Connecting aerial to TV
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Thread: Connecting aerial to TV

  1. #1
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    Connecting aerial to TV

    When my old TV died some years ago I decided to just watch TV through my PC. Recently someone gave me a TV because they had bought a smart one. I still have the TV aerial on my roof but with only about 2 metres of cable attached, as I cut the rest off. So I'll have to buy a length of aerial cable, coaxial I presume, to reconnect the TV. Will it be best to make a new connection at the aerial or join the new cable to the old one which is still attached to the aerial?

    Will I be able to get the extra freeview channels through my aerial connection or will I need to buy a freeview box for that?

  2. #2
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    Since it's only 2 meters of distance difference I'd buy a completely new one to avoid having to attach one or two connectors to the new cable to join them up. That way you would not have to buy the connectors separately or any kind of splicing/crimping tool to do it properly. Also if the connection is in an un-sheltered place like outdoors or in a damp or wet attic or in a wall then you won't have to worry about the joined connection getting wet or dirty and causing problems.

    As far as freeview channels, here in Canada/US we get all of our free OTA (over the air) channels tuned into our TVs by default without any extra gear/boxes. I'm not sure about the UK.

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  3. #3
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    Thank you. I presume it's not difficult to attach coaxial cable to the aerial?

  4. #4
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    That would depend on the aerial/antenna. Mine just has a jack to screw it in. You probably should have a look first though to see.

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  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by fink View Post
    That would depend on the aerial/antenna. Mine just has a jack to screw it in. You probably should have a look first though to see.
    Thank you again for your help.

  6. #6
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    No problem. Perhaps someone else will have info on the freeview thing.

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  7. #7
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  8. #8
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    If you google it I would think the owners manual of the TV will tell you if you need a set top box for freeview channels.

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  9. #9
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    From what I saw on the link I posted, some channels are you do not need a box for, others you do. There should be a channels list that indicates which are which.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by jdc2000 View Post
    Thank you.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by fink View Post
    If you google it I would think the owners manual of the TV will tell you if you need a set top box for freeview channels.
    Thank you.

  12. #12
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    The vast majority of roof aerials (roof antennas) are 300 ohm and have two identical terminals either with screws or thumbscrews or wingnuts. A few are 75 ohms and have have coax jacks Sometimes there are two pairs of terminals (or two coax jacks), one set for VHF and the other set for UHF. If there are paired screw terminals you can optionally use a twinlead cable (ribbon cable about 1/2 inch wide with two conductors one at each edge.

    Turn on the TV with any kind or any makeshift or no aerial connection. If you do not see and cannot get a menu on the screen with selections for cable, antenna, OTA (over the air), CATV, etc. then the TV requires a box (called ATSC to PAL or ATSC to NTSC or something like that and sold separately) between the aerial and itself to receive today's digital and HDTV channels over the air. You may stlll need the ATSC to NTSC box even if you do have a menu on the TV if the menu does not mention ATSC or HDTV as a choice.

    In some areas most of today's TV stations broadcast on UHF regardless of the channel number in their station ID announcement or screen display. So for starters use the UHF terminals on the aerial, the terminals connected to the smallest fins on the aerial. After you get it working, you can optionally connect up VHF if needed for some stations using the sams arrangements of cables.

    At some point you might wish you had a cable with two wires or lugs at one end and a coax connector at the other end. To do this you get a 300 to 75 ohm transformer which sometimes looks like and is the same size as a computer thumb driver or looks like an oversized coax cable plug that snaps on the stud jack in back of the TV. These come in different configurations notably with different gender connection combinations that you need to get right for your system. For example if the wire hanging down from the aerial ends in two short bare wires, then the transformer should have two screw or thumbscrew terminals at one end. Or if you have a loose cable end with coax screw on plug you need to connect up then the transformer needs a screw on stud at one end. They also make gender benders such as with two studs so you can connect together two cables each with a screw on or press on coax plug.

    An old roof antenna might be somewhat corroded that can impair its reception. Also, a brand new aerial of the same kind that used to pick up old (pre-digital) broadcasts from so many miles away can be expected to pick up today's digital stations up to just two thirds of that distance on average. Or, an aerial for todays' digital broadcasts needs to have more fins (not larger fins) to pull in stations from the distances you were used to. At least in the U.S. many of today's digital aerials have only small fins (for UHF) because less than 5% of today's stations use the VHF frequencies.


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    Last edited by AllanJ; September 25th, 2022 at 09:30 AM.

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