Poor Signal Intermittently in one room, Freeview HD

phil471981

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Hi all,

In one room of the house I have poor signal at random times of the day, when it works its perfect, when it doesn't it's pixelated or I get no sound. This is on both freeview & SD channels.

I've retuned it many times without success & have tried 3 different coaxial cables.

The rest of the house seems fine, so is it likely to be the wiring or faceplate? Or any other suggestions please?

East midlands area so assume I'm using the Waltham transmitter.

Thanks
Phil
 
Do you have a decent idea of how your aerial points are wired up? If you have multiple do you have a distribution amp of some sort?

Reason I ask is because I had similar issues when I first moved to my current house, couldn't work out out why I was getting signal issues in one room bit not the other. I discovered the room I was having issues with wasn't connected to the roof aerial at all but did have a separate aerial hanging on a bit of furry string in a hard to get at area of the loft
 
I have a 8way SLX booster and splitter in the loft. I've been up and unplugged all the other TV's apart from the TV effected and tried a retune, but still no joy
 
I have a 8way SLX booster and splitter in the loft. I've been up and unplugged all the other TV's apart from the TV effected and tried a retune, but still no joy

Did you try a different outlet on the amp ? If so, then that presumably points towards an issue with the coax feeding that particular room. I would unscrew the faceplate and make sure any connections are sound.

Some TVs handle weaker signals better than others - what are your signal strengths in the other rooms ?
 
I've taken the faceplate off and all seems to be connected ok. I've tried a old samsung and a new philips tv and a have the same issue.

In the living room, I have strength of 78 and 100 quality.

I might try a long coaxial cable from a working tv to the problem tv and see if that works, then I'll know if the problem is with the TV or coax/faceplate
 
Go over all the cables and connections feeding this set with a fine toothed comb.
Re-make any plugs and wall-plate sockets. Many problems are down to dodgy connections.

If the set had hdmi-connected kit, disconnect both ends of the hdmi cables to see if that makes a difference. (Cross-interference between hdmi and aerial cables is common, and it happens whether items are on or off as the circuits are 'polled' by the kit even in standby.)

I nearly cross posted then saw your latest comment! It seems most likely to be a cable (or connection problem) to that room.

But, if you can, take the problem TV to a good outlet and try it there. Some TVs just perform better with weaker signals than others!

Eliminate the faceplate in the room by terminating it in a plug and using a barrel joiner. Double check and remake the connection to the amplified splitter.

Is the cable length to that room much, much, longer than the others? Is the cable route mostly hidden or down outside walls - can you see any damage to it?
 
I've taken the faceplate off and all seems to be connected ok. I've tried a old samsung and a new philips tv and a have the same issue.

In the living room, I have strength of 78 and 100 quality.

I might try a long coaxial cable from a working tv to the problem tv and see if that works, then I'll know if the problem is with the TV or coax/faceplate

If you've got the same issue with a TV that you know works fine elsewhere in the house and the coax outlet appears to be wired correctly, then the problem presumably lies with the coax from room to loft. If the coax outlet is loose or old, it might be worth replacing - they aren't expensive.

Connecting the same TV to both the problematic socket and the living room outlet would give you a useful signal strength comparison that would help with troubleshooting, but try and avoid using an extra-long length of cable if possible. Is one of the TVs portable enough to carry to each room ?
 
Quick Update.

I've piggy backed 3 coaxial cables across the house, from a working TV to the problem TV and hey presto the signal was fine and uninterrupted. As soon as I switched to the coaxial in the room the problems come back. I've tried 3 different cables and it's the same with each one.

So that points to the problem with either the connection from the loft or the faceplate??

The cable from the loft goes down between the walls, so not sure how easy that'll be to replace?

Any recommendations on good screened faceplates? Or can I just get from from toolstation for a fiver?

Thanks

Phil
 
You said you checked the faceplate - did you also check the plug is terminated correctly at the amp end, as well as trying an alternative outlet ?

If you do decide to change the faceplate then I find MK stuff to be a good quality, so I've got these in my house.

Pulling cables through hollow plasterboard walls can often be fairly straight forward, but solid brick/plaster walls present much more of a problem. If the coax is behind plastic capping, then there's a slim chance you could pull new cable through - I've done this many times with electric (twin and earth) cables but never had any success with coax personally though and had to find new routes down through the house. If the cable is buried in plaster, then obviously pulling new cable through becomes impossible.

If the socket is on an external wall, then running new coax outside to where you need it is another option. Running cables outside isn't ideal, but may be a better option than channeling walls if your house is newly decorated or wall-papered.
 
First re terminate the plug in the loft.
Next do as I suggested previously. Remove faceplate, terminate cable in a plug and use a double-ender to join a cable to feed the TV.
Wiring up plugs, aerials and wall plates - A.T.V. Poles, Brackets, Clamps & Aerials should help with 'how to'.

That will be prove if it's a cable issue or a connection / wallplate problem.

If a new all-copper satellite grade can't be pulled through the same route a new run, externally may be required? If so it's always best to avoid joins, and wallplate connections as they inevitably introduce (small) losses and impedance mismatches to degrade signals.

Blake/Proception wallplates https://cpc.farnell.com/blake-uk/proslo11c/outlet-plate-slim-coax/dp/AP02126 are almost certainly the ones sold by Justin of ATV aerials.
PROception Screened Socket Single IEC sell 'em really quite cheaply if you have a local store.
 

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