I have just finished routing cable 8 metres up a side wall, across the ceiling void, and down the central wall to the freeview LCD. I now find that many of the channels have a poor signal/none at all. What are the likely causes of this? I was thinking maybe the following:

- interference from electric light cabling
- signal degrading over 8m (unlikely?)
- poorly fitted connectors at each end of the aerial cable (but then why would some channels be OK?)

The poor signal occurs both when I view TV on the Digital Channels, or the AV1/AV2(scart)/Component Video channels coming through the HDD/DVD recorder.

The walls have now been re-plastered, so I need to find a way to improve the signal. Obviously if there is a likely cause I'll fix that first, but failing that, is a booster plugged in behind the TV a good option?

Many thanks.

[Andy98765]

A booster plugged in behind the TV is not a good idea and it would be nearly as cheap to get fitted a masthead amplifier + power supply. You can even get 4 way masthead amps so all the household will benefit.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/search.aspx?...Menu=y&doy=5m9
Bossters behind TV in effect boost an already quality degraded signal, whereas a masthead amp does it's work at the source.
Example of installation.
http://technical.philex.com/downloads/rf/SLXM.pdf
Also look out of your window, do other people have amps fitted to their Aerials, that is a good clue.

[AMc]

My guess would be you have a partial or loose connection. Some channels (muxes) are broadcast at higher outputs from some transmitters so they may be punching through the poor connection better than the weaker ones.
The most likely cause is a poorly fitted connection at one or both ends of the cable so check the connections and make sure there are no stray wires from the sheild touching bare metal in the connectors of face plates.
Less likely but more problematic would be when the cable was fitted it was turned too tightly and it has broken the central solid conductor - that would probably need to be replaced - if you're lucky you might be able to attach string etc. to the cable at one end and pull it through then use that to pull a new cable, but coax isn't usually that flexible or forgiving

Thanks AMc. Have fiddled, and think you are right about connectors. Maplins connectors seem a bit poor, on top of my bad attachment.
Thanks! :-) Just glad I don't need to redo cable routing!!