How To tell Solid Core Cable from Stranded

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Tinshed

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Topic # 21003 12-Apr-2008 16:00
I have bought one of these Zinwell STB to receive the new HD Freeview channels. I have connected it all up to an old existing UHF aerial but all I get his the message "No Signal". It might be that the aerial is stuffed. Or perhaps it is the cable from the wall plate to the STB. I read on these forums that "just make sure its solid core cable not stranded". I can I tell which is which? The cable I have is from DSE and is described as "F Type Male to Belling lee Male Flyhead 1.5m". Is this a "starnded" or "solid core" cable. as you can tell, I'm a newbie at this sort of thing, so be gentle :-)

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Reply # 123062 12-Apr-2008 16:25
Where are you? What is your closest transmission tower? Also does the aerial work with a standard TV tuner?

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Reply # 123063 12-Apr-2008 16:32
Whilst details like exact cable composition will effect your ultimate signal reliability, to have simply no signal means something more significant, like broken antenna, or a disconnect somewhere. As rscole asks, where are you, suburb and part of suburb (street if you dont feel worried about revealing that), which way and what polarity is your antenna pointing will help. Cyril

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Reply # 123078 12-Apr-2008 17:38
I am in Ngaio, near the Primary School, and have line of sight to Mt KauKau. I plugged the cable directly into the TV as suggested and was able to receive several channels, e.g. TV1, Prime, Maori TV, etc but most were poor quality with lots of 'snow'. Only TV1 was reasonably clear.

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Reply # 123079 12-Apr-2008 17:46
cyril7 will be able to give you a definite answer, but that signal does not sound good enough to run freeview. Now, it may just be your aerial needs replacing, or it could be your entire cable run. If you have perfect LOS to kaukau, then I wouls suggest grabbing a pair of rabbit ears in the mean time as they should work fine.

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Reply # 123136 12-Apr-2008 22:58
What's your current UHF aerial like? How many X's does it have? (for want of a better term)

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Reply # 123148 13-Apr-2008 07:19
Hi, in part of Ngaio reception can be out of sorts in places as you are so close you are virtually under the signal. That said you should be able to get reasonable reception even with a basic indoor antenna. However it does sound like you need to have an inspection of both your UHF antenna and cable to see if its not all corroded away to nothing. The fact that you say you have TV1 indicates your antenna has some VHF function, or the down lead does, but UHF performance may not even be connected. Are there infact two antennas, a VHF (large) one and a UHF one, and do they connect via a diplexer (box on the mast), this may be corroded. Cyril

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Reply # 123151 13-Apr-2008 08:58
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I am pretty sure the aerial and/or cable is munted. It was there before we got Sky digital back whenever that was and hasn't been used since. There are significant signs of rust on the aerial and heaven only knows what condition the cable is in as it appears to traversing inside or near the guttering. So I think a new aerial is the answer. I had thought on the off chance it might have been a "stranded" vs. "core" issue but it appears not. Incidentally, I am stopping SkyTV because I can no longer justify the nearly $1000 a year price tag. I am sooooo over the rugby and despite having a grazillion channels, still don't find that much to watch. And one of the few programs I watch regularly is TV3 News. I hope the new Freeview/HD world will be worth the switch. Are others experiencing the same or is it just me :-)