My freeview aerial comes into the living room, to a booster and then a splitter between the living room and bedroom. The TV in the living room has suddenly become unwatchable due to pixelating and crackling and jumping - the TV in the bedroom is perfectly fine
Any ideas? I tried retuning the living room TV and that made no difference
@big-all and
@Mottie have given you some good advice already, so forgive me if I go over some stuff you might have already done as I take you step-by-step through troubleshooting.
What we know:
- your aerial works, and so does the 'booster' and at least one side of the splitter and the cable to the bedroom TV. We know all this because there's a decent picture on the bedroom telly
- the problem is confined to just the lounge TV, so this could be an issue with one side of the splitter, or the cable from the splitter to the TV, or the TV itself
What we don't know:
- whether the booster is a real booster or if it's a power supply for an aerial amplifier somewhere on the aerial mast or in the loft (highly likely, but could do with being confirmed; a make and model number would be useful)
- if there is a masthead amp somewhere, is it one with a fixed amount of amplification, or does it have a level adjustment control. This could be on the amp itself or on the power supply that looks like the booster
- the quality and condition of the fly lead from the splitter to the lounge TV
What we think we know:
- cleaning off a bit of oxidisation on the plug ends hasn't changed or improved the situation
- removing the 'booster' from the system results in no signal at all (situation much worse)
A bit of information:
These are the three most likely causes for signal pixelation
1) too little signal
2) too much signal - symptoms look exactly like too little signal
3) broken fly lead
Working the problem:
too little signal - I think if this the main cause then the bedroom TV would be the first to show symptoms. All cable contributes to signal loss, and so the additional length of cable from the splitter to the bedroom would mean a weaker signal there than in the lounge. There is the possibility that the bedroom TV's tuner is a lot more sensitive that the lounge set, but I think we should look for simpler solutions first before considering the exotic.
too much signal - This is a possibility if the booster or masthead amp has a power level adjustment and it has been knocked which resulted in it being turned up. That might explain the sudden change in conditions. If there's no such adjuster, then we should probably stick to simpler solutions.
broken fly lead - With aerial signals, a break in the cable doesn't always result in complete signal loss. If there's a hairline crack in the solder joint of a shop-bought cable with moulded ends it can be impossible to spot but still result in some picture problems such as pixelation.
Tests:
Test 1 "
Is the splitter faulty?" - swap the connections on the splitter outputs. Change them over so that the socket that was connected to the bedroom now feeds the lounge. If the results on the lounge TV are the same then we can rule out the splitter as the cause, so that means it's a cable- or a TV tuner- fault.
Test 2 "
Is the fly lead for the lounge TV faulty?" - if it's possible, disconnect this short lead from the lounge TV and take it to the bedroom. Add it to the end of the cable going to the bedroom TV. This will make it that the signal has to pass through this short lead before getting to the bedroom TV. If the bedroom TV now pixelates, then you've found the problem. Replace this lead with a better made alternative.
Follow this guide and do these tests then let us know the results. If you want a really good aerial fly lead - much better than you'll get from the local supermarkets or DIY sheds - but without breaking the bank, send me a private message. I've just done the same for someone in Tranent EH32. It came in cheaper than the poor lead he bought from TESCO, and he messaged back that his channel scan now gets 212 channels whereas before he got under 200.
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