Poor saorview signal

lazer.blue

I originally posted this in the thread about the Triax TSC114 but as it doesn't relate specifically to the TSC114 now I thought it might be a good idea to move it to a new thread. Hopefully someone will be able to help.
Firstly I'll explain my setup. I am in Wexford town. I have recently bought a Triax TSC114 combi receiver. In one room I can get no saorview signal and in another I get the signal and store the channels but the signal is not very strong. The satellite channels are perfect in both rooms.
The aerial feeds in to a splitter box in the attic. I have 5 feeds coming out of this. I also have 5 feeds coming from the satellite dish. I have triax combiners in the attic each with an aerial and satellite feed going through the cable that was installed in the house. Coming out of the tv point in each room I use another combiner to split the satellite and aerial signals and then connect these to the tsc114. The house was built over 20 years ago and the coax cable used in the house was the old brown type. This has worked fine for the last few years with the satellite and analogue aerial feeds.
My questions are:
Could the old coax cable throughout the house be the problem?
Could the combiners I am using be the cause?
The aerial splitter box in the attic is also over 20 years old so would it be worth getting a new one to boost the aerial feed?

Again any help would be gretaly appreciated.
Thanks

MarkK

Is your aerial pointing at Mount Leinster?
Have you tried the Forth Mountain Transmitter instead?

hibble

It could well be be the cable. When I set up my Saorview I could get receptionin sitting room but not the kitchen. Put in new length of coax from slitter to kitchen and bingo!

Peter Rhea

lazer.blue wrote: »

My questions are:
Could the old coax cable throughout the house be the problem?
Could the combiners I am using be the cause?
The aerial splitter box in the attic is also over 20 years old so would it be worth getting a new one to boost the aerial feed?

The cable would be more likely to cause problems for the satellite channels, I'm surprised it doesn't seem to in your case.

Previous threads here would seem to suggest that satellite/terrestrial combiners can degrade the terrestrial signal, rendering a weak signal useless. Probably caused by lnb noise that isn't filtered properly, but nobody has tested this. You could probably get some indication of this by observing any effects on the analogue picture (UHF frequencies) with the satellite feed connected & disconnected.

Is the splitter box a passive device or a powered distribution amplifier?

GFish

hibble wrote: »

When I set up my Saorview I could get receptionin sitting room but not the kitchen. Put in new length of coax from slitter to kitchen and bingo!

I have a kitchen and a length of coax but alas I have no slitter and no bingo.

What can I do?

Peter Rhea

Do you want me to tell you exactly what you can do?

GFish

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Do you want me to tell you exactly what you can do?

Please don't - ouch!

lazer.blue

Thanks for the help folks. I think I have narrowed down the main cause of the problem to be the strength of the signal from the box in the attic. Its a six way powered distribution amp. It has 1 full output and 6 split outputs. When connected to the full out put I get a near perfect signal. When connected to any of the 6 split outputs the signal is very bad. The lenght and/or type of the cable seems to have some affect also but this seems to be minimal. So my next question is can anyone recommend a good replacement for the distribution amp?

Peter Rhea

You should connect the aerial input direct to 1 tv (bypass the amplifier) & see what the signal is like at that point before anything else. Maybe even take a small tv into the attic to eliminate any variables caused by subsequent cable runs.

The 'full' output on amps is generally to feed a number of tv points (via a splitter), say at the other end of the house, without having to run separate cables from the amp.

lazer.blue

Now I'm confused. I tried bypassing the amplifier as Peter Rhea suggested and nothing. So I put it back the way I had it last night through the amplifier using the full output and nothing either. I hadn't actually chesked if it was working before I tried bypassing the amplifier.

Peter Rhea

What were your analogue channels like before this happened? Do you have a UHF aerial?

lazer.blue

Yes I have a UHF aerial. I didn't check the analogue channels before I tried bypassing the amplifier tonight but they are grand now when I bypass the combi box and plug the aerial cable directly into the TV. The satellite channels are still perfect.

Peter Rhea

If you're receiving from Mt. Leinster, your UHF aerial is probably frequency group A, where the analogue channels are located. Saorview is currently broadcast on UHF ch. 45, which is in group B, but will switch to group A in October, so you might see some improvement then.

Should add that if it's the grid type of aerial, they are wideband so the above definitely won't apply.

lazer.blue

Right after a couple of days break I had another go at this today. I now have it back to where I was on Tuesday, a good saorview signal when connected to the 'full output' on the amplifier. As Peter Rhea suggested I tried bypassing the amplifier and again I have good signal. Connecting to the split outputs on the amplifier gives a very poor signal if any at all.
So would a new more powerful amplifier be the solution I need.