Variable Attenuator, Black

My signal strength was too high. Apparently you want a signal strength around 75% - any higher and it can overload your freeview tuner causing it to cut out. I was getting around 90% (despite being 24km from emley moor and not having a signal booster) and my signal was dropping to 0% every 10-20 seconds as the tuner overloaded.A quick and dirty fix was to not connect the aerial cable fully to the freeview box, just have it loosely touching enough to stay in place - this dropped the signal strength down to 70% and works perfectly as long as nobody touches it. Maybe give that a try first if you're not sure this is what you need.This cheap signal attenuator sorted it out properly (I also needed a male to male coax coupler to go with it). The dial can change my signal strength from about 50% at the lowest setting to about 80% at the highest. It has a notch in the middle that gives me around 70% strength - perfect! Signal quality is still always 100%.As others have mentioned the back came off straight away. In fact it arrived back to front. You can see there's some resin glue but it's not stuck. Not a problem though, it's underneath so easy to ignore or stick back on with bluetack or something. The dial is actually quite nice quality with the central notch I mentioned great for helping tweak something that's probably going to be out of sight down the back of your TV cabinet. Not that you should be too bothered about something you're getting to degrade your signal ...

Not only do I live in a place where I can tune into three different TV transmitters, I have also got to contend with mobile phone interference which chiefly messes up the sound on TV at tea time but my DVD recorder will cut off recording from hard drive to DVD amongst other interference. I tried 3 and 6 signal attenuators but they couldn't keep the signal out so I was still looking for something better and eventually came across a variable attenuator, see the gadget above. You'll need to have two aerial connection leads with a connector in your living room or wherever you watch your TV. Take the connector out and put this attenuator in between the two leads. Most importantly, DO NOT tune your TV in with it connected because it will cut back on the number of channels you have available. If you have to re-tune, take it out of the connection. Turn the dial to minimum and you'll have no channels showing. Near maximum and you'll let most through so you'll have to adjust to what works for you. I found for a while it was better to leave it out of the link under the interference happened and then put it back in the link for a final adjustment and got it right 95% of the time and haven't taken it out since. The odd signal will get through and any changes at that point will have to be subtle not spinning the dial and I'm sure a minor adjustment on the dial will resolve this. What makes this attenuator a good buy is that for what it does, its also cheap enough to buy a couple so if you have interference with any other aerial bases sets in your house, then its ready to be put line. With mobile phone transmitter interference growing, you might find this your best option.

After the UK digital TV switch, we found that the local signal we received was too strong and causing overload. So I sought a signal attenuator to resolve this.I deliberately wanted one with easily variable attenuation, in case one with a fixed value was not appropriate for our need.The design of this one, and even its appearance, admittedly of minor importance, appealed to me.I am happy to say that it is performing its intended function well.On the minus side, I will add that it appears very cheaply made. Upon opening the package, the back came adrift. The components inside ARE very cheap, but no matter; I replaced its backing plate and secured it with tape. Inelegant perhaps, but that sorted it. That is why I deducted a single star from my rating.More importantly, it serves well so no problem.Service from Electrovision via Amazon was prompt and the price was fine too. A satisfied customer :-)

TV picture is working now and doesn't keep cutting out

I can not gripe too much for £2.90. Having fitted a new aerial I just wanted to see if my TV signal was too strong. Apparently this can cause problems and sometimes shows as 'poor signal' on some TVs. It did not help me, but that probably just means that my signal is in fact too weak and my TV had not lied. The back had fallen off when it arrived which did not inspire confidence. Also, there is no indication of whether 'min' and 'max' refer to output signal, or attenuation (I think its attenuation). Probably worth a go if you think strong signal might be an issue.

Got this because my TV wasn't displaying and recording high power signals correctly.Like other reviews suggest, the attenuator's back fell off the second I got it out of the bag. The dial is also labelled in reverse: hi is lo and vice versa.The interior looks like it was wired by a kid who found a soldering iron and thought it'd be funny to stick components randomly to a piece of fibreglass.Then again, it was ridiculously cheap, and it does the job fine.

I would have given this 5 stars but it arrived damaged. However the supplier offered an immediate replacement. As the unit was still working I just kept the one with the damaged case. However in function it is fine, just what I wanted. I had connected my Sky+ box to my kitchen TV but the Freeview signal was too strong and caused a problem with the Sky picture. Fitting this attenuator in line has cured the problem and I now have a perfect Sky and Freeview picture.