QUOTE(Sus @ 28 Dec 2009, 08:34 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I have programed my digital tele in upstairs and its plugged into the aerial in the loft but i still dont get any signal. Can someone advise me if i need to change the aerial or would a booster help I really havent a clue about these things, and my daughter got a freeview tv for christmas and wants to be able to watch it too.
Sus, I was a tv/brown goods engineer in a previous career and I'm not sure the aerial is to blame. Unless you are in a particularly poor signal area you should get a picture with a coat-hanger, if you can get analogue picture with a loft aerial then that is a good sign as poor areas tend to need chimney/roof mounted antenna's.
Can you get pictures on another tele using the same aerial?
Other things to check are the aerial input on the back of the tv - digital tele's tend to have separate aerial inputs for analogue and digital channels. Also is your local transmitter vertically or horizontally polarised? (should the loft antenna be mounted flat or on its side?)
A word of warning for all members using roof-mounted antennas, make sure that rainwater cannot enter the co-axial cable, I saw loads of vcr's written off due to water entering the vcr and corroding the tuner (possibly the most expensive componant in the video) and never covered by the guarantee. So make sure the cap is on the antenna and that the coax cable doesn't chafe on the guttering in the wind.
If you do need a new aerial get it mounted outside nice and high with quality co-ax ie satelite type, the stuff with the foil shield and the sticky stuff inside