I have been putting in some TV aerial co-ax cable into my house (in the UK). Before I put the floor down, I would like to test it to make sure I've connected it well enough. Due to the routing required, I've bough TV co-ax cable, routed it, and then put on standard connections on to the wires. So it's all done by me, by hand, so it is open to issues.
I know having a TV aerial wire is a bit old school, but it has been requested, and its easier and tidier to do now rather than after all the decoration and so forth.
Is there any easy way to test this for signal integrity? So far my ideas have been continuity testing (which will only check DC connection, so might be too poor to give a good TV signal), connect aerial and TVs (which is cumbersome) or get hold of RF generator and receiver and perform a proper RF test (very expensive).
Best Answer
It's old but it's new again. A lot of people here in the US are putting in antennas to receive broadcast television, getting rid of cable TV and watching what's available online, supplemented by local broadcasts.
A signal strength meter would be the right tool for the job, but it's an expensive tester for one time use.
Best thing to do would be to set up your antenna - even a temporary antenna - and connect a small TV directly to the antenna, and do a channel scan. Then take the TV around to each outlet and repeat the channel scan, and compare the results.
(If there's at least temporary power in the home for the builders at this point you can use a long extension cord, if not maybe you can get your hands on a UPS battery backup.)
If you get all your channels at all your outlets, you should be in good shape.
Usually RF coax cabling either works fine or fails miserably, so most (but not all) faults are easy to find.