Hi, hope someone can help.

When I switch off Sky TV the tv usually reverts to the in built digital stations. Over the last couple of days though I've noticed that the digital service has disappeared from the tv and even if I try and tune it in again it says no aerial connection. I've checked the aerial leads and all appears to be ok.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what has happened. My Sky box is a bit dodgy at the moment so don't want to left without any tv.

Thanks in advance

You need to work out whether it is the tuner in the TV that is faulty (do you have any other TVs in the house that you can connect the aerial cable to, and see whether that gets a terrestrial signal or not) or whether it is the aerial or connection which is at fault (do you have an aerial connection in any other rooms in the house where you could move the TV to and see whether it displays Freeview correctly there)?

Thank you for the suggestion. I will connect a different tv and see if it picks up the service when I get home from work.

Does the aerial go via the Sky box? If so plug it directly into the TV and see.

Whatever you do DO NOT retune the TV until you have established without doubt that the aerial is in fact OK. Though I rather suspect you may have done.

If you have retuned you may have wiped out the tuning data from the TV's memory so now you have no way of knowing if it is TV or aerial at fault. So testing the aerial on a substitute known working TV would be sensible. But as I said above keep away from the tuning controls on it

If the aerial goes via the Sky box then it is possible there is a fault in the Sky box. I'm not sure about Sky boxes but other PVRs these days have a low power standby mode that turns off the PVR's internal aerial amp that splits the signal between it's tuners and the aerial out socket. So you turn the PVR off and can't watch any telly! Usually however you can disable the low power standby mode and restore the aerial passthrough. As I say not sure if Sky boxes work the same way.

Oh dear, the first thing I did was to try and retune the TV I think it might be the sky box as I am having problems with it and have to unplug it from time to time but I will certainly see if I can plug in a different tv to the aerial.

It is perhaps a natural reaction to hit the retune button if your telly stops working. But there are many external reasons for the telly going off that do not involve the TV set itself.

So the first thing to do is determine if the fault is external to the TV or internal. Only once you have eliminated the external causes (transmitter fault, aerial fault, cabling fault etc) should you retune the TV.

And as I posted above, does the aerial go via the Sky box? It may be that that is the cause so test with the aerial cable plugged directly to the TV.

Yes I believe it does go direct to the TV or if not then through a dvd recorder which is never used.

If it does go through the DVD recorder just double check that has still got power. If someone has unplugged it from the mains in the belief it will never get used ever again or the power supply or mains fuse has died then that could have disabled the aerial passthrough.

Certainly something worth checking anyway. And if the aerial is going via a dead recorder that you will never resurrect then simply plug the aerial direct to the telly. In that case might be worth a quick retune on spec before lugging another telly from some other room. You'd have nothing to lose and of course always the chance it will solve the problem.

Thank you for your suggestions. Will try and check all of that out later this evening and let you know.

So I took out all the aerial leads that are in the sky box and dvd box and plugged straight into tv but still couldn't get digital stations.

Plugged them into a different tv and still no digital. Took different tv into aerial point in another room and got digital stations. So a bit confused now.

Although the sky box works there are no lights on it at all and doesn't show when recording so I definitely think I need a new box but not sure if that accounts for the no show of the digital stations.

How does the TV aerial get fed to each room? Presumably the aerial is up on the roof or in the loft and it is then cabled to somewhere that the signal is split to the various destinations.

So as at least one destination works we can assume the aerial itself and the cabling to the splitter device is working. So that leaves the splitter device and the cabling to the room that doesn't work as chief suspects.

What you do next depends on exactly how things are cabled up.

If the TV aerial cabling lands up on wall plates and you use short leads from that to the TV the first thing to try is a different lead. The one from the room that works is an obvious candidate for testing as that one obviously must work. And try the leads in the room that does work. That will tell you if it's the leads or something else.

If none of the leads work in the "faulty" room and work OK in the "good" room the next thing is to lift the wall plate off and have a look behind it. Make sure the cable is properly terminated. Common faults are strands of screen braid working loose and touching the inner conductor. Or the inner conductor breaking (not unknown if you used a tame gorilla to tighten the screw ).

If the cable just comes out of a hole in the wall then check the plug on the end, again a stray strand of screen braid working loose can cause havoc with the signal

If everything in the room seems OK the next task is to trace the cable back to where it gets split off. That can be easier said than done sometimes.

But check for signs of damage to the cable and once you find where it's split off check the state of the plugs and whatever is used to split the signal. Depending on what is used to split the signal you might be able to bypass it for testing by unplugging the aerial and the cable to the affected room and plugging the two together (may require an adapter plug)

Bit of a ballache but the only way to sort it is to work methodically through the various steps in the chain between aerial and TV.

Oh and by the way. The services you get on Sky are just as digital as the ones you get off the TV aerial So the term "digital stations" could refer to either. Those received off a TV aerial rather than a dish are more commonly called Terrestrial or just Freeview

That seems like a lot to go through. Not sure I'm capable of some of it but will try over the weekend.

Thank you for your advice. I do mean Freeview stations.

If there is a wall plate the TV aerial plugs into then do the easy bits, check the cables between wall plate and TV and the cable on the back of the wall plate. And the state of the socket in the wall plate. The type of plugs they use for TV aerials are not the sharpest tools in the box but the plug should be reasonably secure in the socket. If it flops around a lot might be worth changing the socket (which probably means changing the whole wall plate).

I have seen the centre pin in the socket break if the cable is yanked out roughly, eg caught up in the vacuum cleaner.


If one were being an anally retentive pedant one could point out that not every programme service broadcast on Digital Terrestrial TV is part of Freeview. But I wouldn't do that, would I