Can I use old SkyTV UHF aerial for Freeview and is it already pointed at Waiatarua?

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Newbie493

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#61111 9-May-2010 23:31

Hi

I have searched the other topics and this doesn't seem to be covered and so ....

I have an old SkyTV UHF aerial on my roof. I live at [number removed] Balmain Rd in Birkenhead, North Shore, on the West side of the road and our property is down from the ridge. We can see the Waitakeres clearly but not the CBD and Sky Tower. The Sky UHF aerial points sort of South West.

We have recently purchased a new HD TV and like our old TV I didn't have any other aerial and so I just plugged the Sky aerial into it. We get 9 channels. TV1 is bad reception but viewable, TV2 and TV3 are okay and the other channels (UHF I think) are generally great.

I have two questions:
1) If I buy a Freeview set top box and plug it into the Sky aerial, will I get Freeview HD and if so presumably I will get clearer reception for TV1, TV2 and TV3?

2) Is the old SkyTV UHF aerial correctly orientated to receive the UHF Freeview signal from Waiatarua?

The best I can tell is that it should be pointing further South (looking at Google maps). I can't find any documentation about where the old SkyTV UHF transmitter was situated. I have assumed that the SkyTV aerial is correctly orientated for the old SkyTV UHF transmitter.

Can anyone help with these questions please

mentalinc

3244 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#328343 10-May-2010 07:11

Might want to remove your address.

But yes it should work fine.

Surprised your new tv doesnt have freeview already...

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robjg63

4100 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#328396 10-May-2010 09:48

Ditto what Mentalinc said - If the TV is new (as in brand new - rather than new to you), are you sure it doesnt have a builtin freeview tuner?

Only the Konka/DSE and a few other cheaper ones dont seem to have builtin Freeview tuners. What brand/model is it?

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

Newbie493

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#328644 10-May-2010 18:13

Hi

It is a Transonic 32 Inch Full HD LCD TV SRO8080 from the big red shed. Cheap ($599) but full HD at 1920 x 1080. As far as I can tell it doesn't have a Freeview tuner, just a standard TV tuner.

Thanks for the feedback and just to be clear, is the current SkyTV aerial correctly orientated? I have assumed that because I am getting a reasonable signal without having a digital tuner that we are probably already getting a good signal and that would indicate that the aerial is correctly aligned. Is my assumption likely to be correct?

robjg63

4100 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#328705 10-May-2010 20:57

Newbie493: Hi

It is a Transonic 32 Inch Full HD LCD TV SRO8080 from the big red shed. Cheap ($599) but full HD at 1920 x 1080. As far as I can tell it doesn't have a Freeview tuner, just a standard TV tuner.

Thanks for the feedback and just to be clear, is the current SkyTV aerial correctly orientated? I have assumed that because I am getting a reasonable signal without having a digital tuner that we are probably already getting a good signal and that would indicate that the aerial is correctly aligned. Is my assumption likely to be correct?

If you can see the Waitakeres and thats where the aerial is pointing I would be fairly confident that you should just be able to plug a Freeview HD decoder in and it 'ought' to work. Of course there are a few factors like cabling that could be a consideration - but fingers X'd you should be ok.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

Deev8

481 posts

Ultimate Geek

#329074 11-May-2010 19:14

Newbie493: Is the old SkyTV UHF aerial correctly orientated to receive the UHF Freeview signal from Waiatarua?

It's easy to tell which transmitter your signal is comming from if you can find the channel numbers (or frequencies) for the analogue channels you can receive. You normally can find that from the TV's tuning menu.

Waiatarua transmits Prime on channel 59 and Maori TV on channel 43. If you are getting good reception of Prime and Maori TV on 59 and 43, then you will almost certainly get good Freeview|HD reception with your existing aerial set-up.

Newbie493

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#330862 17-May-2010 12:16

Thanks for the reply.

I ended up getting a Freeview set top box and plugged it all in. After some initials problems it now works fine with usually good reception. The problems that I do get now and then I think are related to the aerial plug that goes into the set top box, it is loose and doesn't have a connection between the braid and the set-top box aerial connector. As I said earlier, this is an old sky UHF aerial and cable and it is terminated with an unusual plug. The centre post is standard but instead of having a corresponding length external contact for the braid, it has been stripped back by about 15mm and then has a screw on connector. I went looking for some sort of male/female adaptor and thought that I had found one in DS that had a normal TV aerial plug one end and a male screw type at the other end but the problem was that the female screw cap fitting on the old sky aerial is too far away (15mm) to reach the thread on the adaptor body. Is it possible to get an adaptor for the old sky connectors or should I be thinking about cutting the Sky plug off and replacing it with a more standard fitting? If I have to cut it off then I am concerned that I don't have any proper tools for stripping the insulation off the cable and so will probably hash it up. While in DS I did spot what looks like a cable-end plug that can be installed without special tools that just screws on and as it is screwed on the screwing action forces some teeth into the insulation, presumably to reach the braid. Has anyone used these and is this my best option and if it is are there any tricks to using these connectors correctly.

Deev8

481 posts

Ultimate Geek

#330994 17-May-2010 18:36

From the description it's difficult working out what type of plug you have on the aerial cable (it's not an easy thing to describe). Is it possibly an F Connector that looks a bit like this?

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Snowflake

#331076 17-May-2010 21:17

Newbie493: Hi

It is a Transonic 32 Inch Full HD LCD TV SRO8080 from the big red shed. Cheap ($599) but full HD at 1920 x 1080. As far as I can tell it doesn't have a Freeview tuner, just a standard TV tuner.

cheap..... until you have to buy a set top box for freeview..... there have been a few name brand full hd 32" units with freeviewHD tuners around for under $800 lately.

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