Hi all, moved into a new apartment two weeks ago, most of the time I get a decent picture for the ITV Suite of channels but occasionally it keeps breaking up or losing the signal, as the aerial is shared amongst all the apartments I thought getting a booster might help? Can anyone recommend a decent one for Digital Freeview (it's a HD tuner but I can't get Freeview HD yet, maybe best to be future proof from the off though).
TV Aerial Signal Amplifier ??
First off if an aerial booster has the words DIGITAL or HD plastered all over the box it is a rip-off 
The booster could care less what signal it is boosting as long as it falls within the frequency range it is designed to cover.
Secondly if you are connected to a communal aerial distribution system the signal should be pretty decent anyway. Assuming it was competently installed. So adding a booster may actually make things worse!
It is possible that the problem is not a lack of signal but too much signal. Sounds counter-intuitive but if the signal is too high then it can overload the front end of the tuner in the TV or whatever. That can cause problems. And it might not be the digital signals that are responsible either.
If you still get Analogue they are generally much stronger signals and potentially can cause problems. Overload can generate spurious signals that interfere with the wanted signals. You can easily check this by inserting an attenuator in line with the aerial. Maplin do them for just over a fiver. Not too expensive if it isn't that.
If you do need a booster then get one with as low a noise figure as you can find. And also don't go over the top with gain. As I say you can make things worse with too much boosting so a variable gain type might be better as you can adjust the amount of boost to suit. But I would doubt a booster is the solution to be honest.
And of course it could be simple interference getting into the aerial before it reaches your TV. And that is not something you can do anything about.
The booster could care less what signal it is boosting as long as it falls within the frequency range it is designed to cover. Secondly if you are connected to a communal aerial distribution system the signal should be pretty decent anyway. Assuming it was competently installed. So adding a booster may actually make things worse!
It is possible that the problem is not a lack of signal but too much signal. Sounds counter-intuitive but if the signal is too high then it can overload the front end of the tuner in the TV or whatever. That can cause problems. And it might not be the digital signals that are responsible either.
If you still get Analogue they are generally much stronger signals and potentially can cause problems. Overload can generate spurious signals that interfere with the wanted signals. You can easily check this by inserting an attenuator in line with the aerial. Maplin do them for just over a fiver. Not too expensive if it isn't that.
If you do need a booster then get one with as low a noise figure as you can find. And also don't go over the top with gain. As I say you can make things worse with too much boosting so a variable gain type might be better as you can adjust the amount of boost to suit. But I would doubt a booster is the solution to be honest.
And of course it could be simple interference getting into the aerial before it reaches your TV. And that is not something you can do anything about.
