TV Ariel

[nannon]

i have just moved in to a new house and can get no tv reception! There is an ariel socket in the wall and we can just very vaugley make out BBC 1.
The digi box thing picks up nothing at all.
Do you think that there os a probem with the ariel on the roof??! Or just we cant get TV reception? We have very little mobile phone signal as well but i thought that all TV's would pick up at least 4 channels!
Who do i call to fix it??

Thanks

[beejay1124]

ariel on the roof-unknown to me --have heard of surf on the beach tho'...:<)

[buildersmate]

It must be Suds Law!
On a serious note - have you checked that there IS actually an aerial (sic) connected at the top end of the cable.

[nannon]

lol!!

ummm....well i found a wire by the front door and followed it and it comes out to some ariels on the top of the row of buildings....prehaps its not properly connected....
Do you know who i can call to have a look?
Sorry about being a total girl about this - usually boyf or dad can help but am newly single and dad is on holiday!!!

[Toureman]

Stop being a "total girl" and look in your local paper and ring one of the TV ariel erectors in your area.

[beejay1124]

serious-that might be your phone line-coax tv cable is1/4 inch thick and coated-it would run through roof space then down a feed hidden in your wall to the aerial socket on the wall---althouh without actually seeing your set up i cant be sure -have you tried an internal ariel?

[nannon]

oh maybe it isnt then! It comes out near the front door!! We havent tried an internal ariel purely because i though because there was no phone signal then it probably wouldnt work....Thank you Beejay!
Toureman - you could have just said nicely what they were called!

[Mortartube]

Hvae you retuned your TV? You may now be recieveing the channels from a different transmitter on different frequencies. Or the coax/ aerial may be faulty, or you may need a masthead amplifier which amplifies a weak signal.

If there is a masthead amp already fitted, it will usually be on the pole holding the aerial and be a smallish square/rectangular plastic box.

You will also need a power supply for the masthead amp to work, which looks a bit like the mains power supplies for kids games etc but it has a place to plug in the aerial lead. Any good aerial rigger/TV shop should be able to supply and/or fit whatever you need.

[nannon]

i did try to retune it last night but no joy. I was wondering weather to get a new ariel cable as well - just dont want to pay out for things that i dont need at the moment!!
i didnt think of am amplifier but i did used to have one that you plugged into the mains....i shall have a root around!
thanks!

[4candles]

Mortartube may well have hit on the answer; it's quite common for people to move house and take the power supply for the masthead amp with them, in which case the aerial appears to be completely duff!

If it turns out that you need to call in an installer, watch out. There are an awful lot of rogues in the business, especially with the advent of the analogue switch-off. Ask your neighbours for recommendations rather than sticking a pin in the Yellow Pages.

[nannon]

thank you!!

Is that what these people are called? Because i cant find anyone in the yelloe pages! But think i will ask neighbours like you said - just to be sure.

This masthead amplifier - is that on the tv or on the ariel that is on the roof? i cant reakly see to the roof- its a three storey house!! it looks like all four houses are connceted to the two ariels at the end.....

[Mortartube]

The masthead amp is usually on the aerial pole quite close to the aerial. It is a rectangular or square plastic box. The signal fom the aerial goes into the box where it is amplified, it then goes down the coax into your tv. The masthead amp power supply is plugged in, indoors and sends current up the coax and this powers the masthead amp.

The first 2 pictures here are the sort of thing that you would expect to see on the aerial pole. If you can boorow binoculars and stand well back you may see one.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/family_free_delivery/A erial%20Amplifiers.htm