Wireless Signal Boosters

Why does a plug in signal booster interfere with my Sky signal?

In order to watch one channel and record another after the digital switch over, I got a set top box. The digi signal isn't great here so I also got a plug in signal booster. It does its job for the digi, but for some reason I get a poorer quality picture from satellite now. It's definitely the signal booster causing it. The booster is 3 feet from the Sky receiver so how can it be interfering?

Public Comments

1. You must have cheap low quality scart leads. My advice is change them.
2. Electronic interference is not isolated to the wire. It will radiate through the thin layers of plastic.
3. it sends out signals which are interfering with the sky you should try to get an external signal set up
4. i had the same problem after using signal booster,the same thing about the poor quality picture. i solved it by using A/V cables to connect the satellite to tv,and it completely works fine now.try it and it will work great.
5. If you are selecting the Sky box by using the Sky box's native UHF channel (ch 36 or 38 usually) instead of a SCART connection then the problem could simply be that the booster is causing the rest of the UHF channels to overwhelm it. If you are using the SCART connection from your Sky box you still be aware that it also outputs on a UHF (for older tvs that don't have SCARTs). The booster could still be interfering with the Sky box internal modulator. A 3' gap may not be enough if they are sharing the same aerial wire. Boosters are not good things for digital television. Most of the cheaper ones (cheap = anything under £50 in this case) are poorly desinged and built. They spew out rf interference. They are bad at filtering incoming interference. They can distort the incoming digital signals and cause "dropped bits" in the digital signal (so you get a strong signal but it's low 'quality'). Also, if there is any interference or garble in the signal at the aerial the booster will amplify that too. Your booster will be guilty of one or more of the above offences. Really, the only good solution is for you to invest in a better outdoor aerial. This will cost £120-150 to be professionaly done, including a new high-quality downlead, and is a small price compared with the cost of your tv/video system. A really good high-gain aerial will enable you to feed your tv set and (via a proper splitter) the Freeview box conected to your VCR/DVD recorder. It's the only good way to get the best from it all.