Installing Co-Ax points and testing.... | on ElectriciansForums

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sythai

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Hi Chaps...

Just want see if there is a bit of kit out there that I would be able to test co-ax points with once I've installed them. To check the signal is good and that the TV will work.

Bit tricky carrying round a spare freeview tv in the back of the van thats all.

Cheers Sy....
 
Take a look in the screwfix catalogue and you'll find a cheap little tester that just uses some leds to tell you how strong the signal is. About ÂŁ20ish from memory.
 
Those will work assuming the TV aerial is pointing in the right direction originally! I've been known to spend ages checking and re-checking cables and connections in the past because I couldn't get a good picture. Got to the stage of being ready to drag the cable out of the wall to check for damage, when someone pointed out that the aerial had swung round in the wind! Oops!
 
I spent ages mounting a new aerial on my own roof as was fed up with not getting the weaker freeview channels, fitted a really big high gain - proper job. Despite 4 x M8 expansion bolts on the mounting bracket, wind tore the whole lot out and it was dangling on the cable down the side of the house. Pointing in roughly the same right direction though so no-one noticed for 24hrs!! It's now fixed with 6 M10 chem-fix studs instead!!!!!
 
maplin maybe,handheld monitor,lcd screen,think i saw 1 on fleabay for ÂŁ80.

Thanks chaps for all your advice....

Reckon this is the sort of thing that might do me 7-Inch Digital & Analogue TV with USB/SD : Flat Panel TVs : Maplin Electronics

Suppose it's better to see the actual picture working really, rather than looking on a meter and hoping the signal strength will do it :smiley2:

as you might have guessed I'm definitely no TV engineer..... :bucktooth:
 
Wouldn't go down that route myself as you have no idea of the threshold of the tuner (the amount of signal and esp the quality of signal that tuner needs to operate), they do vary considerably. You may think you have good enough quality signal when, in fact your mini tv has a very low threshold tuner and vice versa
Without test equipment you are very much in the dark and signal strength is increasingly less of an issue (in post switchover areas). You need to measure signal quality. If you have good quality you can pretty much ignore signal strength. My pvr shows signal strength around 35%, quality 100%
Probably the best way is to run your cables to a central distribution point where you will have an f type splitter, Connect it all up and see. If no joy, remove the splitter and connect just one leg to the aerial (with an f type barrel) and see how you get on. If still no joy then try a variable gain set back type amp just before your joint and see the results. If ok reconnect splitter and increase the gain on the amp a bit to compensate for splitter losses. If it is not ok then you will need an aerial installer who will determine if your aerial is in the best place and if it needs amplification (he would probably use a masthead in order to amplify the cleanest possible signal) and can then just connect into what you have provided.
Just to re-emphasise, in a post switchover area, strength is a lot less of an issue as it was in the analogue days. Obviously I do take note of the signal strength reading on my spectrum analyser but this is almost incidental as the main thing I am looking to measure is the signal quality.
 

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