Connectors for aerial coax cables

[nicka1]

1) With modern boosters the power is feed to the loft through the aerial coax so he could have used a booster.
2) Could he have messed you up on purpose i.e. pin through coax.
Eric

Cheers ericmark
1) possible (I had read about those), but I reckoned that given that I could get a perfect signal, even after feeding the signal through all sorts of connections, there shouldnt be much need for a booster
2) again possible, but I doubt it. I wouldnt count out stupidity (on his part or mine)!

 

[nicka1]

I've had a look at the back of one of the co-ax points in the room, and it looks fine...in fact looks quite a nice job to me...copper central wire is still fully insulated, and outer thread is completely separate...

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• nicka1
• 29 Sep 2008
• 1

So I had a look at the loft connection:

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• nicka1
• 29 Sep 2008
• 1

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• nicka1
• 29 Sep 2008
• 1

Should I strip this down a bit, and try and re-attach the connector or a new one? Or am I barking up the wrong tree (again)?

Thanks

 

[pbar]

From the pics, all seems ok, nothing obvious. I was hoping that you'd take the front plates off and find the coax not even connected or something, then it would have been case solved.
So, am I right in thinking that you are able to connect from aerial/loft to those sockets in rooms below with just one connection? If so, it might be worth disconnecting from the socket in the room, and removing the plug/connector in the loft, and simply holding, or 'balancing' the inner copper wire of the coax in place both at the loft end and the room below, straight into your test TV. See what that picture is like. It would rule out any problems with any connectors/sockets as there won't be any in use. Make sure the outer copper of the coax is nowhere near the inner wire, as if that happens you'll get loads of snow, they can't come into contact. Just an experiment to try and rule out as much as possible. I've been in this situation a number of times, and it's usually the coax plugs or the sockets. Holding the inner wire of the coax into the TV giving a perfect picture, putting the coax plug back on giving a crap picture. They can be finnicky to get right. If it's impossible to get a reasonable picture with no plugs/connectors/sockets involved then it can't be anything but the cable, although I still find it hard to believe that all three could be faulty or suffering from the same interference.

Having re-looked at the pics, the inner copper wire does look a little short, that should reach to the end of the coax plug.

 

[nicka1]

Cheers pbar...I'll try the 'no connections in the way' approach...I can hold the central core from the aerial connector (which I know is working) onto the exposed core of the Co-ax, and just about connect the exposed bottom end (when I've unconnected it from the plate) to the portable.
Many thanks
Nick

 

[nicka1]

Thanks for the input, but I'm still having a bit of a nightmare with this.

In the end, after much f*rting around, and refitting of connectors, I managed to get a decent connection from the aerial to one of the upstairs rooms...great digital picture (awful analogue, but I dont really care about that). However the signal to the ground floor (with obviously the longest run of cable) was too low for the Set top box to pick up. So I borrowed a powered distribution amp, and I now get enough signal for pretty much perfect viewing in the rooms I want (woohoo!).

My next struggle is getting this powered. If I take an extension cable into the loft, plug it into the distribution amp, and connect it directly to the 'power in' socket via a patch cable it receives power (light comes on on the amp itself), and everything is happy. However when I take the power spource somewhere else, and plug it into my wall sockets, no power goes to the amp (regardless of which cable I try and feed power through. I know which cable is which, and make sure that whichever one I connect the power to is going to the 'power in' input).
My thinking is:
- the wall plates are screening the power. I've read about this, but how do I tell whether the sockets do this
- I'm connecting the wallplates wrongly (although I'm not sure how else to do it - see picture above). The core connects (I know as the digital reception is fine)
- there is some problem with the cable (I know it is cheapish), how hard would it be to replace the cables...they run through the wall cavities, might I be able to attach something like fishing line to the end, and pull them through, then attach a better quality cable...I've no idea if that is a standard way of doing things, or whether there would potentially be any snagging, which could mean I've got no cable at all
- I could try and get permanent power into the loft to power the amp

I wouldnt mind fannying around a bit, but after the house move, there are so many other jobs I'm getting nagged to do that I'm starting to lose the will to live

Anyone got any ideas
TIA
Nick

 

[nicka1]

anyone........

 

[ericmark]

I have also had so problems with TV. Cure was new cables. Nothing seemed wrong with old ones all looked A1 but somehow they had messed up.
Eric

 

[pbar]

anyone........

Forget changing cables, you've shown you don't need to as you can achieve the pictures you want.
A lot of the time, someone will change a cable thinking it's that, and will get a better picture. But the reason is, they've obviously re-fitted the connectors/plugs, better than they were before, and that's the reason the picture got better.
Outside coaxial cable does lose strength over time, very unlikely in your case though.
After re-reading your post I am confused by what you're saying. I do not understand your talk about power patch cables and the like.
Why can't you use a straight forward TV amplifier/splitter, and take the power from existing cables in the loft?

 

[nicka1]

I'm good at confusing people

The only electricity in the loft is the light circuit. I'd managed to run a long extension lead from the floor below into the loft, and plugged the remote power supply for the amp into that. I then attached an ordinary co-ax lead (usual Male to Male one used for wall socket to tv) to the amp from the power supply. Hence power travels happily from the amps remote power supply to the amp itself via a co-ax cable (hence proving no problem with the amp, and that the extra amplification is enough to get the appropriate strength of signal down to all rooms).

That just leaves me the problem of how to power the amplifier. Although the signals are fine along all the cables to the different floors (when the amp is powered by the extension lead set-up described above), I cant seem to pass the power up from the remote amp when it is located remotely. I reckon that either:
- The face plates on the walls are preventing any power passing up the co-ax to the loft or
- There is something odd with the connections/plugs somewhere along the chain which allows good strength signals to be passed, but down, but not power to be passed up.

Hopefully that is a bit clearer

Many thanks
Nick

 

[pbar]

I'm good at confusing people

The only electricity in the loft is the light circuit. I'd managed to run a long extension lead from the floor below into the loft, and plugged the remote power supply for the amp into that. I then attached an ordinary co-ax lead (usual Male to Male one used for wall socket to tv) to the amp from the power supply. Hence power travels happily from the amps remote power supply to the amp itself via a co-ax cable (hence proving no problem with the amp, and that the extra amplification is enough to get the appropriate strength of signal down to all rooms).

That just leaves me the problem of how to power the amplifier. Although the signals are fine along all the cables to the different floors (when the amp is powered by the extension lead set-up described above), I cant seem to pass the power up from the remote amp when it is located remotely. I reckon that either:
- The face plates on the walls are preventing any power passing up the co-ax to the loft or
- There is something odd with the connections/plugs somewhere along the chain which allows good strength signals to be passed, but down, but not power to be passed up.

Hopefully that is a bit clearer

Many thanks
Nick

I'm sorry, but I'm still a little confused. Lofts usually only have light cables, and it's quite normal to take power from those for TV amps, as they consume very little. Can you not run a cable from one of the lighting junction boxes (or put one in) to a 3amp FCU, then to a plug socket. Then you can plug your amp in, in the loft.
Are you able to post a pic or a link to the kind of amp that you have, as I don't really understand the set up.

What's wrong with just a normal TV amp/splitter, like this, there are millions of these about -

 

[pbar]

Just another thought, perhaps the previous owner had a normal TV amp/splitter like the pic above, and he wired in straight into a juncion box in the loft. You shouldn't do this, but it would explain why there is no indication of the way he had it set up before. He simply took the amp with him, leaving you clueless as to what he had up there. That's how he got the power to his amp/splitter.

 

[TicklyT]

As pbar said, the previous occupant might even have teed the power feed for his amplifier from a convenient lighting rose in a room below, poking the cable through the back of the rose into the loft. Once removed, there would be no evidence left of it ever having been there.

If he would take half a bog roll with him, he probably isn't going to leave a 13 Amp socket on the end of a bit of flex, even if it hasn't got a plug on the other end!

Not been able to feed DC power up the coax cables is a bit worrying, suggesting the cables might not be continuous lengths, or there may be a short circuit somewhere between the inner core and the braiding.

 

[pbar]

I've looked into the method you describe of amplifying/splitting the signal, and it does have drawbacks, one of which is you do need certain types of aerial faceplate sockets, some won't carry power using the method you describe.
You'd be better off by far, by getting one of the normal amplified splitters, and taking the power from the lighting circuit in the loft. Junction box - 3amp FCU - plug socket.
And I think you'll find that's how the previous owner had it, or something very similar.
And all your problems will be solved, and life will be sweet again.