What is this? Y-shaped splitter?

[supersleuth]

Hi,

My electrician came in and cionnected my 3 TVs to receive SKY and terrestrial TV.
As part of this he has a Y-shaped splitter running into my SKY+ box.
Last night (after the decorators had been round) I discovered all my signals were fuzzy and unwatchable.
Upon looking at the back of my SKY box, it looks as if this adaptor has been damaged.

Does anyone know what this adaptor is called?
where I can buy one (in the UK)?
And what cables go where?

Thanks very much.

 

[Heinz]

It's called a Y splitter!

Less than £2 on ebay - http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_t...y+splitter&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=15&_sc=1

 

[Sebastalona]

Is it one of these, coaxial splitter?:

Coaxial TV Television Aerial 3 Way Splitter Adapter: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

 

[supersleuth]

Thanks. I'm not at home and want to buy one at lunch today. is it a male conenctor into the SKY box and 2 female for the other 2 connectors, or the other way round?

 

[logiciel]

Normally yes but it depends on what cables he used from there to the TVs!

 

[supersleuth]

OK, thanks. If they are not that expensive I'll buy both and return the one I don't need later.

Anything else I should be aware of beforwe I go and buy one?
Can I buy one that isn't a Y-shape?

 

[grahamlthompson]

The white plastic ones are plain rubbish. For a start they don't have any screening. Get a decent metal one like this

SPLITTER 2-WAY UHF 5-1000MHZ - FJU402 - LABGEAR

Not sure why you need a splitter in the first place. A Sky box has two rf outputs anyway so has a built in powered splitter. Normally you would daisy chain the aerial through any other kit you mah have with the Sky box last in the chain. RF1 out goes to your TV, RF2 out is used to feed the aerial and the Sky box output to other remote TV's and supports remote control of the Sky box using magic eyes.

 

[supersleuth]

The aerial seems to go into RF1.
RF2 seems to have this spltter as it is feeding 2 other TVS as well as mymain one.
I don't really know about these things I'm afraid....

 

[grahamlthompson]

The aerial seems to go into RF1.
RF2 seems to have this spltter as it is feeding 2 other TVS as well as mymain one.
I don't really know about these things I'm afraid....

The aerial should be in rfin. rf1 out should feed your TV. rf2 out can be used with a splitter if you need to feed 2 TV's. Use a metal fully screened one though.

If the signals poor instead of a splitter use a one in two out plug in amplifier to make the split.

 

[logiciel]

Anything else I should be aware of beforwe I go and buy one?
Can I buy one that isn't a Y-shape?

AS glt says it's a good idea to get a reasonably good quality one.
They come in all shapes and sizes - here are a selection: aerial splitter | eBay.
Don't get the type with screw on connections.
There's hardly anything on them that can get damaged so it's a bit odd about yours.

 

[MartinPickering]

Don't get the type with screw on connections.

Why not? 'F' connectors are far more capable of carrying the UHF signals than ordinary IEC "TV plug" or "Belling Lee" connectors, which were originally designed for medium wave radio only (and the basic design hasn't changed)!

 

[logiciel]

Because it's to go into his machine's aerial-out aka RF2 socket.

 

[MartinPickering]

I was worried you might suggest that. May I recommend NEVER plugging anything other than a single, thin cable into any aerial socket. The additional leverage and weight of a Y splitter with two cables can easily damage the socket. I've repaired plenty of examples and you are often looking at a two hour labour charge - and that's not because I'm slow.

 

[logiciel]

I agree - I was referring to the fait accompli that his electrician installed!

 

[MartinPickering]

Don't talk to me about electricians.

I met the village electrician here. He doesn't speak English so I struggled to understand his Greek. He asked me where I live and I told him.

"Oh," he said, proudly (in Greek), "you live down there! I did the wiring in ALL those houses!"

"Wonderful!" ses I. "Then you can give me a copy of the wiring diagram?"

"I think I wired ALL the houses except yours," he replied. "Somebody else must have done that one."

He hurried off. I know why. Although the law states that an accurate wiring diagram must be supplied with every house, in practice the electricians have just one diagram and supply it to every single house owner! In my case it looks as if I own a 4 bedroom bungalow (I don't).

Anyway, I did manage to solve the problem of water gushing out of the fuse box in the kitchen, by myself.

Darn, I'm drifting again. Sorry.

 

[grahamlthompson]

Anyway, I did manage to solve the problem of water gushing out of the fuse box in the kitchen, by myself.

Darn, I'm drifting again. Sorry.

By any chance was the electrician, the village plumber as well

 

[MartinPickering]

Actually, no. We don't have a plumber in the village but there are several around, including an Englishman. There's also an English electrician in our village, who claims to be the only electrician on the island with Greek certification to carry out his trade (which wouldn't surprise me!)

One day I'll have to write an explanation of Greek wiring and plumbing. It's not at all like in the UK (as you can probably guess!)

 

[logiciel]

Odd that the Greeks invented the elektron but it was the Romans that did the plumb-ing.