Outdoor Aerial Splitters/Cable

[veeeffarr]

Hi guys

Basically, got Freeview running through my HDTV with an internal aerial, and it's a PITA. I get most of the channels but if I move it a tiny bit then I lose them all. I'm in an upstairs bedroom in a shared house and the landlord has already told me he won't put an aerial fitting in my room.

The flatmate downstairs has a aerial socket which is by her window, my window is directly above hers... Is it possible to get an aerial splitter/cable that is suitable for running outside through a window? (IE flat, or discreet?)

Any better solutions that I don't know about?

Thanks,

T

[Rookie]

Drill a small hole in the windowframe? Bit of a bodge job but it won't be noticable when it comes to removing the cable, and if you get a nice tight fit on the cable then there won't be any draught.

Or... something like this:

Wireless Sender

Edit: Problem with that being you need a TV plugged into the wall in the first place. I'm sure there must be something out there that does this!

[syl]

Has the landlord said that he won''t put an aerial fitting in your room, or that he won't allow you (at your expense) to put an aerial fitting in your room?

If the former (I don't see why he should refuse the latter), then get a proper socket fitted.
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Current bike: Kawasaki Z750S

[veeeffarr]

[syl]

Not necessarily.

If the cable goes down the outside of the house to the room below, it's really easy. if it's a newer house and the cable is inside the wall, it's slightly more difficult.

If the former - divert the aerial cable into your room (drill through the wall), run it to a socket and run it back out of the socket, out the wall, and down to the original socket.

If the latter, find the cable in the loft and split it in two (you can buy something from maplins for about £2 or you can do it the old fashioned way by twisting together and covering with electrical tape. The run a cable down the outside of the house to your room (or if you feel really concientious and have a bit of time to spare, run it through the cavity wall).

There is a risk that can make the signal weak. This is quite small as you'll not be extending the total wire by a great deal - it's more likely if you were wanting to add four sockets distributed round the house. If it does, fit a booster. You'll need a power socket in the loft to do this, so be prepared to wire up a socket if you don't have one. Might take another hour and about £5 for cable, socket and a junction box

If you pay someone to do it I suspect they'll have it done in less than an hour and it'll cost you about £50 if you pay in cash.
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Current bike: Kawasaki Z750S

[ali-b]

If you're wanting a DTT signal (a decent one at least), you're not going to want to bodge the splitter too much as you're going to introduce signal loss.

What type of aerial do you have already?

You can go here clicky to find out how far away from any given transmitter you are and see what signal loss you'll be looking at anyway. Even a decent splitter box McClick or McClick Royale isn't going to cost the earth and it'll be worth it in the end

This is also a good link for this kind of stuff McClick with Fries

A.

[veeeffarr]

[Finglonga]

[veeeffarr]

Bloody confusing this TV lark... too many 3 letter abbreviations UHF, DVB DTT

[ali-b]

6 miles is pretty good - local terrain will affect it of course, but if you're getting a decent signal on an indoor aerial then you'll probably be cool (without testing with a TV signal strength meter anyway)...as long as the house aerial has been installed correctly (ie - is pointing in the right direction) you should be golden.

You should split the cable about a meter from the aerial for best results, then use an amplifier/splitter box for how ever many wall sockets you want to service and run decent coax cable for the new installations (and the old ones if you can be bothered ) This is pretty easy, but you will need to power it. Doing it this way means that everything the old cable was going to gets its own part of the splitter/amp and you get your own part.

[veeeffarr]

[ali-b]

Its not the best plan, but it *may* work due to you being close to the transmitter...your mileage may vary though and doing it properly would be better...

sorry