Anton Redman Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 At a friend’s house in France who was given an Atlanta DTT 570, Digital Terrestrial Receiver from Engel Systems SARL as a received as a birthday present so taking it back is not an option. The existing aerial is pointing in about the right direction verified by comparison to local houses,compass and satellite dishes. It is roof mounted on a pole about 12 metres in total off the ground. On terrestrial analogue SECAM the picture is very snowy. Co ax run from aerial is in good quality cable but about 10 metres long. The terrestrial analogue picture is no better than we got when we took an indoor aerial outside to watch New Years celebration on French TV a couple of years ago. The box pick-ups two locks on auto tuning but does not show any channels. On manual tuning channels 62 and 30 show about 40 % quality and 30 % signal strength but do not lock. The connection to the Antenna is through a masthead amplifier which has one other lead which disappears through the roof void but no longer receives power. Figures below are the best I can obtain for local reception strength TNT-R1 23H 229° 32.5km 48.8dBµV/m on (France2, France3, France5, Arte, LCP, chaîne locale)TNT-R2 59H 229° 32.5km 41.7dBµV/m on (Direct8, France4, BfmTv, Virgin17, Gulli, i>Télé)TNT-R3 62H 229° 32.5km 42.3dBµV/m on (C+HD, CanalJ, C+Ciné, C+Sport, Planète, Tps Star)TNT-R4 44H 229° 32.5km 32.3dBµV/m on (M6, W9, NT1, Paris Première, Arte HD)TNT-HD 41H 229° 32.5km 32.7dBµV/m on (TF1 HD, France2 HD, M6 HD)TNT-R6 30H 229° 32.5km 47.5dBµV/m on (TF1, LCI, Eurosport, TF6, Nrj12, Tmc) Distance and direction to the transmitter are correct. Nearest other transmitter is 150 kilometres away. I do not know what the installer who provided the above figures was using as an antenna What would you do ? A. Buy a masthead amplifier which can be powered by the 5 volts DC the TNT receiver can supply ?B. Put up scaffold and try and align the antenna better using the TNT decoder box. To check signal strengthC. Wait till November 2011and analogue switch off and see if the digital/numerique reception improvesD. Buy a log periodique antenna in France E. Buy an appropriate antenna from Satcure and pick up when I am in the UK in DecemberF. Buy the E book on UK digital TVG. Any other ideas ?Will a masthead amplifier with no power act as an attenuator? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flittle Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 If the masthead amplifier has no power then in effect there is no aerial, any signal being received is probably being picked up on the cable.I came across this problem often when people had moved house, the new owner would have no television because the previous owner had taken the power unit with him.The simplest answer would be to try to source a new power unit.Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Anton - I guess the installer was using thishttp://www.tnttest.org/to do a prediction. I recognise the layout of those figures. I can get very similar figures by moving the test point around near St Martin de Laye.That site - whilst useful - does not always give very accurate answers; my French contact (who compiles the TNT channel list for Telesat magazine each month and is a recognised expert) has queried some of the predictions with the owner of the website as the reality is often wide of the prediction.AnywayAs Frank says and you already doubtless know, a powerless amp acts as a pretty hard attenuator! I'd check the voltoage on the cable as near as you can get to the amplifier and if there isn't any I'd buy a proprietary power supply box. Most of the amps I've ever seen need 12 V so I'm not sure the TNT box at 5 V would do the trick. I don't need to tell you of all people to check the polarity of the power supply. CPC do lots, I'm sure Conrad do too.Only if the SECAM picture bursts into life would I then proceed. At 30 odd kms from Bouliac you shouldn't have much of a problem getting the TNT to work unless there's a local obstruction.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted October 13, 2009 Author Share Posted October 13, 2009 Sourced an amp in Leroy Merlin this afternoon which will work with any supply between 5v and 12v. Sat Cure have something similar. I will have another try tommorrow assuming weather is good. Not checked any other TNT receivers but 5 volts may be the spec for them. Can anybody advice what theirs puts out ?Do integrated TNT TVs have any facility for utting a low voltage up the coaxial feed ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted October 19, 2009 Author Share Posted October 19, 2009 It worked now have the full quota of channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.