TV Aerial Splitting

[BeebMaster]

Just having a last-minute think about the house move. In the front room are various TV cables terminating in RF coax connectors and the other ends of these emerge with the same connectors in different rooms (all done behind the walls, so it all looks nice and neat, but tracing anything is nigh on impossible).

I need to make sure I've got the right bit of kit to link all the connections up. It seems like I need a box which takes the main aerial coming from outside, as its input, and then takes these various cables as individual outputs.

At home currently, we do already have something similar, but the box I have is a Labgear unit which has F-type connectors rather than RF coax. So can I take that with me and adapt it, either by using a converter piece from RF to F-type, if it exists, for the individual cables, or cutting off the RF connectors and adding new F-type connectors? I have all the right parts to add completely new F-type connectors if needed, because I bought bags of various types when I bought the Labgear box.

Or is it best to get a completely new box which can take the existing RF coax connections, and if so, anybody like to recommend anything? I haven't paid a lot of attention to this, but I think are at least 4 TV cables which need to be fitted.

[1024MAK]

If your distribution amplifier has F connector sockets, I would remove the existing Belling-Lee connector TV aerial plugs and replace with F connector plugs.

If you want a quicker solution, yes adaptors are available. If I understand you, this type (F-Male to TV Female) is what you need.

Mark

[BeebMaster]

Right, yes, thanks for the link. I definitely have the F-type connectors to add to the ends of the coax cable, so that's probably what I will do. It's possible that I do have similar adapters as well, but my inventory description is a bit vague on what I actually have. And the box they are stored in is now 55 miles away! (I think).

[BeebMaster]

And that box, BMH7, was one of the first we brought, so it was of course at the bottom of the furthest away stack of boxes, but I managed to get into it last night and wire up the Labgear amplifier thing, changing the RF connectors to F-type. I've run out though now and could do with a couple more, so I am going to have to figure out where is the nearest Screwfix or similar.

One of the several weird things about our new house is that the previous owners took off the RF connectors from the coax cable in the various rooms, just leaving the bare coax wire, but I re-used the connectors I replaced earlier for these.

[1024MAK]

A house my parents once bought had a number of 'bare' wires (okay, cables) sticking out of ceilings and walls where the fittings or switches had been removed...

Mark

[sweh]

Huh, I thought the ceiling rose had to be left. Or was this the short wire from the rose to where the light bulb holder would normally be?

[1024MAK]

Keep in mind that with the house I was referring to, it was back the 1980s. The light fittings, wall lights and dimmer switches had been removed.

Mark

[sP1d3r]

I have a simple 1 into 2 splitter which I use for my TV and my Freeview recorder, works great and gives a good quality picture on both.

1 into 2 coax splitter

[daveejhitchins]

I have a simple 1 into 2 splitter which I use for my TV and my Freeview recorder, works great and gives a good quality picture on both.
20240216_180001.jpg

Doesn't your Freeview recorder have an aerial in and out?

Dave H.

[BeebMaster]

In fact there is a 3-way splitter in the cubby hole in the loft space ("BeebShop Stock Room") but that's completely separate to the wiring downstairs, as the TV works in two bedrooms upstairs (after fitting RF connectors which were missing again) even without anything connected up downstairs. I'm still figuring out which is the third one. I think it's in the conservatory ("BeebMaster Creativity Workshop") as that's the only TV point I haven't had working yet, and one of the 3 feeds from that 3-way splitter again has no connector, and I've run out of F-types now. Nearest Screwfix is in Fleetwood.

[sP1d3r]

Doesn't your Freeview recorder have an aerial in and out?

It does, but I use a separate feed for the TV and the box to avoid signal degradation.
*Also because the TV box standby uses less power without a pass through signal, I think from reading the instructions.