Aerial in loft

[marsaday]

I have just bought a house and i have noticed the aerial is in the loft. It is not very secure and i intend on securing it a bit higher in the roof space.

Do aerials work ok in here ? I am going to do all my cabling for the rooms internally, but i wont know if the aerial will actually work until a tenant moves in next month. Do i just point it in the general direction the other aerials are pointing as well?

 

[HERTS P&D]

My aerial is in the loft and cable tied to the rafters and works perfectly well. I moved it to a higher position and just pointed it the same way as the others in the street.

Andy

 

[gregers]

yep i too put an extra 1 in my loft,bought a cheapy from argos for my tele in the main bedroom and guesstamated the rough direction and got an exelent picture.

 

[ChrisFrost]

With aerials its mostly about the signal strength from the transmitter when those waves reach your home. If you live high up with a good view of Emley Moor then you could almost use a coathanger. But if you live in Elland Bottom shadowed by a dirty great hill you'll have a tougher time. The best thing you can do is try it. If you have a suitably smal freeview set the take it in to the loft and do some tests.

 

[Sam Gangee]

If other houses in the street have aerials in the loft, it will probably be OK.

They are usually simply fitted to a "loft spike".
See http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/best_aerial.htm#loft

You can easily make one by fixing a wood screw into a pole with epoxy.

 

[marsaday]

ok thanks. i have secured it in the loft and will run the cabling internally. hopefully it all works out.

 

[Sam Gangee]

No need to hope. As Chris pointed out, it's easy to check with a small Freeview box and portable TV.

Have you also made provision for satellite TV?

 

[marsaday]

Can i run two coaxial cables into the tv aerial or can it only be one ?

I want to do a feed for the lounge and bedroom you see.

 

[ChrisFrost]

As long as thrre is enough signal from the aerial and you use a proper splitter then yes.

 

[Sam Gangee]

Meaning a properly screened splitter with a metal construction - not a home made one using terminal strip, Sellotape or the like! (I've seen them all). But even a good quality splitter will give only 40% of the aerial signal out of each output. (It's splitter, you see. Think about splitting an apple in half with a very blunt axe. You get two pieces, each less than half.)

If the aerial signal isn't strong, use a masthead amplifier with two (or more) outputs instead.

 

[marsaday]

Well the connection on the aerial only has space for one cable. Where do i fit the splitter.

tool station do a std 2 in 1 splitter. Is this all i need to use ?

Should i leave the splitter next to the aerial and then run both cables down to the rooms. Or do i just run one cable down and then split off that ?

I have plenty of cable so this isnt a problem.

 

[ChrisFrost]

Your aerial will have a screw-on satellite type F connector. This is the same as the 66100 Wideband TV & Satellite Splitter 2 Way @ £3.24. So you have a short lead with F connectors on each end, then the splitter, then long leads down to the two rooms.

Sam Gangee is right about the split signal being less than half of the original though, so do bear that in mind. That's why I said "If the signal is strong enough".

Passive splitting like this is fine only if you have a really strong signal to start with. You'll also lose some signal strength as it travels down the cable to the TVs. How much you lose depends on the cable quality and length. So having just enough signal when you measure it at the splitter means that by the time it gets to the TV you'll be stuffed and the TVs won't work.

You can get a rough indication of signal strength using a Freeview TV. They often have a bar scale for strength and quality. They read optimistically though, so imagine your real signal is 20% lower than what the bar shows.

To guarantee splitting with a passive splitter like this will will work then signal level bar should be almost full (90%) when measured off the back of the aerial.

 

[Sam Gangee]

Note that it's best to fit a passive splitter as far from the aerial as possible. This ensures that the signal remains strong for as far as possible down the cable before the splitter weakens it. This strategy minimises the risk from interference.

The opposite is true of a masthead amplifier.

 

[mysteryman]

I put a high gain aerial in the loft, we're only a couple of miles from the transmitter. I guessed the direction from other roof aerials on other houses. It goes out via standard coax to a 3 way splitter and one of the outputs goes to a 2 way splitter. All 4 tellies work OK, the flat screen ones all say 74% signal strength.

 

[Sam Gangee]

When you have a very strong signal you can get away with cascading splitters like that. For most people it won't work.