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Thread ID: 125833	2012-07-22 07:03:00	Help with UHF aerial location & solder repair please	sooby (15023)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1290041	2012-07-22 07:03:00	howdy all! I have two questions for you lovely folk, I hope you can answer: 1/ Are my trees going to obscure a freeview UHF aerial? 2/ How do I repair a solder connection on the UHF aerial? The Tree issue: As you can see from the following photos, the existing VHF aerial is rather close to some large trees, and I'm fearful that this could hamper freeview reception. Our existing reception is as clear as can be, so hope that helps. images.trademe.co.nz images.trademe.co.nz Solder: While I was doing a dummy run of installing the UHF aerial, I was too heavy handed and ended up breaking the aerial connection to the circuit board. This photo shows how the pin from the aerial socket should be: images.trademe.co.nz This shows the pin solder joint lifting from the board: images.trademe.co.nz What would be the better way of fixing the socket pin, soldering a wire to it and terminating the other end of the wire just along from the original connection (scrapping back the PCB to bare copper first)? Any other ideas? Thanks for any input, much appreciated	sooby (15023)
1290042	2012-07-22 08:49:00	You can solder the inner cores directly to the pcb pads but make sure you secure the cable to the pcb with a good cable tie for strain relief before soldering. Route the cable out through the cabinet and terminate the new flylead with a female coaxial connector into which you can plug the downlead. Would only expect tree problem if you were using a dish with the tree fully leaf laden (line of sight requirement).	blanco (11336)
1290043	2012-07-22 09:18:00	As above, the tree will not be a problem unless signals from your previous terrestrial TV signal were very snowy. Soldering is another matter. Assuming that you do not have a soldering iton, or if you do, that it is a small tipped unit rated at 25 to 50 watts, first beg, borrow or buy some thin 60/40 resin-cored solder around 1mm in diameter. Jaycar can supply both a soldering iron and the solder at a very modest cost. Allow the iron to heat for five minutes or so, then tin the bit with solder (by melting .5cm of solder onto the operating face) so that it is all bright metal at the tip. Lightly wipe the surplus off on a slightly damp rag or a piece of squeezed-out kitchen sponge. Prepare the connnection by getting the cable and solder pad physically together (scraping back is fine, but tin that as well as the tip) and ensure that they will stay in contact without any further input from you. Then put the tip of the iron onto the wire you wish to secure and feed in 2-3mm of solder to the junction you wish to solder, i.e. feed it in under the tip of the iron so that it melts and flows into the iron tip and joint junction. Remove the iron tip as soon as the solder has flowed, wait for the joint to cool (20-30 seconds) then check that it is shiny and secure. If not, repeat. Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
1290044	2012-07-22 09:22:00	If you are getting a good signal now the trees will probably not be a problem however ideally you should have line of sight from your aerial to the transmitter anything in the way will reduce your reception strength. Your soldering problem is adequately covered by Blanco. Billy has said it all far better than I	CliveM (6007)
1290045	2012-07-22 09:32:00	I would avoid the trees if possible. A lot depends on your location and signal strength. I live in the country and found TV 1,2 & 3 seemed unaffected, but a lot of the others seem to have weaker signals, and I have improved our reception of these stations with some chainsaw surgery. Just a hint if you are putting up the aerial yourself, most of the flat screen TVs have a signal strength meter(usually hidden away somewhere in a labyrinth of settings) this is most useful to help setting up the direction of your aerial.	PPp (9511)
1290046	2012-07-22 09:38:00	Sorry guys, I forgot to mention the copper contact patch below the pin has been pulled off the circuit board, hence why I thought using a wire to re-route to another contact point on the board. I have borrowed a soldering iron, solder + flux. Thanks for the directions, will give it a bash!	sooby (15023)
1290047	2012-07-22 10:11:00	I would desolder and remove the coax socket and use the 2 pad holes (expanded) for the cable tie to secure the coax flylead. Clean a short length of both tracks back to the copper base and tin them with solder. Then solder the exposed coax inner cores to the tracks, observing polarity. Keep the inner cores as short as possible outside of the braided sheath. As an added precaution, I would also glue the cable sheath to the PCB for longevity.	blanco (11336)
1290048	2012-07-22 11:10:00	Sorry guys, I forgot to mention the copper contact patch below the pin has been pulled off the circuit board, hence why I thought using a wire to re-route to another contact point on the board. A common problem :D Just make sure you connect to all parts that hung off that pad. I wouldn't sweat the tree factor either. If your previous UHF reception was OK you have nothing much to worry about. I have a massive distribution system that includes a long underground feed to my separate garage 10 metres from the house, several outlets upstairs and three downstairs. I installed a modest distribution amp and all channels were originally good, but as the UHF antenna aged (20+ years) I lost Prime pretty much completely, then when I hooked in Freeview, all channels were perfect and have stayed that way. I even turned the distribution amp down to minimum gain to see what would happen and all channels were still ok, so it has stayed that way for well over a year now. I was a TV Tech and antenna 'expert' in another life, and planned aerial installations and distribution systems for years and I've never seen anything as resilient as Freeview Terrestrial. If my old system works, a piece of wet string would do just about as well. Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
1290049	2012-07-22 11:41:00	Thanks for that info Billy T, that give me hope! Would any copper core wire work, say 1.5mm single core?	sooby (15023)
1290050	2012-07-22 22:40:00	Your aerial looks a little different to most other UHF aerials I see, a new late model one is only around $85 anyway.:thumbs:	Arnie (6624)
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