Tv And Ariel Query

[Smowball]

The house we are renovating has an ariel cable in the front room. If I was to take a tv up there would it work if I just plugged it into the back?? Am having a blank moment!

[Smowball]

Am not there at the moment so going to have a look at some photos I took...

[Smowball]

Ok so I can see an ariel on the chimney but it’s a terraced house so don’t know who’s ariel it is

[bhg481]

It's always possible there's an aerial in the loft - just connect it up and try it, you can't do any harm.

[douglas9401]

You'll need a TV with a digital tuner or a freeview box to get anything.

[murraymints]

it may not be digital spec.... most old cable to analogue aerials needs changing for digital I have found...

[Smowball]

I’ve got a NOW tv box?

[murraymints]

that needs a broadband connection

[bhg481]

If there is any sort of aerial at the other end you will get some sort of signal. I've never needed to change aerials since we went digital.

[murraymints]

bhg ..the cable may not be up to spec even if the aerial is...

[murraymints]

try and see smow..you may be ok if previous owner had digital telly

[Guilbert53]

There is no such thing as a "digital aerial" even though many TV companies offered to fit one in their adverts or on the side of their vans.

[bhg481]

We're still on the same aerials and leads as we were in 1982 when we moved into our house. I always felt that "digital aerials" were for the gullible from disreputable aerial dealers.

[Bazile]

We also did not have to change aerials or cable and it's been on our roof for over 40 years

[Buenchico]

>>> There is no such thing as a "digital aerial" even though many TV companies offered to fit one in their adverts or on the side of their vans

I agree that there's no such thing as a 'digital aerial' (and that many aerial fitters tried to con people into believing that there is).

However digital TV transmissions use different frequencies to the old analogue transmissions. Since the lengths of the elements of a TV aerial should be matched to the frequency range that the aerial is designed to receive, an aerial specifically designed to match the frequencies which are now in use is likely to work better than one which was designed for the frequency range used by analogue transmitters. (i.e. while it makes no difference at all, in terms of aerial design, as to whether the incoming signals are analogue or digital, the actual frequencies which those signals are using do need to be taken into account).

The vast majority of aerial cables terminating in living rooms of house are likely to still have a usable aerial at the other end of them, so it's likely that Smow will be able to make use of the cable she's found. However (since the aerial will be pointing to a different TV mast to the one which has previously provided a signal for it) she'll probably need to perform a full channel scan in order for it to 'lock onto' the signals.

[bhg481]

Why would the aerial need pointing to a different transmitter? All the transmitters in our area just started broadcasting digital signals alongside and then instaed of the analogue signal.

[Buenchico]

I'm not suggesting that the aerial needs turning round.

Smow lives in Croydon but is currently renovating a house in Stoke on Trent. I was assuming that she's going to take a TV set from her home (which has got the Crystal Palace frequencies stored in its memory) up to Stoke (where it will need to take transmissions from the Fenton transmitter). So a re-scan might well be necessary.

[bhg481]

Aah, misunderstood you there.

[Smowball]

Correct. The house we are renovating also has a selection of dishes on the wall - whether they are old Sky ones or whatever. I have no idea