Replacement box outputs much weaker signal on the RF coaxial output

We've recently had an engineer out after experiencing some problems with our original STB (channel changing spontaneously, picture freezing and audio continuing).

We now have an new PACE box that look exactly the same as the old one (my wife was hoping for a nice silver one like her mother's but apparently they're hard to get hold of).

Because we live in an area with weak analogue reception, we didn't use a normal aerial, instead we had a (coaxial?) cable running from the TV output of the STB into the aerial input of the VCR (the VCR was also connected with a SCART cable). This is so that if we wanted to record two programs on different channels, we put the box on 101, set the VCR to record the AV channel for the first program then record the second from terrestrial "3".

The coaxial output of the new box however, only gives a very weak signal - the terrestrial channels are unwatchable. If I connect the cable input directly to the TV, however, the quality on terrestrial channels is fine. I spoke to someone at ntl who said that they no longer support this, but you can use a splitter before the box to do the same thing. That's fair enough, it's just a bit of a messier solution and it requires me to go and buy a different cable.

I just wondered if this thing about dropping support for the TV coaxial output was true or if there is a problem with this box, and if this is the case, why did ntl stop doing this?

it sounds like your original stb had a feature called an 'analogue bypass', but your new one does not.

- as you have found, not all customer service associates are aware of the difference.

Allegedly there is an add on, which will restore the feature, but availability may be regional and may not work with all stb models.

If you post the model number of your box, someone with more experience of this than me, may be able to help more.

I should add I am still on an analogue connection - with an aerial combiner, not a bypass - which would be no good for you with your weak signal