Help - no signal!
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I just moved house, into a new build. I have all the certificates etc that you'd expect from a new build. One of these is for the aerial in the loft, all tested and working fine apparently.
I have the main tv and a portable both plugged into the aerial sockets but can't pick up a signal on either. Signal strength is showing as ok but quality is zero. The aerial in loft has an amplifier all fitted up. I've tried an indoor aerial on both TVs but it's the same thing, just not picking up channels.
What am I doing wrong?
I have the main tv and a portable both plugged into the aerial sockets but can't pick up a signal on either. Signal strength is showing as ok but quality is zero. The aerial in loft has an amplifier all fitted up. I've tried an indoor aerial on both TVs but it's the same thing, just not picking up channels.
What am I doing wrong?
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Did you retune the TVs after plugging them in? There is no guarantee the aerial is pointing at the same transmitter as in your previous home.
Is the system actually connected up? ie is the aerial plugged into the amplifier input and the cables down to the various rooms plugged into the amplifier outputs?
Is the amplifier powered? Does it have a mains lead attached and is there mains in the loft? Or is it the type that is powered via one of the output cables? This requires a small power supply unit to be fitted in line between one of the wall sockets and the TV.
And of course there is the possibility that the aerial isn't pointing in the right direction at all.
My son has been up in the loft, I can't get in there and says there's nowhere for power to the amp that doesn't already have leads connected but has followed all the leads to and from aerial and amp and all seem to be connected up.
We've tried facing it a different way which just causes the tv to not pick up on anything at all.
It's not a poor signal in the area either, my digital radio had no issues at all.
I'll show posts to my son and see if it triggers anything. Thanks both
The fact your digital radio gets a good signal is completely irrelevant. The signal it is getting may not even be coming from the same site as the TV.
If it is an amplifier up in the loft and not a passive splitter then it will need power from somewhere. If there is no connection in the loft to the mains either direct or via an external power supply module then it must be powered from one of the wall sockets via a small power supply brick that may look something like this
http://cpc.farnell.com/productimages/farnell/standard/AP02813-40.jpg
If you can find out the make and model of the amp that might help. Or even take a picture of it and post it on a file sharing site and link to it here.
I'll get my son up there again tomorrow to take a pic and double check power connections.
I'm puzzled that the signal strength is OK, but its quality is zero. This sounds like it's tuned to an analogue signal, instead of a digital one, which would be unlikely, as there are no analogue TV transmitters in operation.
Could you try one of your TVs on a neighbour's aerial ? Or vice versa ?
It is possible to get a signal strength reading but zero quality. If the signal strength is too weak for the decoder circuits to work properly it may well register as a low signal level but no quality reading as the digital data is too corrupt to be usable.
It may even be possible that there is too high a signal and it is grossly overloading the front end stages of the tuner. That could produce enough distortion to corrupt the digital data beyond use. That too might produce a signal level reading stuck solid on 100% but 0% quality.
I also think you need a power supply. When mine degraded I was getting Level showing but poor quality. A new PSU resolved the problem.
Do you have a Screwfix or Toolstation near you ? Both are packaged in a way that you can easily return them if it turns out this does not solve your problem.
Toolstation Masthead Amplifier Power Supply
Screwfix Masthead Amplifier Power Supply
Note these have F-type connectors so check which cables you have/need so that you have everything to test it with.