Coax cable in new build

[Tarnbrick]

I have moved into a new build house and need to set up my BT TV, Freeview box etc. I need to have a TV aerial installed. There is a TV wall socket in the living room and one in a bedroom. In the loft the coax cable is a loop which would appear to feed both TV sockets. I expected to find two cables waiting to be connected to a splitter which would then be connected to the aerial. But this is a continuous cable. So is it a single piece of coax that is connected to both TV sockets and is simply waiting to be cut in two? I can't think of any other explanation. Maybe this is the way builders do this nowadays.

 

[Swwils]

Cheap way of doing it.

Ideally should be individual cables run back to a central location where a booster can sit.

Aswell as other cables for virgin / bt etc.

Modern house wouldnt have any and will just be structured network.

 

[Tarnbrick]

Thanks for that. Guess the only way to find out is to cut the cable and connect to aerial and see how it ends up.

 

[Lucid]

Before you go cutting any cable, try unscrewing the aerial socket face plates. What you're looking for is evidence that one of them is daisychained to the other.

Where you find that this is the case then you'll know not to cut the cable in the loft. Your aerial cable will have been installed by an electrician who knows sod all about the correct way to install aerials. They have cabled the same way as for electrical socket connections.

Where you find just single wire connections at each socket, then you can go ahead and cut the cable.

 

[Tarnbrick]

Thanks for that. I will have a look in the sockets.

 

[winston1]

While you are looking at the sockets see if they are properly screened. If they are saddle and clamp bin them and fit properly screened ones.

 

[Tarnbrick]

Thank you for that. This looks very much like a builders easy way out.

 

[ericmark]

If using a mast head amplifier any band pass filter in the wall socket can stop DC so some times you can't use sockets with band pass filters.

While you are looking at the sockets see if they are properly screened. If they are saddle and clamp bin them and fit properly screened ones.

If not using DC this is good advice, however it depends what you do to split the two aerial feeds.

I with old house had the aerial going down to main TV, then back up to loft into a booster/splitter and into bedrooms, so in the bedroom I could watch same as main room, be it video recorder, sky box or freeview.

However I found as TV sizes increased although OK with 14" it was rather a poor picture with a 28". Moving to Mid Wales freeview is useless, the Moel y Sant transmitter says

The Moel y Sant (Powys, Wales) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: 4Music, 4seven, 5SELECT, 5STAR, 5USA, Aljazeera English, BBC Four HD, BBC News HD, Blaze, Blaze +1, CBeebies HD, CBS Drama, CBS Justice, CBS Reality, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, CITV, YAAAS!, Dave, Dave ja vu, DMAX, Drama +1, Film4 +1, Food Network, Forces TV, FreeSports, GB News, GREAT! movies, GREAT! movies action, HGTV, Horror Channel, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, More4 +1, Now 70s, Paramount Network, PBS America +1, pick, Quest +1, Quest Red, Quest Red +1, Really, RT HD, Sky Arts, Sky News, Smithsonian Channel, Talking Pictures TV, TCC, Together TV, Yesterday +1.

As a result I use free to air, it is like freesat without the electronic program guide. Plus Sky Q, the dish does not need to be high up, but it does need better quality coax.

 

[Tarnbrick]

Thanks for that. Very interesting. We can't get COM 7 from Winter Hill transmitter Channel 55 where I live although that is supposed to be temporary.

 

[Lucid]

Thanks for that. Very interesting. We can't get COM 7 from Winter Hill transmitter Channel 55 where I live although that is supposed to be temporary.

That's odd. I'm on Winter Hill too. The signal is strong on the Cheshire plain, but the geography does help.

What type of aerial are you running with? Is it loft or roof mounted? Does the aerial have a red tip? What's your postcode?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Where you find just single wire connections at each socket, then you can go ahead and cut the cable.

If he has a test meter, he could check for continuity between the central cores, from bedroom to living room.

 

[Tarnbrick]

Hi Lucid and Harry Bloomfield.
Not quite sure I am replying to Lucid or to Harry Bloomfield, it isn't quite clear who your reply goes to on this website. Thank you both anyway.
This was a house in postcode PR4. About 12 months ago the BBC 24 hour news programme on Channel 106 disappeared. Also 107, 108,109, 110 and 113 also disappeared, together with some more. These where on transmitter MUX COM7 which was on Winter Hill's Channel 55. That is now broadcasting on a much lower frequency. All this is a result of the transfer of frequencies to the 5G mobile network and was supposed to be temporary. The BBC Channel availability website shows that these programmes are no longer available at my previous postcode. There is no mention of getting a partial refund on your TV licence if you can't get these programmes any more.
And Harry, Yes I intend to do that. Just trying to scrounge a test meter off somebody.

 

[Lucid]

Hi Lucid and Harry Bloomfield.
Not quite sure I am replying to Lucid or to Harry Bloomfield, it isn't quite clear who your reply goes to on this website. Thank you both anyway.
This was a house in postcode PR4. About 12 months ago the BBC 24 hour news programme on Channel 106 disappeared. Also 107, 108,109, 110 and 113 also disappeared, together with some more. These where on transmitter MUX COM7 which was on Winter Hill's Channel 55. That is now broadcasting on a much lower frequency. All this is a result of the transfer of frequencies to the 5G mobile network and was supposed to be temporary. The BBC Channel availability website shows that these programmes are no longer available at my previous postcode. There is no mention of getting a partial refund on your TV licence if you can't get these programmes any more.

This part you're replying to me. My user name is Lucid.

COM7 is still on ch55 AFAICT. I have just checked the Freeview tuning on my TV. It was still tuned to ch55 for COM7. I then did a manual rescan of ch55. The channel list changed a little compared to the last time I listed it out. TV ch 83 - Now 80s has gone. There's a new channel called That's TV Gold which appears on ch 91. I get a total of 14 channels on COM7 rf ch 55.

To doublecheck, I had the TV do a whole new Freeview retune. After completion, and confirming the region set-up for N.West > Manchester, I still have Com 7 on RF ch 55, and it's showing it is receiving 14 channels in the mux group.

I can think of a few reasons to lose a mux such as damage to the cable causing a notch filter at that specific frequency, or a change in an aerial to one which receives ch 21-50 only. However, if you've has rf ch55 reception at the current address with the existing aerial then so long as nothing is broken then it's hard to see why you've lost that mux.

What else has changed for you? New TV, or was it the aerial change, or has something pressed on a cable somewhere?

Have you tried a manual tune of RF ch55?

 

[Tarnbrick]

I have done a manual check and auto check of Channel 55. They both find nothing . If you look at https://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/check-for-transmitter-faults/#/undefined/PR4 1DE
and go for freeview and winter hill and postcode PR4 1DE house number 1 you will see that it says reception for COM 7 is variable and you may not it.

 

[Lucid]

I have done a manual check and auto check of Channel 55. They both find nothing . If you look at https://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/check-for-transmitter-faults/#/undefined/PR4 1DE
and go for freeview and winter hill and postcode PR4 1DE house number 1 you will see that it says reception for COM 7 is variable and you may not it.

Ah, all becomes clearer now. It's not to do so much with channels moving; it's just range. You're on the fringe of reception for the 25,000W transmission of COM7. The other main muxes are transmitting on 100,000 Watts so your reception of them is better because tge field strength is higher.

In your OP you say you haven't yet had a TV aerial installed. Does that mean you're basing the reception on the site prediction, or have you checked with neighbours who have the same aerial installed that you're thinking of getting?

Geography plays a big part in reception quality. Someone in a difficult area but on a hill top might get great reception. Conversely, someone in a great area but whose house is in a dip or behind a stand of trees might struggle. The local conditions trump any general reception predictors.

Have a chat with a couple of local aerial installers. They should have a better idea of what's possible.LLocal knowledge is king.

As for the longer-term plan with COM 7 off Winter Hill, the idea is that the stations will be folded in to the other 6 muxes. At that point, all the Winter Hill reception will be within the Group A aerial band. That should have already happened, but they say COVID has delayed this.

If the aerial guys both tell you that there's no chance of getting COM7 now then you might as well have a Group A aerial installed. It will give more signal than a wideband high-gain, and once the COM7 channels move then you'll get them back.