Poor RF Out Signal???

[r.rain]

Hello All

Well Ive been tinkering about with getting sky to work on my bedroom TV which is being piped from my digibox downstairs, I'm doing this whilst waiting for my new kit to arrive to go the whole hog and wire most of the house for TV/SAT/DVD etc. I am however having some picture issues with the satellite channel on the upstairs TV!!

My setup is simple Satellite cable from the RF2 Output of the digibox running outside and then into the bedroom TV straight into the back of the TV. I also have a digieye gadget which I can use ok but have removed during the troubleshooting process.

Initially I thought the problems were down to poor grade cable but Ive just finished changing this (Satellite grade cable from B and Q, copper braid and what looks like silver foil) and still no joy. Other analogue channels are perfectly clear and the sky reception on the main TV is also spot on. The cable run is approximately 5 metres or so. The picture is not ghosting or anything but fuzzy or maybe you'd call it grainy.

Any ideas? do I need a booster for this short cable run?

Im worried that when I come to run the RF Out up to the loft box when my kit arrives the problem will only get worse by just amplifying the crap signal

TIA

Richard

[paul]

Go into the setup menu and enable the RF out

Paul

[r.rain]

Its enabled already. my digibox by default has the RF out enabled but not the power. I had to enable the power for the digieye to work properly. I am getting picture but very grainy.

Cheers

Richard

[john]

This is "system set up", 4, 0, 1 "select". I think this only switches the

9v power on/off, not the RF, but if the 9v is swiched on without the magic eye in the lead, the TV antenna input circuit will short out the 9v supply and may cause the RF2 to switch off althogether. So switch the DC off. And while in set up, check that the output channel number is not the same as a terrestrial channel and is being jammed. j

[Gary Cavie]

Can you take the main TV into the bedroom, and tune it in to work off of the RF2 cable? That should at least prove whether it is either the cable or TV tuning which is out. Alternatively leave the main Tv where it is, and just run a cable from RF2 to the TV, and unhook the SCART, which will prove whether the RF2 output is working OK.

There can only really be three problem areas, RF2, cable, or bedroom TV, and trying the suggestions above should show which it is.

HTH

Gary

[Kaiser]

I have a similar setup with around 12 meters of cable, no problems at all with the satallite picture, but grainy on Ch5 analoge. I put that down to a weak signal on Ch5 as its from the same transmitter.

It sounds like cross channel interference as you say your analogue channels are fine. The satellite channel is normally set to 68 so you may have another channel very close to that frequency.

[r.rain]

bedroom TV

digibox

No chance it weighs an absolute ton cannot shift it anywhere without 2 strong adults!

Ok I tried doing what you suggested I took another portable downstairs and tried rigging that up with a different cable to the RF Out still the same. Also using that same cable ran it to the main tv after disconnecting the scart same again (Good analogue, grainy sat) I dont think its the cable seems to be getting same results with 2 made up cables and an RF flylead, and its not the TV must be the channel its tuned to which i think is 68.

Thanks Richard

[Frank Erskine]

It's very difficult to generalise without knowing actual signal levels. From the point of view of signal/noise ratio it's better to have any amplification before a cable run, but you have to be careful to not overload any amplifier so as to produce intermods.

Do you have any idea of signal levels at the various points in the system?

[Andy Wade]

One thing that would cause this is if there's a digital terrestrial (DTT) transmission on ch. 68 (or whatever channel the modulator in your digibox is set to). This will have gone unnoticed if the $ky feed to your main TV uses SCART. An interfering DTT signal looks like noise to an analogue signal so it will make the remodulated $ky output look noisy (snowy). For a quick check unplug the UHF aerial feed into the digibox. Obviously you will loose the off-air signals on the remote TV, but if the $ky signal improves dramatically then the cause is confirmed.

The permanent solution is then to set the digibox output to another channel (and retune the remote TV). It would help to know which terrestrial TV transmitter serves your area, or where you live (postcode sector would suffice).

[r.rain]

bedroom TV

digibox

You were right on the money, just tried about 10 different channels and found one which is now giving me superb reception.

Thanks everyone for all your input

Bed time now......

Cheers

Richard

[Brian Sharrock]

General comment - I bought a set of 'Sliderz' while at the Ideal Home Show last year. They slip under the legs of the TV (or whatever) and enable me to slide my TV -which weighs an 'absolute' ton - and shift it anywhere with only one (weakish) adult. The set consists of four sliders - but I keep one permanently deployed under the Philips TV cum stand rear- leg.

it's a bit hard to reach to the rear of the set.

Can't think why your system doesn't work. I have a similar set up. The Sky+ box has my terrestrial TV RF-in. I take the RF2 out and send it up to a loft mounted amplifier box from which RF is distributed to each bedroom and the dining room - at the rear of the house. On my Bush portable in the dining room - perhaps twenty metres away from the amplifier box - I get four terrestrial and the Sky+ box's 'selected' output. IN a previous set-up my VCR -since discarded- defaulted to an output channel that was adjacent to one of the local BBC transmitter. The VCR's RF output was as you've described when viewed on the TV -horrible! But a careful look-up on the BBC's engineering sites showed the broadcast channels used by the local transmitter and careful reading of the VCR's manual revealed the closeness of it's default setting - changing the output channel was relatively easy but the instructions of how to do it where 'hidden' away (albeit in plain sight). Once the VCR had been changed and the TV's 'button six' changed to detect the 'new' signal -all was tickety-boo!

BTW, the VCR didn't remember it's output setting; everytime the power was switched off the ***** thing needed to be reset - You know how easy it is to find the manual after your wife has tidied-up.

HTH

[Christian McArdle]

It's as likely to be the opposite problem. Try adding an attenuator. Also, did you choose a suitable RF output channel that didn't have a strong local station on it?

Christian.