my son broke his areial socket in his room with it coming away from the wall we have tried to fix it, and tried a new fitting, but it has affected all the other televisions in the house all the pictures are really bad and there are constent lines running down they are unwatchable.
What can i do?

elaine, March 2010

The problem you have only began when the aerial socket was damaged and replaced... there is a strong chance that your repair eforts have caused the problem.

Coaxial aerial cable has a solid signal conductor in the middle and a braid sheath of fine woven wires around the outside as a screen - sometimes one of the fine wires touches the inner conductor and wrecks the signal - sometimes the screen wires do not get connected to the earthing connector as they should and wreck the signal.

Begin by dismantling the new aerial socket and make sure the braided screen wires are not touching anything they shouldn't - while it's apart test the other TVs in the house.

Good luck...

Peccavi, March 2010