One of our tenants would like a TV in their room. The aerial in question hasn't been used for over 10 years, way before the switch over to digital. We don't even know if it still works. I was wondering would we need to have it repositioned in order to receive freeview channels? Or is it a case of sticking on a connector then connecting it to the TV. The actual antenna is just above the window of the room in question so the cable would be quite a short run; a few metres at the most.
TV Antenna – Determining the Need for a New or Repositioned TV Aerial for Freeview
tv-antenna
Related Solutions
- There's no such thing as a Digital Antenna, the radio wave being intercepted by the antenna doesn't care what it looks like, only that its electrical specs capture the signal. Those fancy cut weird antennas that are made to look digital are just a sales ploy to increase the selling price.
- You probably need a new antenna with clean connections to the active elements and more gain that the old one you're replacing.
- Digital TV is very sensitive to signal strength. Passive splitters decrease signal strength, long cable runs reduce signal strength. If you're going to have long cable runs, use a distribution amplifier instead of a passive splitter and use low-loss quad-shielded RG-6 for all your runs to reduce signal loss both before and after the amplifier.
Yes, satellite dishes are frequently powered by DC current over the coax connection. The DC power comes from a "line power inserter" which will attach somewhere to the coax before it reaches the TV's. It may be a single connection or a splitter as well, but either design will connect to an outlet.
Edit: As others have mentioned in the comments below, the injector may also be built into your set top box.
Best Answer
The antenna should be fine, the frequencies are still the same, it is the format of the information being transmitted that has changed.
If that antenna is to be attached to a TV that hasn't been used for 10 years, odds are good that the TV will require a digital to analog converter box.