poor TV reception in flat block

[thrashsmith]

Hi can anyone suggest anything I can try to get my TV reception working? At the minute I virtually get no channels, and weirdly on a rainy day I get even less.

I live in a block of 10 flats and I seem to be the only one having TV problems. An aerial company put in a new signal booster box a while back but that doesn't seem to have done any good, for me at least. I've tried signal attenuators, changing the aerial faceplate, changing the lead, set top boxes, everything but voodoo magic...

I'd imagine that if it's an aerial problem then everyone in the block would be having trouble. Any last ditch attempts I can make to get this working before we call another aerial company in?
Cheers

 

[OwainDIYer]

1. you might not be connected to the communal aerial system

2. there might be a defect on the cable serving your flat

|3. there might be a defect on the distribution outlet serving your flat

 

[thrashsmith]

Cheers for the reply. I was hoping it wasn't the cableing, after the aerial man came and put a new booster box in the reception was fine for a week but then it went bad again. I took pics of the booster box he put in and put them on the AVforums site...everyone said the wiring was poor. I started this thread to get a second opinion. At least it's not been me paying for the aerial man, it's been the maintenance company.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I live in a block of 10 flats and I seem to be the only one having TV problems.

I wonder if this is a clue?

 

[thrashsmith]

I live in a block of 10 flats and I seem to be the only one having TV problems.

I wonder if this is a clue?

Sounds like you think I'm missing something obvious, if you think I've overlooked something obvious please tell me. It's not the TV, I've bought a new TV since. (Not in an effort to fix the problem).

 

[Sam Gangee]

In my experience around 50% of problems are caused by the fly-lead so, although you say you've tried a different one, make sure it's a good one.
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/tvplugs.htm

Also check the wiring behind the wall plate. It's not unusual for the connection to snap and it might look OK until you actually touch it.
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/wallplates.htm

 

[sparkymarka]

Poor signal when raining points to water in your download !

 

[thrashsmith]

Cheers Sam, Sparky.
What's a download? Obviously I'm not going to try and tackle any repairs outside of my flat myself but I'd like to understand as much as possible about it so I can give useful information to a repair person beyond "it doesn't work", and understand any techno-jargon a repair person blurts out at me.

 

[OwainDIYer]

downlead

the cable from the distribution amp to your wallplate

 

[daxi]

Poor signal when raining points to water in your download !

It also points to the fact that UHF signal strengths degrade during rain. So a poor signal is being made worse...Yes it could be water in the coax, but the most likely cause is increased path loss due to rain..
Also if it's water ingress why is no one else being effected??? The most likely place for water ingress to occur is at the antenna, so unless the water ingress is in the coax feed between a common point & thrashsmith's TV, it would not only effect his TV..