Distributing Satellite or Cable TV throughout the house.

With the reduction in cost and increased availability of Televisions it has become common place to have more than one TV in your house. Often the second and subsequent TVs are located in bedrooms, kitchens and studies

Often when Satellite or cable TV is installed from the likes of Sky or NTL they will install it at the main TV only. Often these suppliers will sell other add ons that enable you to have additional satellite boxes in other rooms.

You can over come this is a number of ways however a good cheap solution that enables you to get the satellite channels in the other rooms is to distribute the RF output of your Satellite or Cable box to the other Televisions by using the popular Aerial Signal booster boxes.

These TV signal booster boxes are often installed in the Loft space and distribute the TV signal recieved from the Aerial to all Rooms/ TVs

Boosters or they are also know as TV Aerial Amplifiers are available that allow you to connect from 2 to many TVs.

The disadvantage of Booster type systems are that they need cables run to each TV, you can get AV senders (AV means Audio Video) that allow you to view what is on your 1st television on a second TV. These typically can only allow the connection of 2 TVs although you could use the recievers from a number of these AV systems to recieve the same signal in each room.

Installing a Satellite Distribution System

The Booster units are often designed to be located in the loft space close to the aerial however if you locate it next to you main TV you can distribute your Satellite and Video to all you TVs, this is great if you have Teenage Kids as they can watch other channels or a video in their room while you watch your programmes.

If your house already has a Booster installed in the loft space then you can use the existing coax cable and run another couple to allow the TV signal to be sent directly to the Satellite box then send the Satellite RF signal to the Booster box and then finally feed an amplified signal back to the Main TV.

Wherever you decide to locate your booster you need to run coaxial cable from your TVs and Aerial to this location.

Avoid:

• Running cable through Doorways, unless the cable can be hidden under the carpet (so it does not rub against the door when it moves/shuts)

• Along the top of the skirting boards; this is more an aesthetic thing as it often detracts from the looks of a room.

• Under the carpet across the middle of the room; it may not show initially however over time you will get a distinct line where the cable runs as the carpet wears and settles.

• Do not run across doorways for the above reason and also regular knocking of the cable could eventually break the conductors inside.

• Do not run the cable through the window frame; if you ever need to replace the windows it would be necessary to cut the cable or do more damage to your decoration by removing the cable all the way to the socket.

• Do not run the cable along the same line as live electric cables; If you run a aerial cable too far with a live electric cable you will get mains interferance which is a constant low humming noise on your TV sound or a constant dull wave going across your screen. It is ok to cross mains cable and run along it for very short runs.

Good installation Practice

• Wherever possible hide the cable either by placing under floor boards or in conduit.

• Run cables around the edge of rooms either in the space below the skirting board or in between the skirting board and the carpet gripper.

• Run around a room edge rather than across a doorway

• If you run a cable outside use an external cable, typically these are sheathed in brown plastic. Internal cable is typically not resistant to the suns ultraviolet rays and will breakdown over time causing failure of the cable.