New house: Aerial on roof, but no freeview signal: Advice?

[bass2rez]

I have recently moved into a 10 year old house that has what appears to be a good quality modern aerial mounted to the outside of the chimney stack. Looking inside the attic, I can see a cable that I am assuming comes down from the aerial, running down the chimney stack to an "Antiference" device that appears to be a 6-way signal splitter. Six cables run out of the splitter and run down to the various rooms in the house, presumably to the to aerial sockets I find in each room.

However, I have plugged a television with integrated freeview decoder into an aerial socket and scanned for some channels, and nothing is found.

The installation in the attic looks very professional, with the cables appearing to be in very good condition and all clipped carefully in place, so it looks like it should all work. But it doesn't.

I have connected the RF output of a Sky box in the front room to one of the aerial sockets, and a television in the bedroom also into the aerial socket, and can see the output of the Sky box in the bedroom, so it would appear to demonstrate that the connections work to a certain extent.

Before I start pulling things apart to find out why the system doesn't work, does anyone have a suggestion for any obvious things to check?

Cheers,
Steve

[M@verick]

Do you have a smallish TV with a freeview decoder onboard that you could take up to the attic and plug into the cable which comes from the aerial directly ? either that or use a cable extender and run the cable down temporarily to the TV temporarily directly from the aerial ?.

That way you could attempt to rule out problems with the splitter.

If the splitter is a signal amplifier (most are, and given this is a 6 way device Id assume it is) it will need power - is it plugged in and working ?.

Other than that Id be stumped too.

HTH,

R.

[Ydnaroo]

Assuming that the Antiference device is an amplifier, it will need some form of a power supply from the mains. The power supply will either be built-in and need power from somewhere in the attic, or, they are sometimes located near one of the TV outlets and it feeds the power up the coax to the amplifier, if this is the case, the previous owner might have the power supply. Check out the products and find one like yours here: http://www.antiference.co.uk/distribution-amplifie... and download the manual.

[Ydnaroo]

Just in case it helps, if it's the type of power supply that's located at one of the outlets, the supply normally looks like this

[bass2rez]

Many thanks for the replies. I decided I needed to climb up into the attic and examine the Antiference equipment.

The unit in the attic is an "Antiference UXFR5/20 Low Noise Masthead Amplifier Fully Screened". It has a lift-off cover, and the unit underneath has a "12V On" led that is not illuminated, but the unit has no obvious connector to power the device.

Time to visit the Antiference web site.

Edited by bass2rez on Monday 13th May 20:46

[Oddboy86]

You need to get the power supply Ydnaroo has linked too. Basically one of the aerial feeds out of the masthead will require the power supply to be wired inline using F type aerial connectors(like on a satellite box.) Usually this will be behind the main TV, so out the socket on wall into power supply,then onto freeview box etc.
eta Ydnaroo has already explained this and somehow I didn't notice.

[Ydnaroo]

Looks like you'll need a PSF1200 power suppy, Google and you'll find plenty. You'll probably need a couple of F-Type connectors as well.

[bass2rez]

Ydnaroo said:

Just in case it helps, if it's the type of power supply that's located at one of the outlets, the supply normally looks like this

Having checked the Antiference web site, it looks like you are right on the button, Ydnaroo, many thanks

This web site pdf (http://www.antiference.co.uk/sitefiles/antiference/27.%20Pro%20Series%20Screened%20Variable%20Masthead%20Kits.pdf) states that the amplifier needs the PSF1200, and the site seems to imply that I can connect this to any of the output ports.

[bass2rez]

Many thanks for all the replies, looks like we have solved how to get this system working

So, do I need to get a PSF1200 and two "F-Connector to Aerial connector" cables?

[Ydnaroo]

Yep, pretty well. You'll need the power supply and you will probably have to make the cables up yourself (or split an existing cable). You'll need 2 cables each with a normal coax connector on one end and an F-Type on the other. One cable then connects from the wall to power supply and the other goes from the power supply to the TV.

Guide to fitting Coax plugs & F-Type connectors here (scroll down a little for links).

Edited by Ydnaroo on Monday 13th May 21:29

[bass2rez]

I tend to shy away from soldering etc.. Would two of these do the trick?

75 Ohm F Type Plug to Coax Male Satellite Coaxial Cable - 1.5 Metres: http://www.amazon.co.uk/RG59-Type-Satellite-Coaxia...

Many thanks for all your help

[Ydnaroo]

bass2rez said:

Would two of these do the trick?... http://www.amazon.co.uk/RG59-Type-Satellite-Coaxia...

Bang on.

[bass2rez]

I bought the PSF1200 and the two cables from Amazon.

Thanks for all the help guys, and particularly Ydnaroo, very much appreciated