Terrible reception after installing TV/sat outlet - help!

[james74]

Hi all,

I've got Sky TV and a standard TV aerial. The cables for both of them were originally run straight through a hole in the wall, with the ends coming out in the lounge. The signal on both of them was pretty good.

While redecorating recently, I thought I'd tidy the cables up a bit by chopping them off at the wall and installing a proper outlet, much like this one:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=956&&source=14&doy=search

I followed the instructions carefully, but now both the Sky and terrestrial signal have deteriorated badly - Sky still just about works, but the terrestrial is unwatchable.

I've double-checked all the connections and can't see anything wrong. Does anyone know what I can do to fix this?

I've seen another type of outlet described as 'screened', might this help?

All suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks

James.

 

[Steve]

And you checked the connections to make absolutely sure that none of the outer braiding was touching the centre conductor on either cable? This is guaranteed to ruin the signal and could damage the sky box.

 

[james74]

Yep, checked it twice.

Might the outlet unit itself be faulty?

 

[breezer]

doubt it, nothiong to go wrong.

put it this way.

it was working untill you touched it, noew it isnt working.

If you are sure the outlets are ok, and you have put the right cable to the right outlet, what about the cables connecting from the outlet to the receiver?

 

[mattysupra]

it has to be your connections or damaged to the coaxial cable you have made up or maybe a fault with the face plate?

 

[james74]

The cables from the outlet to the receiver are 'known good', I've used them before.

As you say, it was working until I touched it and now it isn't, so it's got to be either the connections or the unit. I'll check the connections again - the unit only cost £1.50 so it wouldn't be a big deal to try another one on there.

What difference does a 'screened' outlet make? Might it be worth trying one of those, or would it be a waste of money?

 

[rssteve]

it both have gone bad i think maby you have used the wrong type of plate, have you used a duplexer or multiplexer plate? maby a photo would help?

 

[mattysupra]

thinking about it , as said above it must be the plate. But then again for 1.50 you cant really expect much can you? Maybe try buying a good quality plate?

 

[mattylad]

try temporarily removing the outlet plate, and simply using a choc block to make a temp connection.

If the signal improves a lot then its the plate.

BTW, does the plate ground both together?

 

[Steve]

I'd have thought you should keep satellite and aerial feeds seperate? But then why would they make such a product as this.

 

[mattysupra]

p.s the two conections on the back of the plate should be completly seperate to each other, is this so? photo please.

 

[james74]

Hi folks,

Thanks for all your suggestions.

I went out and got a different outlet plate - there's a bit of a difference between the two, the original one had a capacitor (? - don't know anything about electronics but it's a little round blue thing with "B 471K 2KV" printed on it) soldered in to the TV connection and the new one doesn't. The Sky signal came back to its previous strength and the terrestrial signal improved a bit. I then tried a different cable for the terrestrial connection to the TV and it's now almost as good as it was before I started fiddling with it. The cables came from my bag of miscellaneous bits, which has been out in the shed for a couple of years, so maybe the first one had deteriorated somehow - does that happen?

I'll spend a few quid on a new good-quality cable and see if that gets me back to where I was, but it looks like the problem is more or less solved.

For info, both the original unit and the new one had two separate feeds at the back, one for the satellite and one for the terrestrial - the new one has more robust terminals, and as I mentioned, it doesn't have this capacitor (or whatever it is) attached to the TV socket, but they're otherwise identical. I've taken some pics of the old unit, which are here:

//www.diynot.com/network/james74/albums/1017

The original one came from B&Q, but they don't seem to sell them any more. They've got loads where the TV and sattelite outlets are split from a single input, but obviously that's not what I need. The new one came from Wickes.

Thanks for all the suggestions, greatly appreciated.

J.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Sounds like you're on the road to a solution, but for anyone reading this topic in the future, you'll find a lot more specific AV expertise here than you will on this forum.

And AFAIK coax does deteriorate - I think the insulation between the core and the braid can absorb moisture if it's stored in damp conditions....

 

[james74]

I bought a couple of good quality cables and the situation has improved again, I'm now more or less back to where I was before all this started.

I reckon the next job will be to replace the cable between the terrestrial aerial and the outlet - it's quite old, and there's not a lot of braid on it, so it was probably a pretty cheap cable to start with. But it's good enough for now, so that can go on the "jobs to do when I can be bothered" list.

Thanks again to everyone who replied to this thread.

Cheers

J.