My long awaited ‘ditching Sky’ date is nearly here and I’ve been looking at ways to get FTA channels as that’s pretty much all we watch now (plus Netflix, prime, etc) – hence ditching Sky.

Freesat is the goto but there’s no Ch4 in HD which is a shame, so I’ve had a new aerial put in and a booster/splitter to feed Freeview our two TVs.
One TV (older Panasonic plasma) is closer to the booster/splitter so has a shorter [coax] cable run and is getting lots of channels despite us being in a fairly poor signal area.
The other TV (new LG) is further away is fed a signal from the same source via satellite coax but only gets 14 channels none of which is Ch4 HD.
This is rather annoying.
All I can assume is that there’s some signal loss as the coax goes through the roofspace and down to the TV – a distance of about 20m perhaps.
Is there any mileage in changing the coax to something better (even if there is something better) or do I need to try some other tactic?

Posted 2 days ago

is the coax in good condition? are the end fittings well fitted? in my limited experience, dodgy end fittings result in more loss than long runs (and every join is lossy even if in good nick)

Posted 2 days ago

Yeah the cable looks OK (I actually ran it but we’ve been here 19 years) as do the end fittings but maybe I should redo them again.

Posted 2 days ago

Why not swap the TVs around, retune on both, therefore proving or disproving that its the cable?

Posted 2 days ago

Check that the LG TV isn’t plugged into a passthrough socket on the booster, which apparently exist and are only there to annoy people. Also check that it’s actually powered…

Posted 2 days ago

We have to manually select an auto-tune in the settings of our LG every now and again.

Posted 2 days ago

stupid question but is the splitter/booster turned on? are all the cables plugged into the right place?

if possible I’d try swapping the tvs around, that’ll show whether its the lead or not. A good condition aerial lead shouldn’t kill much signal

Posted 2 days ago

Yes I think I’ll plug the LG into the feed for the panasonic (the LG is way lighter!!) – that should prove something!

Booster is def switched on – we had another one but it was powered by the feed from the sky box so I bought a new one.
I’ll do some cable swapping also to see if that does anything.

Posted 2 days ago

Yeah the cable looks OK (I actually ran it but we’ve been here 19 years) as do the end fittings but maybe I should redo them again.

It’s a 20 year old cable. Not an expert but the default response from ‘tv aerial guys’ used to be to fit a bigger, more expensive antenna as the solution to reception problems. But if you think about it that makes no sense – if the signal was good with the original smaller aerial at some point it should be now – it’s not like the transmitter has reduced power in the interim.

So I was once reliably told that you really want to change the cable – the top end is exposed to the elements, water gets in and the screen becomes less effective. But chaining the cable is more of a faff and less profitable than fitting a new aerial!

New cable. New connectors. Use good ‘satellite’ quality Coax which is really not much more than cheap ‘tv’ stuff and has a solid ‘dielectric’ so moisture cant get in with crimped on f connnectors and then an f-connector to coax plug into the back of the TV.

I bought the tools and a load of plugs to do my place. Could send you it for a pint. or you can buy pre made cables from https://www.satellitesuperstore.com/satellitecable.htm#wf100madeup

Posted 2 days ago

Not an expert but the default response from ‘tv aerial guys’ used to be to fit a bigger, more expensive antenna

But one TV gets a decent/good enough signal while the other one doesn’t even though it’s from the same source. So it’s not the aerial…. although it could be bigger.

New cable. New connectors. Use good ‘satellite’ quality Coax which is really not much more than cheap ‘tv’ stuff and has a solid ‘dielectric’ so moisture cant get in with crimped on f connnectors and then an f-connector to coax plug into the back of the TV.

The 20 year old cable doesn’t go to the aerial (just in the roofspace/down to the TV so not really exposed, and certainly not the connectors. That said it may have been moused somewhere along the run in the roofspace!

Posted 2 days ago

Have you done an auto-retune?

Posted 2 days ago

Booster is def switched on – we had another one but it was powered by the feed from the sky box so I bought a new one.

I’m a long time out of the game, so rather than bore you with my hazy memory/rationale, if swapping the TV doesn’t fix it, try turning off the new booster (assuming it’ll still send the signal passively).

Posted 2 days ago

Shouldn’t lose that much signal over 20 meters with a good quality double screened cable, did the guy who fitted the aerial and booster not check the signal was ok on that tv?

Posted 2 days ago

Update time:
I found a power supply for the TVlink distribution unit/amp that I used to use to send Sky to the TVs (it was powered by the sky box so I didn’t have a psu) and thought I’d try that instead of the new amplifier that I bought a few months ago.
I got the signal strength/quality screen up on the LG and it showed >90% quality but only 10% strength with the new amplifer turned right up (it’s variable).
Changed the amp for the TVlink [T140] in and the signal strength went to 95%!!
Retuned the TV and I’ve got 130-odd channels.
Well happy!

(suitably derisory review of the booster/amp left on Amazon)

Posted 1 day ago