Help with television cable routing.

[RyanN]

I'm trying to track down a problem with our antenna reception on our 1985 45' Hatteras Convertible. So far, I know that the television cables from around the boat meet at a splitter in front of the starboard engine at a booster. The booster may not be working, but I have a booster beside me that will replace it. From the booster, it goes to a cable selection switch in a galley cabinet. I assume the shore cable goes directly to the box in the back of the boat. The antenna cable goes back to the front of the starboard engine to a white box. I'm not sure what this box does at all.

It's white, has a brown AC cable with plug coming out of it, then a weird connector (round with pins inside of it) and then 3 wires that look to be telephone wires. What the heck is this and is it needed to an antenna reception?

There is also the coaxial cable going to this unknown white box. I assume this goes to the antenna, but the reception is very bad. I would really like to know where this cable goes (it's black if that helps). I can only assume that this cables goes to the antenna with the round globe looking thing on the end. Or maybe that is another GPS antenna? If anyone has a wiring diagram, I would love to get it.

[Bob Bradley]

You do realize this will be a moot point in 59 days when analog tv goes away.

[stormchaser]

??? Antennas, boosters & cabling have nothing to do with the conversion to pure digital. The only thing that gets effected is what kind of device can recieve the signals. The TV must have a digital tuner...or you can use a converter box if you don't have a DTV.

[RyanN]

I'm aware of the digital transition, but the antenna and signal quality are still very important for digital TV. If I can get analog signals to come in clear, then digital ones should work well. Right now I can get a fuzzy picture of our local news station about 10 miles away. It's in color and acceptable, but the digital connection is going to be horrible. The booster did help a bit, but not to the point that I'm satisfied. For the 10 stations I can get here at home, I can only get 1 on the boat, then another kind of comes in half of the time. It seems like the signal pulsates on both TV's between getting a decent picture and not getting a picture at all.

[Trojan]

All the TV stations will remain on the same frequency that they occupy today. Only the mode of transmitting and receiving will change. The main difference is in the digital mode they can split up the channel and create multi channels on the same frequency. Currently there are not any new TV frequencies available from the FCC. This is the main reason for the change. The next reason is the TV stations will gain new channels.

BILL

[SKYCHENEY]

All the TV stations will remain on the same frequency that they occupy today. Only the mode of transmitting and receiving will change. The main difference is in the digital mode they can split up the channel and create multi channels on the same frequency. Currently there are not any new TV frequencies available from the FCC. This is the main reason for the change. The next reason is the TV stations will gain new channels.

BILL

Bill,
I'm not sure this is correct. All of the frequencies appear to be changing. My VHF analog channel 6 is now channel 59 UHF for digital and analog channel 10 VHF is now channel 57 UHF for the digital signal. It is my understanding that all of the channels are now going to be UHF and this will free up the VHF band for first responders transmissions.

[Trojan]

Sky is that free air or cable. As far as I know There has been no changes in frequency. The transfer from vhf to UHF could be just the stations allocation of frequency and with the expansion of digital. They may just be combing all there channels into one frequency. A big cost savings. UHF frequencies produce cleaner signals. But the fringe areas will suffer. Cable companies can use any channels they want. They create there own channels. I don't know there restriction. I've been wrong before, but I believe this to be correct. All the new TVs still receive VHF and UHF.

BILL

[Avenger]

If they're not changing anything I wonder what airwaves the FCC is planning to auction off after the switch to digital.

[RyanN]

PM me if anyone wants some pictures of this thing... I have to have 15 posts or more, so maybe later I can post them. I still have no idea what it is. Inside of it I noticed that the plastic was melted a bit from the power wires going in. Definitely doesn't sound like it's boat safe. Maybe it is a powered antenna?

[SKYCHENEY]

Sky is that free air or cable. As far as I know There has been no changes in frequency. The transfer from vhf to UHF could be just the stations allocation of frequency and with the expansion of digital. They may just be combing all there channels into one frequency. A big cost savings. UHF frequencies produce cleaner signals. But the fringe areas will suffer. Cable companies can use any channels they want. They create there own channels. I don't know there restriction. I've been wrong before, but I believe this to be correct. All the new TVs still receive VHF and UHF.

BILL

Bill,
That is free air. Like I said, I heard that the VHF television is done and it will all be UHF to free up space for first responders. The new TV's will show it as 6.1 or 6-1 instead of channel 6, but it is really a UHF signal that is on channel 59 as an example.