No signal from TV aeriel

[melodymaker67]

Since the winds last night our digital box cannot get any channels with 0% signal. All cables are still plugged in the box indoors, the ariel is still in the same position and as far as I can see from the ground the cable is still attached. We have been having problems with the signal breaking up a bit in high winds but now nothing. There has been a long loop of cable hanging down the side of the house that swings about for some years but never been a problem. The ariel is at least 20 years old.

Can I get a digital aerial that works indoors ?

 

[bernardgreen]

Most likely the swinging lead has bent one time too many and the inner core has snapped.

Indoor ( in the loft ) aerials are basically the same as outdoor aerials and will normally be OK in strong signal areas. Walls and roofs reduce the amount of signal that reaches the aerial. A wet roof reduces the signal more than a dry roof.

Aerials are all analogue, they receive analogue signals which can have digitally encoder picture and data informaton or analogue picture information.

The term "digital aerial" came into use when digital TV required new aerials where the transmissions for the digital TV were not in the same band of channels as the existing analogue TV transmissions were. Hence the new aerials were described as "digital" and the existing aerials were described as "analogue".

 

[Lucid]

I think bernardgreen is bang on the money. The movement in the cable has broken the centre conductor. The curious thing with RF signals from a TV aerial is that you can have a broken connection and still get a signal. That's because at the sort of frequencies used for RF the signal can jump a small break. My guess is that your downlead has had a broken centre core for some time; hence the long term problems. What's happened is that the cable outer sheath and inner insulation have been getting tugged about and have stretched too. That has made the gap too large for the signal to jump.

If you go for an indoor set-top aerial then it will only work if you're in a very strong signal area and the room you have it in is facing the local transmitter. A set-top aerial (no matter how much they say it is boosted or high gain) is almost always a negative gain device. That means they lose signal strength compared to even the smallest outdoor aerials. A set-top aerial is the solution of last resort. Personally I wouldn't waste my time or money. Loft aerials can work okay but they take some playing around with to get reasonable results. As bernardgreen said, the roof material and loft construction knocks lumps off the effectiveness of the aerials. I think your best bet would be a replacement aerial cable and have it clipped down properly.

 

[ericmark]

High winds can generate static which in turn can damage item connected to the aerial, unlikely but can happen. I had problems with my mothers house intermittent signal work one day then not the next. Got TV guy out, mainly to fit a dish but also to fix aerial and he showed me how a really good signal. But still problems. Anyway found the TV could be set to give out the DC volts to aerial booster so decided to do that to get rid of the small transformer.

It has all worked since. Except for freeview continually re-tuning and I have to go down and re-tune TV even when using sky as it puts a floating message on the screen. So last week it happened for the last time. freeview has gone for good. Don't care if can't get Yesterday I am so upset having to yet again re-tune aerial now unplugged she just has free to air.

 

[Sam Gangee]

Some reading for you:-
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/kinked_cable.htm
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/cable_over_roof.htm
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/logperiodic.htm

 

[mattylad]

Or the transmitter aerial that the OP's points to has blown down

 

[winston1]

Can I get a digital aerial that works indoors ?[/QUOTE

No, because there is no such thing as a digital aerial.