How do I set up my aerial?

Sharpe98

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Hi,

So I recently moved in to a new build house and it has a TV and DAB/FM wall socket which is completely new to me.

I set up an aerial in the attic but noticed there's two cables up there and they both look the same. I've tried connecting both to the aerial and scanning for channels but neither are picking anything up. However, the satellite cable that connects to my tv only fits the DAB/FM port in the wall.

What am I doing wrong? Or do I need to order an adapter to fit my cable from my tv to the port in the wall labelled tv?

Thanks
 
Freeview I believe, at my old house I just had one outlet I connected to the TV and it went to an aerial in the attic but for some reason I can't get this one working
 
Brand of TV and model no would help us to help you.
 
What am I doing wrong? Or do I need to order an adapter to fit my cable from my tv to the port in the wall labelled tv?

Thanks

Probably This. You probably need an F type coax to Male/Female... probably something like

 
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Can you upload a picture of the wall plate?
Thats the wall plate and thats the cable that's plugged in to the TV and the fm/dab port at the moment
 

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Thats the wall plate and thats the cable that's plugged in to the TV and the fm/dab port at the moment

You need a male to female adapter for the cable you have, so it connects to the TV wall port.


If you actually have a satellite dish, you could get a F Type coax and run from Sat1 to Sat on the TV, assuming the TV has Sat.

Or you could do both. I have Freesat & Freeview hooked up on my Samsung as I can get slightly different channels on Freesat to Freeview, due to being in a low signal area.
 
Is there a satellite dish? I suspect not, an the builders expect aerial/dish installers to feed into the loft and connect to cables.

Sadly such filtered wallplates are now "out of date" as $ky Q installs can't (cheaply) use such filtered wallplates (wideband LNBs).

I suspect that the two cables in loft go to:
1) the triplexed filter-splitter (some sellers call them quadplexed) -> TV, SAT1 and FM/DAB connections
2) the SAT 2 outlet.

There needs to be a matching filtered combiner in the loft to 'mix' the aerial / dish signals onta a single wire. But one signal can be sent down the cable perfectly well.

The splitter side loses around 2.5-3 dB of signal (-3dB is half out cf in) and the SAT2 wire would be preferable as that will pose minimal signal loss.

Adapters from F-plug to TV plug or socket are readily available.

To connect from the TV outlet on the existing plate (Male plug) you need a female to male cable (as supplied with VCRs and many PVRs or DVD-Rs back in the day. Not so commonly supplied now, though. Or the double-ender back to back 'cable joiner' mentioned in an earlier post.

NB Aerials in lofts tend to be 1/10th -10dB on the signal that would be available at the same height outside in the clear due to roof material attenuation.
Not all locations are suitable for loft aerial installs.
Beware particularly if the aerial points through gable end and party walls in a terrace or similar.

As those are modular plates, you could replace the 4-outlet version with two single outlet versions, one for TV and the other Radio. Or simply remove the connection plate and join the cable to the TV with a plug and joiner.

Ensure any new plates are of the screened variety and that the connecting wires have not been / are not kinked on crushed during installation.
 
You need a male to female adapter for the cable you have, so it connects to the TV wall port.


If you actually have a satellite dish, you could get a F Type coax and run from Sat1 to Sat on the TV, assuming the TV has Sat.

Or you could do both. I have Freesat & Freeview hooked up on my Samsung as I can get slightly different channels on Freesat to Freeview, due to being in a low signal area.
Cheers for that, I bought an adapter and connected it all up, tried both cables in the attic but neither of them worked.
 
Location? Where are you, what transmitter?
Ideally a postcode for a shop, office, pub, church, school very nearby (within 100 metres of your home), but we don't want your exact postcode of course.

What aerial have you got?

Have you a small TV that can go in the loft with you to use it/its internal metering to align the aerial to the transmitter?
 
Location? Where are you, what transmitter?
Ideally a postcode for a shop, office, pub, church, school very nearby (within 100 metres of your home), but we don't want your exact postcode of course.

What aerial have you got?

Have you a small TV that can go in the loft with you to use it/its internal metering to align the aerial to the transmitter?
Sorted the problem, the unit behind the wall socket where the cables feed in to was faulty. Took that off an connected the cables directly and its worked.

Thanks for your help👍
 
Firstly @Rodders53 from another old hand your patience/ persistence with this sort of query is as amazing as I remember from over 10 years ago.
My approach on this would be to take the faceplate off the wall and look whats connected and how ( if anything) seen several abortions in my time!.
I have never come across a faceplate with a male coax connector? In my experience DAB radios/ Hi-fi systems have F type connectors for external/loft(old band 3 type aerials.

OK I have the benefit of a digital multimeter but would first connect centre and earth at the faceplate by forcing in a small amount of Al foil and then looking in loft for continuity between centre and screen to identify which lead is which.
 
Seems posts crossed during typing and going to loo but pleased to see that solution was wall plate.
 
Seems posts crossed during typing and going to loo but pleased to see that solution was wall plate.
Haha thanks, yeah when we took the faceplate off, the wiring was a right cowboy job! The braid was touching the copper wire on both cables
 
Congratulations on finding the bodged builder's apprentice installation mess. Thanks for reporting back Hopefully all is now well with good signal level and 100% quality on all multiplexes?


@Boostrail:
The IEC 'standard' for TV plug (aka Belling Lee) is fixed male for UHF TV out (same as on VCRs and PVRs), but we've used fixed female in the UK for so many years on wallplates etc.,. (incorrectly since the standard came in) ... not that I'm planning to change the habit of my lifetime :rolleyes:

Fixed female for FM/DAB out (fixed male in is on modern FM tuners/AVRs) and/or input for UHF TV (e.g. Return feed for $ky RF out).

That way all fly leads are male to female, in theory. ;)

Examples of modular connectors are here: http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page15b.htm
 

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