Sky and Freeview not working together.

TheMuzz

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Hi there, I'm new here and looking for some answers so sorry if this is posted in the wrong place.

Basically, I have moved in to a new house that has faceplate style coax connections rather than just cable from the aerial/dish. I watch most of my TV on Freesat from Sky, but I occasionally use Freeview to watch channels like Dave, which require a subscription to watch on Sky.

My problem is this: When both the Sky and Freeview are connected to the faceplate, the Freeview loses the signal, even if I unplug the coax to the sky box, I need to retune the TV to get Freeview back. My questions are, why is this happening to start with? Surely behind the faceplate there's just two cables, one running to the dish and another to the aerial, so why should they interfere with each other? And, a long shot but is there any simple way to fix this?

Thanks :)

Here's the faceplate socket thing
 
Welcome to the forum.

It is possible that the Freeview is being affected by the HDMI connection from the skybox to your TV ( assuming you have it connected by that route.)

HDMI interference can knock out UHF reception.

Firstly it is important to say that once you have your Freeview channels established - DO NOT retune, even if you lose them.
They should return once you have a decent signal back.

Test to see if HDMI is causing the problem by turning off the Skybox when you are trying to watch freeview. If it makes no difference, try temporarily removing the HDMI cable altogether to see if freeview reception returns to normal.
 
Test to see if HDMI is causing the problem by turning off the Skybox when you are trying to watch freeview. If it makes no difference, try temporarily removing the HDMI cable altogether to see if freeview reception returns to normal.

Have tried your suggestions but unfortunately no luck, even when all HDMI cables are disconnected. Seems I have to disconnect the coax cable from the satellite connection on the wall before I can get Freeview signal, and even then it requires a retune. Tried with everything unplugged, including the sky coax, and even after 5 mins the picture does not return.
 
If your having to retune like that it sounds as though something is causing your freeview to fail, I would be worried at this stage about the way the faceplate is weird up and it might be worth checking it out. The sky box will output up to 18v down the coax to power the lnb on the dish, my worry is that there's a voltage leek into the aerial coax which may be causing something in your freeview to trip out. If may be worth checking the shielding in the faceplate and that none of the coax screening braid or foil is touching any of the core or anything else other than the faceplate earth/shielding, I've seen some awful installations where people just twist and jam cables in.

Also check the lengths of the core of the coax, I suspect that will be a cheap minimal to none existent shielded faceplate (they should ban them), ideally none of the core of the coax should be exposed to view as it should be fully seated in the connector, if they've cut the core too long there may be a lot exposed which may be the cause of your problems - causing interference between them. These should be trimmed and reseated to minimise this and also prevent stray bits of screening braid and foil from coming into contact with it.
 
Seems I have to disconnect the coax cable from the satellite connection on the wall before I can get Freeview signal,
I quite like OE's theory. Can you get Freeview (FV) with the sky box switched off at the mains but with its faceplate connecter in situ? This would definitely remove the DC LNB supply voltage that he mentions and possibly 'prove' his theory. Switch off the skybox at the mains, get your FV picture by whatever is needed and then switch the skybox back on. If the FV picture goes, I like OE's idea even more.
 
Hi, thanks for the replies.

Yes, I will definitely be taking OE's advice and I'll get the faceblate off the wall, to see if there's anything obvious and also just to solve my curiosity as to where the coax lines come from and how they're routed. I can see the Sky dish obviously, and one line feeds in to the loft, which I assume feeds in to this room. The faceplate in question s in an upstairs bedroom with the faceplate mounted at the very top of an exterior wall, so I assume there's a hole drilled behind this which would actually lead in to the very bottom of the loft, judging by where the window is. I'm also guessing that the terrestrial aerial is in the loft space, so might have to go up there and check it out.

Even when i can get FV signal, the signal strength is pretty poor, which is concerning seeing as I live barely 2mi from the transmitter, I suspect, as you say, it's a case of whoever installed it using the cheapest materials possible. The house is 1960's so obviously this work was carried out after the house was built. I much prefer two cables hanging out of the wall! :D

Will also try your suggestion of switching the sky box off at the mains, as that would rule out any voltage leak from the sky box which I had considered but didn't think of this simple test! Thanks :)
 
Hang on a mo. You say that the FV signal is weak at 2mi from the transmitter? Is there actually an aerial connected ted to the top of the coax?:rotfl:
At two miles from the transmitter, you should need little more than a damp piece of string, but some sort of TV aerial would probably be more reliable.
 
You need to find all the bits and pieces of the aerial and dish installation, finding where they are, and look to see if there is a powered device that has been switched off or removed/taken (removers often are helpful and pick up a power pack that the owner has left for the new owners).

Taking photos and posting them here may help us to identify bits if you can't?

The wallplate will /should be a 'triplexer' a unit with filters in to separate the VHF/FM radio signal, the UHF TV signal and the Satellite signals. My gut feeling is that there will be a 'loft box' involved and if this has no power the UHF Tv side has no amplification - but with the sat off you may pick up enough signal via the downlead cable alone?

On the same tack, but a different viewpoint: In the lounge if there is a plate that looks similar to this one with two sat cables and one TV type socket labelled 'return'??? If so the TV aerial will (almost invariably) come to this plate ONLY and is intended for use with a Sky box RF2out being patched into the Return socket to feed the rest of the house (via the loft box). Without that return feed you may have enough signal via direct pickup from the transmitter until the satellite signals cause extra noise/interference?
 
At two miles from the transmitter, you should need little more than a damp piece of string, but some sort of TV aerial would probably be more reliable.

That is rather a sweeping statement as we don't what transmitter. There are some pretty low power ones out there.
 
What is rather a sweeping statement? The first bit was pretty damn obviously in jest. Surely everyone would have seen through that one as not being serious. :rolleyes: Are you suggesting that "some sort of TV aerial would probably be more reliable." is the 'sweeping' bit of my statement?
 
Hang on a mo. You say that the FV signal is weak at 2mi from the transmitter? Is there actually an aerial connected ted to the top of the coax?:rotfl:
At two miles from the transmitter, you should need little more than a damp piece of string, but some sort of TV aerial would probably be more reliable.

Well the FV signal is totally fine in every other room, whether or not this particular line feeds to the aerial, well, it might not! When I have some free time I'll have to get up in the loft and see whats actually going on.

The transmitter is a weak one in a very built up area, even with an indoor (unamplified) aerial the signal isn't brilliant.
 

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