Is this normal?

Hi all

I live in a block of 15 flats, and we have a shared aerial which is wired to all the flats.

The connection into my flat has just failed for the second time in 4 years. When this happens, the building management company pay "someone" to come and repair it each time, but to my eyes it shouldn't be failing this often. I am fairly sure it's just mine that has failed, otherwise it would have been fixed by now if other flat tenants had complained.

I'm wondering whether the person they have doing the repairs and/or original installation knows what he's doing. It wouldn't be the first time I've discovered the management company not knowing their arse from their elbow when it comes to building managements (long story...)

Question is this - see attached an image of the current install. This looks like a bodge to me, but I don't really know what I'm looking at when it comes to AV install. I don't want to pay someone to come back and just bodge a further bodge so wanted some advice from someone on the forum that knows better:

- Is this a bodge, or does this look pretty normal?

As an aside I don't know if it is relevant but there is a sister block which has its own electrical cupboard next door which has a similar arrangement inside.

Thanks for any help!

On the aerial distribution side, there's nothing I can see that looks domestic, so pro gear has been used, but the installation does look amateurish.

Installing a fair sized distribution system does take a little planning and experience to get it looking neat. Click through the pictures here to get an idea of what it should look like: https://www.hertfordtvservice.co.uk/installation_projects_across_hertfordshire/


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Thanks Lucid that's very helpful to know. By the looks of the images on the website you shared showing how it should be done, the amount of kit in our block doesn't look too far out of the ordinary (ie. the number of what I assume are splitters and amplifiers), just that it's been installed in a bit of a slapdash manner.

Let me know if I've got the wrong end of the stick, but otherwise that's really helpful. Thanks again and happy new year.

I think you've got it about right.

Fifteen flats isn't a lot really. I've done houses with as may or more outputs. In most cases I'm combining a TV aerial, FM and DAB aerials, and then the four modes of a Sky-type satellite dish LNB. These signals are all brought together eventually in something called a multiswitch; this handles delivering the right signal, to the right socket, at the right time. You'll have something similar in your system, but with the addition of some extra amplification to boost the signal level for the distances it has to travel around the block.

If this or any other reply was helpful to you, then please do the decent thing and click the T-H-A-N-K-S button. It appears when you hover the mouse pointer near the Quote Multi-quote buttons. This is the proper way to show your thanks for the time and help someone gave you.