Tv Signal Booster

[Hopkirk]

In our lift there as a big signal booster.

This is to feed the signal from one roof aerial to the three houses in the block. The signal here is week, as we are on the edge of three different TV regions.

At times the picture pixelates, particularly when the weather is poor.

Is it worth putting another signal booster at the TV? I don't know if a boosted signal can be further boosted

[Hopkirk]

... signal is weAK ...

[davebro]

I get pixelation quite a bit on minor freeview channels particularly in bad weather.

I would have thought that all channels would be broadcast at the same strength but seemingly not as 1-5 & News 24 are always fine.

Would also like to know if a signal booster would work & which one.

Think I might try one from Argos - can always return it if it's no good.

[Buenchico]

All of the technical theory articles, to be found in books, magazines and websites, will tell you that you can't use two or more signal boosters in a single aerial feed, as to do so risks introducing excessive 'noise' into the system.

However that's exactly what I've got in my house - and it works perfectly!

Give it a go ;-)

[Buenchico]

For Davebro:
Freeview signals are transmitted using a system of 'multiplexes', each of which is a bundle of channels transmitted together on a common frequency. The lengths of the elements on a TV aerial aren't random; they need to match the frequency of an incoming signal, so that they can 'resonate' with it.

So, in theory, you ought to have a separate aerial for each multiplex (as they all use different frequencies). That's clearly impractical, so any TV aerial is only a 'rough match' across the required range of frequencies and will inevitably be better at 'pulling in' some of them than others. That's why your aerial 'likes' some channels but appears not to 'like' others.

This table shows which multiplex ('Mux') is used by each channel:
https://www.freeview.co.uk/corporate/platform-management/channel-listings-industry-professionals
If you have trouble receiving one particular channel, it's highly likely that you'll have problems with other channels using the same multiplex.

To see the broadcasting line-up, listed by multiplex, for your local transmitter, double click on its name on the map here:
https://ukfree.tv/maps/freeview
(That link also shows the transmission power for each multiplex. On some transmitters the same power is used throughout but on others different power levels are used by each multiplex).

[Hopkirk]

After a lot of detective work I have found the problem to be the wire on one TV and a cheap 90 degree bend adapter on another.

Thanks for your advice though, Chris