TV/FM Aerial - A Stupid Question

quote:

Is this likely to be in some sort of ducting that would have room for a second wire, the FM aerial, and therefore just needing a change of socket downstairs?

Not necessarily Gavin, however you may be lucky, the only way to find out is go look. Since the arial cable has no current there is no need to trunk it... but it may be
Try initially feeding the additional cable down the hole (obviusly socket plate off the wall at the bottom).
If no success with this but there is enough space in the hole then disconnect arial cable, attach by insulating tape (abot 1ft)the new arial wire plus another 'feeder cable' (Original+New+Feeder).Pull original cable with others attached out socket hole at bottom, then re-attach original arial wire to feeder cable and pull back to original position in loft, dispose of 'feeder wire'. Thus two arial cables from loft to socket...maybe . Remember this is only possible if enough room is availible through wall. Try to taper the end of the three wires with the insulation tape as much as possible and ensure a good overlap of tape(you do not want to loose the original arial cable).With luck this will all take about 5 minutes, it really does depend on how the cable is run through the wall. Good luck.
Charlie

Just a thought - but why add another when the downwire you have will carry both signals without a worry?
Just put your FM aerial where you want it - add a duplex socket in the loft (two into one) and instead of a single socket plate downstairs invest in a good quality tv + fm outlet?
Please note - this may well change with digital TV - I have not checked on that yet.
Plenty of things on the web like this will work
Worth a try though?

Charlie - thanks for the advice. As you say, the only way to find out is to look and see. I suspect this might be troublesome if there is no ducting as the walls were cavity filled at some point in the house's history, presumably after the TV cable was installed.

Steve - that sounds like a simple solution, but doesn't that impact the quality? (Although given that I've only got a ribbon aerial dangling at the moment, it can't be worse - or can it?). As you're also in the West Midlands, have you any experience of aerial installers?

Gavin

LOL - does BBC2 interfere with BBC1?
It shouldn't at all. Have just put a link to what may help in my last post. Virtally all new build houses / flats use mass distribution for everything via 1 cable these days - saves multiple aerials, cables, sat dishes etc The ones linked to are the more expensive 'powered variety' The simplest is the basic 'Y' connector which costs about 50p from Maplins...

I used a guy from Sedgley - I'll see if I can find his card out.

Just a thought, which is heresy around these parts no doubt but why not try a y splitter from the tv aerial output and use one of the feeds for your tuner. I do this and it works perfectly well, albeit with a 14 year old Teac tuner, not NAT01/02 etc. Worth a try for very little money. Mind you, I do have an almost clear line of sight to the Blackhill and Kirk O'Shotts transmitters in central Scotland.

That could work - with the proviso that the TV transmitter that the aerial is pointing to transmits both tv & radio - some do - some do not. Simple enough to find out with a quick google though.
Then there is the question of aerial selectivity to overcome and your there.

Well, the BBC website tells me that Sutton Coldfield is my local transmitter for both TV and radio, and it's certainly tall and powerful. It sounds like this is the easiest option for me to follow up - just need to make sure I've got the right connections on the various bits to plug in.

Thanks for all the help

Gavin

It works very well for me using a loft mounted digital tv aerial. The only station that's slightly weak sometimes is Classic FM. I'm sure I'd get a better result with a dedicated external aerial but you pays your money....

Well, I've now got my TV and NAT03 connected to the same aerial outlet via a diplex unit from Maplin. It claims to have an insertion loss of <1dB. I have no idea what this means but it sounds like it won't affect the signal too much!

The TV picture is certainly no different, and I think the FM signal is better although I haven't listened enough to be sure. On a spoken programme on Radio 2 I noticed some low level interference but this is masked by music. The same interference doesn't seem to be present on Radio 3 or 4. (Any ideas what this might be, and whether it's anything I can solve?). The next step might be try a better lead into the tuner - a shielded one. The price is low and worth a punt.

Gavin

quote:

try a better lead into the tuner - a shielded one

Gavin, The wire from the diplexer to tuner is already shielded as its a coax cable. A better quality wire might help, but its starting from a pretty low base as a TV aerial will not give you a good FM signal no matter what you do.

Have you thought about installing another diplexer in the loft and adding an FM aerial

Hi Gavin,
Mike is correct. If you search out Ron Smiths aerials website you will see that fm aerials are rather different in design to those for a Tv - and the signal you are getting from a tv aerial will not be anywhere near as good as those available from a dedicated (FM)one.

Mike, Steve

Thanks for your comments. The option of still adding an aerial in the loft and using the existing cabling is an attractive one. I'll see how I get on with the existing arrangement - tonight will be the first chance to listen to Radcliffe & Maconie to see if the interference is audible / annoying.

The diplex unit I'm using is obviously a very cheap one - might there be an option of a better one?

The challenge is still to find an installer who knows about FM and isn't just someone who bungs up Sky dishes. Maybe there are plenty out there and I'm doing them a disservice!

Gavin

Radcliffe & Maconie = err that's VERY annoying

The Maplins diplexer is like all Maplin stuff - high priced iffy quality. But getting a better one is not like a major upgrade, but they are all so cheap anyhow no matter where you get them.

I installed my sons tuner set up which was more or less the same as yours. I used professional grade diplexer in the loft & a wall plate diplexer. (makes a neat job in the room) I see no reason why you can't do the same.
While you are at it, as you will need to buy some aerial coax, so get some decent stuff and make your own new in room connection cables.

Install a simple 3 element dipole in the loft, pointing at the closest FM transmitter
Move your Maplin diplexer into the loft connectd to TV & FM aerials
Buy & fit a wall plate diplexer - MK make one of the better ones - see picture in the link

Lots of info to high quality standard & on-line shop from http://www.aerialsandtv.com/ampsandsplitters.html

BTW I instaled my tuner on its own aerial (RS Galaxy 14) plus a multi-room TV system (Log Periodic); all with Webro WF100 sat grade cable & F connectors.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Im...s/size_2/MKK3522.JPG