TV TROUBLE

Unhappy Wife

The other night, the TV stopped working.  Home and Away was getting missed and the wife wasn't happy.

About 10 years ago I installed an active antenna, and used some crimp connectors to terminate the Quad Shield RG6.  This cable carries both the RF signal and 5V DC to power the amp. 

A quick measure with the multimeter showed that the volts were around 2V at the feed to the amp so it looked like there was an issue with the cable.  

The outer insulation looked ok, but there was grey powder at the crimp connection itself.  

So I stripped back the outer jacket to find:

- that I was right.  The cable was stuffed.  

It was cold, dark and I had no tools to work RG6 and F connectors, what could I do?

With nothing to lose, I tried wrapping the connector with Al-foil.  Complete bodge.

So I wrapped it with duct tape.  To make it a professional repair. :)

I then hooked it back up to the amp, with a new connecting cable.

And, Success!

Doing It Right the Second Time

Ok, so the bodge worked, but for how long?  Time to fix it properly.

Aliexpress to the rescue - bunch of connectors and compression tool for < $20 delivered.  Awesome. 

Took literally 3 minutes to chop off the old end and fit the new connector.  

Compared to the sawging type of connector, this was simple and easy to fit!

I din't get a before pic - but the whole reason the cable corroded was that I'd simply ran it through a hole in the eaves, and it was exposed to the elements.  So this time I finally fitted the mounting plate I had in my parts bin for 10 years.....

I also fitted a new connector cable between the antenna and the mounting plate.

Job Done, Happy Wife, time to enjoy the Happy Life!