New House only has F Cable for aerial. No signal when connecting to my TV even with adaptor

Forums › Online streaming services › New House only has F Cable for aerial. No signal when connecting to my TV even with adaptor

NZNewbie222

11 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#310510 26-Oct-2023 12:30

I just moved into a new house and want to see ordinary freeview channels on my tv.

I can see there is a standard aerial on the roof. But inside the house, there is no ordinary co-axial tv socket. Instead, there are only wires with an F cable. My Freeview capable TV only accepts ordinary coaxial cables, so I bought an F cable to coaxial adaptor from Mitre10 but the TV still says it is not receiving a signal. Am I doing something wrong? I don't want to call out for a TV aerial engineer and rather not pay for a TV stick for streaming tv.

1 | 2 | 3

537 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 206

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3152357 26-Oct-2023 12:49

My house is wired with f connectors, everything works fine for terrestrial or satellite. So you should be ok. Check to see if there is a distribution box somewhere the ‘run’ to your tv could be disconnected there.

toejam316

1516 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 888

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3152358 26-Oct-2023 12:50

Is it new-new or new to you? Possibly there's something in a comms box that isn't connected, or connected correctly. Would be worth a hunt around if you're unsure.

Join Quic Broadband with my referral - no sign up fee and gives me account credit

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

trig42

5889 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2094

ID Verified

#3152359 26-Oct-2023 12:53

When you say standard TV Aerial on the roof - how standard are we talking? Like an OLD VHF antenna, or a UHF antenna?

Is there also a dish somewhere?

If no dish, and there are many F-Connector wall plates, I'd be looking for the splitter from the aerial to those wall plates to check everything there is connected.

NZNewbie222

11 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#3152369 26-Oct-2023 13:12

Thanks for the replies everyone. You are all so kind to help! This is a picture of the aerial. I looked under the house and the wire (to which ends in the F cable) goes straight to the aerial to the roof, so no intermediate box or anything that I can see. So a bit stumped now. It's not a new house - it's just new to me. I have fired off a question to previous owner to see how they connected their tv, but not sure if they will respond.

trig42

5889 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2094

ID Verified

#3152371 26-Oct-2023 13:15

Definitely a UHF aerial.

Can you see any on your neighbour's rooves? Are they pointing the same way?

Have you shifted towns, or shifted within the same town? Your TV may need to completely re-tune.

NZNewbie222

11 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#3152372 26-Oct-2023 13:17

Thanks. I have shifted within Auckland - just 10 miles. I guess I could press the auto retune on the tv... wasn't sure if that would just make it worse...?

Geekzone support

Support Geekzone with one-off or recurring donations Donate via PressPatron.

openmedia

3449 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 878

Trusted

#3152373 26-Oct-2023 13:18

Check for a distribution panel. A lot of newer houses have one ins a cupboard or garage where the TV aerial is split across multiple rooms. There is a chance your room isn't connected, or the splitter is impacting the signal.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

wellygary

8810 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5287

#3152377 26-Oct-2023 13:27

NZNewbie222:

Thanks for the replies everyone. You are all so kind to help! This is a picture of the aerial.

Looks like your reception is near the fringe, but assuming the previous owners had it going i would do a auto scan and see what comes up...

You may have moved from one transmitter area to another,

NZNewbie222

11 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#3152379 26-Oct-2023 13:35

Thanks all. It's an old house (1980s). Can't see any splitter or panel anywhere - the cable goes from lounge to underneath the house and then up to the roof wihtout anything breaking the wire. I tried retuning but tv detected no signal. I think I may just have to bite the bullet and pay for an aerial person to come out or the cheaper option of buying a stick for the tv to stream channels. 😥

kevg

1 post

Wannabe Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#3152392 26-Oct-2023 14:12

Perhaps the aerial had a masthead amplifier on it and the previous owner has removed the power supply from tv end of the cable?

NZNewbie222

11 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#3152395 26-Oct-2023 14:15

OH! Thanks Kevg! I will look into that and see if the previous owner used that. 😊

New World

Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

lxsw20

3689 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2174

Subscriber

#3152404 26-Oct-2023 14:37

A retune of the TV is the first step to take here.

NZNewbie222

11 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#3152411 26-Oct-2023 15:28

Issue solved. Previous owner said that F cable in lounge was for Sky box only. Normal TV co-axial cable for tv aerial only available in upstairs bedroom. Looks like I will be buying a tv stick for the lounge TV! Any suggestions for best inexpensive freeview tv stick welcome!

huckster

886 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 460

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3152416 26-Oct-2023 15:42

NZNewbie222:

Issue solved. Previous owner said that F cable in lounge was for Sky box only. Normal TV co-axial cable for tv aerial only available in upstairs bedroom. Looks like I will be buying a tv stick for the lounge TV! Any suggestions for best inexpensive freeview tv stick welcome!

Where's the dish? Can you link the dish cable to the aerial?

NZNewbie222

11 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#3152417 26-Oct-2023 15:47

Thanks Huckster. The Sky dish and the standard aerial are both on the roof, and I am not brave enough to climb up and fiddle with the wires myself. So that means I would have to pay for someone to do it, so I might as well just use a stick for freeview (given call out rates of aerial people!).

1 | 2 | 3