TV aerial connector - help needed

TV aerial connector - help needed

Author
Discussion

hannahtayler

Original Poster:

3 posts

38 months

Saturday 12th June 2021
quotequote all
Hi,
I’ve just moved into a new flat (though it’s a super old flat) and currently trying to set everything up.
There is something that looks like a tv aerial coming from the wall, however it has two male ends. No amount of googling has told me what kind of connector I need to connect these two ends to my tv (or even if it is a tv aerial at all!).
It is a very old connector (the woman who rented the place before me lived here forever and the landlord has no idea). It looks quite dead, and most likely won’t work but I just want to identify what it is and test if before going through the hassle of installing a new connection point.
Any ideas you could give me would be gratefully received (even if it’s just- you’re dumb, that’s not a tv aerial 😅).
Picture attached so you can see what I’m talking about

Dracoro

8,705 posts

247 months

Saturday 12th June 2021
quotequote all
Looks like old cable tv connectors… That or satellite.

robwilk

818 posts

182 months

Saturday 12th June 2021
quotequote all
It's satellite cable.

Radec

3,905 posts

49 months

Saturday 12th June 2021
quotequote all
Pretty sure they are Sky+ cables, one for viewing and the other for recording.

Buy a box from Gumtree etc for cheap and have freeview

hannahtayler

Original Poster:

3 posts

38 months

Saturday 12th June 2021
quotequote all
Thanks everyone that’s super helpful to know, they look so much older than that so I’d never have guessed.
Would they work with a freesat box do you think, or only the company who installed it?

skeggysteve

5,724 posts

219 months

Saturday 12th June 2021
quotequote all
Yes they will work with a Freesat box.

The Road Crew

4,241 posts

162 months

Saturday 12th June 2021
quotequote all
skeggysteve said:
Yes they will work with a Freesat box.
If they have something connected at the other end of course!

Mr Pointy

11,347 posts

161 months

Saturday 12th June 2021
quotequote all
The connector is called an F-type & the cable is twin or shotgun type usually used for connection to a satellite dish like a Sky dish. You can get an adapter from F type to normal TV aerial (properly called a Belling-Lee connector) but it may not help you much depending on what the cable is connected to:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Female-Screw-Coaxial-Adap...

Before you go much further you need to find out where your cable is fed from - either it's own dish or it may be part of a distribution system for all of the flats. There are two types of Sky connection & the newer Sky Q one won't work with a Freesat box so you need to find out what type of LNB is fitted to the dish - you could ask the previous owner/tenant what they were using to watch TV.

snuffy

9,936 posts

286 months

Saturday 12th June 2021
quotequote all
Radec said:
Pretty sure they are Sky+ cables, one for viewing and the other for recording.

Buy a box from Gumtree etc for cheap and have freeview
Well, Freesat, not Freeview.


oakdale

1,811 posts

204 months

Saturday 12th June 2021
quotequote all
Dab radio uses that type of connector as well.

Dogwatch

6,243 posts

224 months

Saturday 12th June 2021
quotequote all
oakdale said:
Dab radio uses that type of connector as well.
Most likely to be a Sky HD/HD+ box though with that twin cabling. As said it can be used for Freeview or, with an appropriate LNB (signal collector on the dish), a Sky Q box - the cabling is the same.