No Saorview reception - possibly old setup

Escapees

Have moved house but there appears to be no reception on the TV (definitely Saorview compatible). I don't know and can't find out if Saorview ever worked here with this setup.

In the attic, there appears to be a professional setup - there is a wideband grid-type aerial connected to a 'mixer' box which then connects to what looks like a powered amplifier/splitter combo unit with 2 outputs, one of which goes on to the TV.

The first 'mixer' box is unpowered and has the aerial connected to a UHF input with the other VHF input unused, and then the output of this goes on to the powered amplifier/splitter unit. There are adjustment POTs on the first box for the UHF and VHF side of things but I have not touched these and presume that noone else did!

The aerial is solidly fixed in the attic and looks to be pointed in the right direction of one of the nearest transmitter masts. Also, I have checked the continuity of the cables between things in the attic and the TV and all are fine.

So...

- Could the unpowered 'mixer' box be faulty? I don't understand why it's even needed if there's no VHF aerial connected.

- Could the powered amplifiers/splitter units be faulty? The green power light is on alright. Note that I came across some posts in another thread about a powered splitter not being compatible with digital signals but I presume this can't be true?

I'm trying to resist messing around with things until I know for sure there's not something silly going on here!

The Cush

The UHF/VHF combiner (masthead amp/combiner maybe) may have had a VHF aerial connected to it before, not needed now so it can be removed from the installation.

What is your recommended transmitter - http://www.saorview.ie/get-saorview/make-the-switch/coverage-map/

If you can, also bypass the distribution amplifier (or power supply unit for the combiner above) and see if you can get the Saorview signal at the TV.

A picture of the units or make/model of the amps/combiners would be helpful.

Escapees

Thanks The Cush. That's what I was thinking of doing next so I'll try bypassing these units later. Nearest transmitter is Casla in Galway which aerial seems to be facing towards alright.

I just go through the automatic installation menu option on the TV to tune it but no digital or analog channels are ever found after a few mins. There is a digital reception test option where you can enter an exact frequency - any recommendation for one here if all else fails and I want to try adjusting the aerial position with a helper at the TV?

I knew I should have taken a photo when I was last up there alright! I'm away from the house at the mo but will do this when I'm next there if the above doesn't work.

winston_1

It is unlikely the aerial has moved in the loft so don't try adjusting it, find the real fault.

Escapees

Just a belated update on this - bypassed the UHF/VHF combiner and got some digital reception at TV. Noticed that the cable from the aerial seemed to almost fall out at the combiner so the issue may have been a loose clamping screw rather than the actual unit itself.

Anyway, found I also had to adjust the aerial a small bit to get a clean signal. The only issue or strange thing is that some channels are missing like RTE1 and UTV, no matter how the aerial is adjusted. I put this down to the fact that it's a loft aerial rather than outdoors but... the strange thing is that when I use a sat/DVB tuner box rather than going direct to the TV, it gets ALL the channels. Have tried another TV with a built-in tuner and it too is missing the same channels, RTE1 and UTV.

Is it simply that the tuner box has a better amp or design than the inbuilt ones in the TVs (Panasonic and Philips)? Strangely also, if I bypass the amplifier in the attic near the aerial, it makes no difference to what's picked up. You'd think that if the reception was borderline that all the channels might disappear then?

Thurston?

Can you post photos of the 'combiner' & 'amplifier', or any make & model info?

Escapees

All good now -> missing channels just appeared tonight so must be just a poor reception issue with the aerial being in the attic. I suspect the amplifier up there might not be working anymore but I'm not able to get back up there for a while so am happy with things as they are.

Thurston?

As was mentioned in post #2, the 'amplifier' might just be a power supply, with the actual amplifier being located in the UHF/VHF combiner, as you say there are adjustments possible there.

If the cable connection to the combiner/amplifier/whatever was poor, it's possible its DC power supply was disrupted.