TV Signal Fluctuating - Aerial, Mast / Base Booster ?

[V8RX7]

My mum's home is in a dip, I installed a 38 point TV aerial 10 yrs ago about 30' up just supplying the kitchen TV and it was fine

However for the last couple of years it's struggled to get all the channels, all the time, looking at the TV signal meter it can vary between 100 - 0 - 100 signal in 30 seconds.

She called a TV aerial guy out and he said it tested ok

I tried a booster by the TV to no avail

The aerial that supplies the lounge TV is a standard cheap one but 20' higher and it's ok but, no one wants to climb up there - it was done off scaffolding 30 yrs ago (it's 3 storey Victorian hipped roof)

My ladders won't reach the current aerial so my thoughts are to either:

Fit a new aerial in the loft - for the extra £20 may as well use a 50 point high gain one - which is a little higher than the current one and use fresh cable, if that doesn't work I could fit a mast booster.

Any flaws in the plan or alternatives to try first ?

Edited by V8RX7 on Thursday 18th June 17:12

[maxdb]

It could be an old cable letting in water/moisture which in turn could affect the signal.

What about having a sat dish as an alternative?

[tight fart]

If you have 2 aerials one at 30 foot and another at 50 feet high putting a 3rd in loft doesn’t sound good.
A single aerial if it’s capable to supply a good signal to 1 tv can be used to supply 100s of tvs.
(With amplification)
Get another aerial man round who knows his stuff.
Are you using any amps at the moment.

[Mr Pointy]

First question - which transmitter are pointed towards? That's needed to know what type of aerial you need & there have been a lot of changes in 20 years.

Your post is a bit confusing as you say one is 30' up & the other is 20' higher. Can you reach the higher one?

An amplifier/splitter needs to be as near to the aerial as possible, not down by the TV set.

[V8RX7]

Edited OP to make clearer.

From replies: new plan - try to locate chimney aerial lead in the loft, fit a booster/ splitter to it there and feed the kitchen from that !

Is this a first, OP takes forum advice ?

[megaphone]

As others have said, in the past decade the Freeview signal and channels have likely changed, it could be there is too much signal now. The effect isis usually random picture break-up,

You could try attenuating the signal to test. One easy bodge is to short out a strand (or two) of the cable screen to the centre pin, this can drop the signal to bring it back into range.


https://www.freeview.co.uk/help Stick your postcode in here and it will tell you what transmitter and signal you should be getting. You'll need to click on detailed view.

Edited by megaphone on Friday 19th June 07:30

Edited by megaphone on Friday 19th June 07:34

Edited by megaphone on Friday 19th June 07:36