Got bored this afternoon - now what?

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by HPsauce

I'm not that hopeful of using the existing aerials

But I have had a moment of inspiration and am going to try something clever to use one of them at a time (switchable by replugging) for testing.

I happen to have (just kicking around) a spare "power supply" for an Antiference masthead amplifier. This is mains driven and puts 12V up the core on the aerial side.
So I've pulled it apart, removed the AC input side, checked how it works (pretty simple) and rewired/replugged it so that the incoming "power" cable is DC and puts that voltage out to the aerial but not the tuner. All tested, passes a signal OK and does what I want. Next I'll fit one of the WICLIC plugs I have onto the power lead and plug that into one of the 4 unused aerial sockets on the TV tuner - instant "phantom" power supply that (via the adaptor I've made) can now link to whichever of the 4 existing aerial leads I choose.

(To be honest I thought it was something like this that the guy in Edinburgh was making - a 3-way lead that picked up power from the tuner and passed it to the aerial while passing the TV signal in another direction - but it's not, just a simple unpowered connector)

It's currently a sizeable box (though will still fit behind the panel in the boot) but requires a collection of adapters on the aerial leads. If it works I'll repackage it in something smaller and solder on leads with more appropriate connectors. I might then fit the spare 4-way WICLIC socket that I have so that I can try multiple ariels connected in parallel, though I suspect that will have some very odd effects on the signals; well it would on analogue, on digital I'm not so sure....