Could you help me with a question about tv ariel?

Question

i'm wondering if i can join an indoor electic booster T.V. attena to an external ariel. i'm using the external attena socket already as my booster ariel is upstairs and my tv downstairs so i would have to just join the two leads of the external ariel on the roof and booster ariel. i'd have to do this instead of using the external attena socket on the booster ariel. is this safe? i want better tv reception. thankyou

Answer 1

I have that set up.Outside aerial into booster and booster into tv.

Answer 2

I'd try the TV without the booster first.

Make sure you have proper aerial cable (usually the thick brown sort used by contractors), called low loss.

The thin stuff bought from the high street can act as an aerial itself and cause interference if you use more than a few feet, so if you connect your aerial booster when using it, it will boost the interference as well.

When did you last have the aerial checked? Even a slight adjustment to the positioning of the aerial might make enough difference to the picture that you might be able to do without the booster. It could also be that you are using an unsuitable aerial, in other words one that was put up 20+ years ago and not looked at since.

Answer 3

there isn't much you can do that isn't safe with arials, except wire them into the mains, arials hae tiny voltages and current passing through them, except in a thunder storm, there is no reason not to l**k the end of an arial if you so wished. with regards to your question, due to the tiny voltages and currents, joining wires and trying to bodge some connection on something that isn't meant to be, is more likely to make the signal worse. a plug in booster is really cheap, then you run a coxial from the wall to the booster plugged into a socket beside your tv, then coxail from the booster to the tv.

here is an example http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Modu...

Answer 4

Some booster aerials have a jack to allow connection to an external aerial. There's nothing dangerous about aerial connections as the signal is more about keeping 'ohms' (resistance) down rather than voltage. Each time a connection is made the resistance is increased, thus the signal weakened. However, if the gain (boost) is high enough this will counter the resistance and improve your signal. Your instruction book for the booster aerial should be able to give you a rough idea of maximum allowable ohms when connecting to an external arial. If this is not the case, generally a maximum level of 75 ohms from tv jack to external aerial is permissable. You can measure this by using an electronic meter, but generally if you have a good gain range on the internal booster and minimum connections (soldered or otherwise), you should be ok.