not the end of the world if it doesn't do the job.
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