Connectors for aerial coax cables

I'm probably just about to ask the daftest aerial-related question ever posted on these forums, but it's driving me up the wall, and was hoping someone might be able to help me out

I've just moved into a new (3-storey) house in a strong reception area. There is a loft aerial with a normal co-ax plug coming from the mast. There are also three unconnected co-ax cables running down to each of the three floors. The previous owner took the connectors away with him...but I know the aerial and cables were working perfectly well before he left. My question is how do I connect them up?

To cut a long story short, I'm now just testing one of the cables (to the 1st floor...but the others have the same problem), and know I have found the right one of the three. However the picture is abysmal (both for analogue, and digital). analogue can only find one channel (CH4) which is a snowstorm, and digital can only pick up a couple of channels (music and shopping, which are the last thing I want!). I'm fully conversant with the TV/digibox/Video tuning, and as I know the set up worked previously, I reckon I'm doing something stupid at the connection from aerial to co-ax.

The co-ax cable running to the first floor has a Male (rounded) type connector (similar to that on the short cables used for running from a VCR to a TV, or TV wall plug to TV aerial socket). The loft aerial plug is similarly male, but has the exposed central wire (what I would class as the 'old-style' co-ax connector that we connected TVs with 30 years ago). I have tried connecting these with a "coax coupler" from my friendly local multi-trade outlet (£1.20 for a pack of 10...so high quality kit!), but the picture is still the same. I reckon my problem is this connection. What should I be using? I'm really confused over the type of connectors, what I've done wrong (and what the best way to connect the cables would be).

Once I've got this working, I can check that the other co-ax cables to the other floors are fine, attach my splitter, and the Mrs will be able to watch the soaps!

Can anyone help me out?
Cheers
Nick

Perhaps you could start at the beginning and take your TV into the loft to see if the aerial's ok. (I know you said it was before, but assumption is the mother of all ...) Plug it in directly to the aerial cable. Then you will only have one connection to worry about. Just make sure the braiding is neat and no copper is touching the centre core.

sparkyspike said:

Perhaps you could start at the beginning and take your TV into the loft to see if the aerial's ok..

Click to expand...

It took me nearly 30 mins to get it onto the first floor, I'd be laid up for a month trying to get it up another flight and into the loft (at least I wouldnt have to sit through Corrie while I was recovering )

Still a good idea, though - thanks...I might see if I can steal a portable from someone
Cheers

I'd hazard a guess that there was some sort of distribution amp up there in the loft.

Ariel cable plugged into distribution amp input and then the three down feeds plugged into the distribution amp outputs. The previous owner hasn't taken the connectors with them, they've taken the distribution amp with them.

Is there a socket or fused connection unit near where the co-ax cables terminate?

Also, are you sure the ariel is definately pointing in the right direction? Even though you're in a strong reception area, if it's inside the loft then the signal will obviously be somewhat obstructed and therefore it may be necessary for an amplifier.

..

holmslaw said:

I once watched the grand national in my loft.

Could the simple answer be that your tv needs re-tuning because you are know in a different reception area.

Click to expand...

Also a very good point indeed and worth following up on.

However, if the down link to the living room isn't connected to anything then you won't get any signal at all in the living room .

Yep I'd say the tight arse has nicked the amp

Did he leave any light bulbs or toilet roll??

Have you got the kitchen sink still?

The fella we bought our house from took the coax cable, left the cut offs peeping through the window frame.

I left him the aerial down at his work place HAMMERED into his exhaust pipe

Yes, I'd agree, they've taken the TV amp/splitter/booster.
Quite cheap to replace though, you might want to get one with more outlets than you initally need, so it's simple to add extra TV's in the future should you wish.

Thanks, Guys

He did take most things...including the bog-roll, carpets and underlay (and some kind of connector did disappear, as the lead from the aerial was dangling 2" away from the 3 cables down to the lower floors).

I didnt think he had a mast amp as there is no lecky obviously available (other than the loft-light), and I know he wasnt enough of a DIY'er to add it himself (you should see the state of some of the shelves he put up )

I've played around with a couple of extra connections, and the reception has improved (a bit, but not to anything near an acceptable level). I connected a Female to Female standard co-ax lead to convert my male connection from the mast to a female, and connected that to the Male co-ax, and reception on analogue tv is definitely better (4 channels, still a fair snowstorm). From this I've retuned all of freeview box, analogue tv and analogue video. I can now get BBC channels on digital (and no ITV which still means no Corrie , but the Mrs is now burning up my broadband limit watching it online )

I've also checked the direction of the aerial (I stood in the loft with a damn compass, and the direction matches everyone elses roof aeriels), although I havent managed to persuade anyone to

I'd prefer not to go down the route of adding power for an amp, and then buying one just to find it's something else that's screwed.

Any ideas? Cheers

BTW Holmslaw...I hope the visit to the attic for the National cost the bookies some money!

It seems most likely that the previous owner used a 3 way aerial splitter, you can pick these up quite cheaply, or perhaps two, two-way splitters connected together, something like that. I'd definitely get an amp though, with splitting the reception three ways.

.

They must have used something like that if you've been able to rule out an amplified splitter due to there being no power close by.
Usually signal strength decreases a great deal with these types of connections, but as you're in a high gain area, you might get away with it

By the way, with TV aerials, the more connections you've got, the worse the signal is. In a perfect world you need one cable with zero connections right through from the TV to the connection point/splitter/amp. If you throw a patch cable in there, another connector or two, a coupler, etc, the reception will get worse and worse. And it's possible that when he disconnected it all, he loosened one of the plugs/connectors by pulling it, these can be quite finnicky to put on properly, and if they're not, you'll get the snowstorm you mentioned.

Latest installment:
I borrowed a portable, and disappeared into the loft, connected it to the aerial, and got far better reception...on analogue I had a slightly snowy BBC1 and BBC2, and perfect ITV and channel 4.

So I thought I'd try digital, and took the digibox up there, connected it to the aerial, and viewing via the portable I had perfect reception on all channels (the digibox has a strength meter for the signal, and it was pretty much on 90% for all channels which is the highest I've ever seen it!). So there's nothing wrong with the aerial!

So I thought maybe my connections were the problem. So in-between the aerial and the digibox, I put the daftest array of splitters, and connectors I could gather together (two splitters, two F to F connectors, and 5 assorted co-ax leads). The digital reception was still perfect, but (unsurprisingly) the signal strength had gone down to about 70% on most channels

Therefore, the problem must be the co-ax cables running from the loft to the other floors. I took the portable / digibox (with minimum connection cables!) down to the different floors, and the reception is awful again. I can only get a few digital stations, and those that I can get are only on a signal strength of 25%. The cables seem to be 3 physically separate ones. I can understand if one was knackered...but all 3? Seems a remarkable co-incidence. Is there some kind of interference that could be affecting all of the cables as they run down through the cavity walls? Any ideas what I could try next?

Many thanks for any ideas
Nick

Have you ruled out the possibility of it being the connectors/plugs/sockets at either end of the 3 coax cables?
As an experiment, you can remove the plug completely and just hold the inner copper cable of the coax into the TV's aerial socket, this should give a perfect picture.

Also - what is at the end of the 3 coax cables, in the rooms I mean, is it those wall sockets where you plug the cable in. Are they connected correctly if so? Just thinking along the lines that the previous owner might have had brass ones which he took with him and rashly fitted white ones in their place or something like that?

1) With modern boosters the power is feed to the loft through the aerial coax so he could have used a booster.
2) Could he have messed you up on purpose i.e. pin through coax.
Eric

Cheers pbar...I'll try it

I'm just amazed that all 3 leads would suddenly have exactly the same problem, when (I believe) they were all working for the previous owner.

However, thinking about it, all of the connections in the rooms are from wall mounted co-ax sockets...maybe I should have a look behind the face-plates at those too

Thanks

Yes, have a glance behind the sockets, you might find the answer there.
Like you, I think it very unlikley that it's the cables themselves.