hi all


im thinking of getting a new tv ariel and having sockets fitted to all 3 bedrooms aswell as the living room,what sort of money would this roughly cost before i go ahead and ring a few companies up for quotes,or could they use the existing airel as it seems fine,just i have 5 children and they all wants to watch tv in there bedrooms not sure the best way to go about it any help would be appreciated

thanks

Hi

If the existing aerial and cable to the living room works satisfactorily for digital/Freeview TV already, then you don't need a new aerial!

The key new item of equipment you'll need for what you propose, is a masthead amplifier and cables from it, to each room. The Vision and proCeption brands have a good reputation for amplifiers suited to digital/Freeview signals. A decent firm will use WC100/PF100 grade cable for the new sections routinely, as it's more resistant to interference than that formerly used during house building. Ideally, the existing (one) cable should be replaced with this type, though it would be OK to neglect, if impractical due to re-plastering considerations etc. The fitment of the masthead amplifier would to a degree mitigate the inappropriateness of old cable to the living room.


Quoted below are typical costs for a dwelling which did need a different aerial for digital, but the signal fed to only one room. You can "subtract" the cost of the aerial, if your existing one is OK - but add the price of extra lengths of cable to each room.


Regards

thanks

thats what i thought about a splitter box and running to each room from that,the exsisting ariel seems to work fine as it is,so would the amp just go in the loft and run the main ariel to that and others from the amp to the bedrooms is this an easy diy job for a novice what would i just need the amp box and cable

thanks

Hi, it depends where the existing aerial is. If it's in the loft then that's probably the ideal place for the distribution amplifier. If it's on the roof you may have to decide whether to have the amplifier at the point where the cable enters the house or maybe divert the cable to a different room first.

It all comes down to how easily you can find paths for the cables from the amplifier to the different TVs around the house. Not so easy sometimes I'm afraid.

hi
yes the ariel is on the roof of the house,so would i just need to remove it from the tv and in to the loft to the amp as the input ? then run other cables from there to each of the bedrooms

You don't have to have the amp in the loft, but if that's the simplest way of getting cables to the rest of the house and there's an easy to get at source of mains power up there, it will work fine.

Hi



It's usual that masthead amplifiers are supplied in a weatherproof housing, as such, it's common for them to be mounted externally. They can be fixed to the base of the aerial pole, on an wall exterior before the (output) cables enter the loft or within the loft.

You do not need to cater for a mains power supply to the place where the masthead amplifier is mounted; they are "remote powered" running off a 12v plug-in power supply unit (PSU). This low-voltage PSU can be placed in one of the rooms which will receive an aerial feed from the masthead amplifier.

Because availability of 240v mains power is irrelevant, the main factor influencing where to mount the amplifier is the practical matter of cable routing from it, into each room. With an interior cable routing, you must decide how you're going to conceal the cables. Will you do much grinding, embedding, re-plastering and re-wallpapering? Or send the cables through each ceiling (at the room corner) into some trunking? Because the masthead amplifier can be external-mounted, another approach is to have it mounted on a (gable) wall and then run each output cable from it around the outside of the house to each room. Using a long masonry drill, you can go right through your double-skinned brick and have the cable enter each room at the point where the aerial wallplate will be fitted on the interior wall. The holes need sealing with mastic; also, fix the cable in a "drip-loop", so water doesn't run towards the hole (i.e. a "U-bend" at the hole entrance). This cable routing strategy results in a (small) amount of unsightliness on the outside walls of your house but doesn't create the chore of extensive interior decorating work! You'd have to connect the aerial cable presently going to the living room, to one of the new outputs from the masthead amplifier - that might influence your mounting position, though you could possibly extend that cable if it won't reach.

All the best professional aerial equipment (inc. the amp and its PSU) uses "F-connectors" even for terrestrial signals. These are the screw-on connectors as on the rear of a Sky Digibox, used there, for the satellite feeds. You'll therefore need a multi-pack of "F-plugs" and the ability to attach them to WC/WF/PF 100 cable! Some professionals advise DIYers to fit "F-connector" wallplates as their new interior aerial sockets, instead of the more usual IEC/Belling-Lee wallplates. That's because a screw-on connector is a more secure connection than a push-on one; you don't want "dickey" connections, especially with digital signals!

Most of the cables you'll make-up will need an F-plug attached. The indoor leads from the wallplates to the Freeview devices will need an F-plug at one end and a male (IEC/Belling-Lee) co-ax plug at the other. For digital terrestrial/Freeview signals, it's beneficial for these interior "aerial leads" to be made from the same WC/WF/PF 100 grade cable.

Get a pen & notepad and have a browse around the websites of the ATV and SatCure companies.

Shopping list: Masthead amplifier and 12v PSU, (a long reel of) WC/WF/PF 100 grade co-ax cable, F-plugs, 7mm cable clips, cable entry covers, pattress boxes, F-connector wallplates, F-plug to Male Co-ax leads.

Regards