TV connection

[GB]

The position is that we have my simply ancient mother in law occupying the only room in the house with a TV aerial. She hates TV, so I haven't been allowed to watch anything for a week, and I'm starting to get grumpy.

I'd like to move the whole TV setup upstairs - we use Terrestrial TV. I suspect that the right thing to do is to run a coax cable from the room with the TV aerial socket to the upstairs location. However, I don't know how long the interloper is going to be in the house. So, I don't really want to start messing around with coax cable, is there some sort of wireless connector I can buy, instead? What should I be looking for?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not really, no.

upstairs if you have line of sight to the transmitter you might get away with a caravan style aerial hooked into the TV.

is the sort of thing I had in mind.

[Bill Wright]

1. If upstairs, try a set top aerial. Get a log-periodic type. (Silver Sensor or Labgear). Put it in a window on the side of the house nearest the transmitter if possible. If no results do a factory reset on the telly.
2. Don't buy a long white coax extension cable from a DIY shed. The cable is rather thin and loses a lot of signal. Ring your nearest aerial man and ask him if he will make you a lead from good quality cable, with a coax plug on one end one a plug plus a line-connector on the other. Measure the distance the cable will need to travel and add 2m.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

a coax plug on one end and a plug plus a line-connector on the other.

Bill

[The Medway Handyman]

Why not move the old ratbag upstairs? It's your house after all!

[Dave Liquorice]

The withdrawal symptoms will pass and you'll then be able to get on with a proper life.

I can't think of anything domestic that does RF over wireless... Direct RF over fibre is about these days.

Set top aerial might work depends where you are in relation to the transmitter. Where is your current aerial how does the cable get from it to the socket. If it passes through the loft it'll be fairly easy to get at it there with a new bit of coax through a small hole in the corner of the ceiling of the required room.

[Brian Gaff]

She probably cannot handle stairs. Brian

[Bill]

In message , Dave Liquorice writes

I seem to recall a few years ago, someone, possibly with a similar name to myself, (Apologies if it wasn't who I think it was, old age and memory loss are catching me up fast.) suggested fitting an amp to the incoming aerial coax and then an aerial to the output of the amp and pointing this aerial up towards the room above. In the room above point an aerial down at the floor. This would give the desired result, but may not impress Ofcom, especially if it leaked out of your building and caused problems to your neighbours.

An extension coax lead is the most promising idea.

PS when my mum in law stayed with us for a few years it had the benefit that the TV license was put in her name and as she was somewhat elderly it was then free! There is always a plus side to these things :-)

[Bob Eager]

Strangely, when we moved into our house, we found a living room upstairs, used by the mother in law.

It turned out that her daughter had some kind of problem (arthritis?) with her feet, and *her* husband had a back problem. Mother in law was the only one who could easily negotiate stairs. A downstairs room (now my workshop) was set aside as a bedroom for the 'young uns' (in their fifties).

[GB]

When I was a student, my project was in radio astronomy. It was drummed into me that connecting a source to an aerial would make me *very* unpopular.

Thanks. And I take the point from the other Bill that I should buy good quality coax cable. I'll run the cable round the outside of the house, so if I make up my own cable I can make smaller holes in the woodwork than if I get a cable made up with plugs on it.

If necessary, I'll boost the signal downstairs first.

It's not possible to use a portable aerial. At the moment, with the aerial clamped to the top of a post clamped to the top of the chimney, and with a mast-head amplifier, we just about get an acceptable signal from Crystal Palace in the winter. In the summer, with the leaves on the trees, we lose a lot of channels.

[Martin Brown]

Depends how much aerial you need to get a signal. I can get basic TDTV with a coathanger in the aerial socket where I live. At my parents it requires a log periodic antenna on top of an 18' pole up the chimney.

Most places are somewhere inbetween but you might get away with an indoor aerial upstairs on the side of the house nearest the transmitter. TDTV dongles can be had cheaply now if you can live without the HD channels. I bought one for around £10 for doing SDR.

A decent coax cable run from where it is to where it is wanted is probably your best bet if there isn't enough signal any other way.

[stuart noble]

My son lives 5 minutes walk from the CP transmitter, but all the houses have roof aerials on 6 foot poles. Portable is out of the question

[Andy Burns]

A few years ago I stayed near CP, the guest house had one of the huge Televes "digital" aerials with the margin raising device, I checked the TV in my room and it got a perfectly good signal with no aerial whatsoever ...

[Adrian C]

Stair lift?

(Gremlins 1984 Mrs Deagle's Stair Lift)

[fred]

I was going to suggest CPC as a source as they have a small discount on

50m of Webro WF100 at the mo, which is good quality and foam filled which I prefer, but the muppets have broken their discount coded links again.

Here's the full price links (just over 20quid, free post if ordered online):

(Black) (White) (Brown)

Discounted codes still work if added directly to the order code fields in shopping basket page for discount to 18quid, free post:

CB1480487 (Black) CB1480587 (White) CB1480687 (Brown)

Direct links in case they fix them later:

(Black) (White) (Brown)

They'll be able to sort you out with connectors and clips too.

If you don't already have an account then be aware that their postal and email offers come thick and fast, and while they offer real savings they can be rather annoying so set prefs carefully if you don't want these.

[tony sayer]

A cowboy leaves his visiting card.

Poor mast, mast to long for the size of that thing and bracket too small.

Bit of wind .. work hardening then fracture....

[Tim Watts]

On Monday 03 February 2014 09:19 Andy Burns wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Pointing that close at a 1MW transmitter, I'm surprised she didn't power her house from the downlead!

[Mike Tomlinson]

In article , stuart noble writes

How come? Are they "underneath" the transmitted signal?

[GB]

Brilliant, thanks! I've ordered the cable you recommended, plus plugs and clips.

[tony sayer]

In article , Mike Tomlinson scribeth thus

Yes, sometimes that is the case as that power costs a lot of money to produce and you don't want to waste it up skywards or earthwards.

So its formed into a very tight beam directed at the distant horizon..