Talk:Belling-Lee connector

Are there any F connector to TV Aerial Plug converters in existence?

 * Yes, additionally they can be made. However, the only real use is to use a north american TV with European antennae or vice versa, or rarely to connect a Hyperband analogue cable system direct to a supporting TV rather than the decoder box. --Kiand 22:52, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Additionally some installers only use belling lee connectors when they absoloutely have to and use F everywhere else (especially with the advent of digital terrestrial TV) If you need a lead with a F connector on one end and a belling lee the other get some decent coax (which you should be using for your installation anyway) and make one. Plugwash 10:54, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes Maplin do them. Part Number QP41U.  Other permutations of sexes also available from them.  --jmb 20:01, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
 * They are of course useful in the UK. I have a couple that I use with a antenna preamplifier to feed the tuner in my computer away from home. Sure there must be plenty of other uses.  --jmb 20:05, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Kiand's statement is slightly inaccurate. The Belling-Lee connector is typically used throughout the UK and Commonwealth for terrestrial TV only, whereas cable and satellite use F-type plugs with RG-6 coax. In many instances only one cable is supplied in the home (especially in apartments) so a diplexer is often used to supply both types of TV signal down a single cable. A diplexer or adapter is usually placed at the wall socket to interface with the requisite device BaronVonchesto (talk) 10:33, 16 March 2016 (UTC)

Move to "TV aerial plug"
It has been suggested that this page be moved from "TV Aerial Plug" to "TV aerial plug" (the correct Wiki case for subsequent words).


 * Support -- This is the standard Wiki style. Atlant 20:24, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Support -- Ditto. --Hooperbloob 02:28, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Object -- One could argue that this is not a page about TV aerial plugs in general (in which case the case would indeed be wrong here), but one specifically about the "Belling-Lee connector", which is also known in Britain not just as a "TV aerial plug" but as the "TV Aerial Plug". In other words, "TV Aerial Plug" could be seen as a proper noun (name) here and not a normal nominal phrase, and hence would be correctly capitalized according to Wikipedia sentence case housestyle. However, if you want to rename the article, I would suggest to rename it to either "Belling-Lee TV aerial connector" or "IEC 169-2 TV aerial connector", which are both much less ambiguous in a global context and therefore more appropriate terminology in an encyclopedia entry. Ambiguous colloquialisms such as "TV Aerial Plug" should not determine the title, IMHO. Also note that the wider term "connector" is more fitting than "plug" for an article that describes the entire connector system, consisting of both a plug and a jack. Markus Kuhn 12:03, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Object -- As written above, this is not about TV aerial plugs in general but one specific type which is often just called a TV Aerial Plug. --jmb 19:55, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Object -- I too agree with the reasoning above. In fact its worth emphsasising that the word "aerial" is a British English word, typically used to refer to broadcast reception antennae, therefore the "TV Aerial Plug" article (which is a stub) should be merged with this one instead. BaronVonchesto (talk) 10:35, 16 March 2016 (UTC)

Move to "Belling-Lee connector"
This article is about the Belling-Lee connector and should be so named. Lots of sites on the web refer to this connector as "Belling-Lee connector". The large European hardware retailer Conrad calls it "Belling-Lee/IEC". A reasonable alternative would be "IEC 61169-2" but I am going first to read the spec to make sure that this would even be a reasonable alternative. Jdthood (talk) 11:59, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

As "Belling-Lee connector" was a redirect to "TV aerial plug" I moved the content from the latter to the former, replacing the redirect, and put stub content at "TV aerial plug" to guide users to the correct article for their region. Jdthood (talk) 09:17, 14 July 2015 (UTC)


 * I agree with your move, but what you did is not a good way to do it because the edit history is lost. I redid things the right way (I have the needed privileges), deleting Belling-Lee connector and then moving TV aerial plug to Belling-Lee connector. I put back the short text you wrote at TV aerial plug. Requested moves is the place to ask for such moves were the target already exists as a redirect. --agr (talk) 13:32, 14 July 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the editing work, and for the tips! Jdthood (talk) 11:12, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

Miniature Belling-Lee connector?
The term "Miniature Belling Lee" added by User:Jmb on 20 August 2006 to the article occurs according to Google all over the Internet only in this article. Are you sure this is the right name for what you want to describe and can you please provide some reference or at least a photo that gives us any idea what you might mean? When was it introduced, who uses it, is there a standard defining it? At least a catalog link to a manufacturer? Markus Kuhn 10:03, 11 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I have only ever heard them referred to as "miniature Belling Lee" but they could well have another name. They were used in equipment made perhaps in the 1960s as I wrote previously for internal links.  I have not been able to find one in any of my junk boxes or I would have taken a photograph.  I will have another look around tomorrow. --jmb 19:08, 11 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I believe they are also used inside some PMR radio equipment (including STC AF101), I will get some pictures in a few months time. --jmb 09:56, 21 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I have added a picture of a Miniature Belling Lee connector. I have used the term "Standard Belling Lee" in that section because it is being used to contrast with the name "Miniature Belling Lee", "IEC 169-2" would be out of place in this context.  --jmb 14:02, 13 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I don't know if it's exactly the same, but from the photograph it looks very like the connector I have on the end of a couple of USB Freeview tuners, which are supplied with adapters that are a standard Belling-Lee socket to a miniature plug. That might be an avenue to explore for finding out their proper name...? --Peet42 23:46, 21 Nov 2010 (UTC)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.241.76.232 (talk)


 * Well I've found


 * https://www.engineersgarage.com/insight/how-belling-lee-connectors-work - and they appear to be the 'conventional' low voltage connectors used for 12V, 9V etc. (Acer laptops, but not Samsung)
 * http://www.harc.org.uk/?page=technical&sub=connectors — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.64.2.134 (talk) 23:49, 23 October 2017 (UTC)

"PAL Connector"
Where is the term "PAL Connector" used? I have never heard it in the UK. --jmb 09:54, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Never heared it before but it sounds like the kind of thing that would be come up with by someone trying to explain european TV wiring to americans. Plugwash 00:28, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Google knows only about 535 occurrences of the term "PAL connector", compared to about 35500 occurrences of "IEC 169-2". So it exists, but is rather obscure and certainly technically objectionable (the connector shape has nothing to do with the way color information is encoded). I have no quarrels if we remove it again. Markus Kuhn 11:28, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
 * According to a comment below, the term "PAL Connector" is common in Australia. Jdthood (talk) 10:58, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

Why is this article only about the Belling-Lee connector?
In the U.K. we use RF connectors as “TV aerial plugs”, so the designation of “Europe” for the use of B-L connectors is too general. But the more important thing is why isn’t the main article a general one saying what the function of a plug is, then stating that there are two main types F connectors and B-L, and then either directing to their own articles or explaining below? It seems lame to have the aerial plug heading, and then a statement that this is about a specific type of such, and that if you want to know about the more common one go someplace else.Jock123 (talk) 11:49, 10 November 2009 (UTC)
 * This article is at present only about the Belling-Lee connector, so it should have the name "Belling-Lee connector". If someone wants to create an article about "Domestic TV antenna connectors" in general, and link to this article and to the article on F connectors, etc., then they are of course welcome to do so. Jdthood (talk) 12:01, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

Impedance of IEC connector
The article states that IEC connectors have an impedance of 50 Ohm and that this causes reflections because the impedance of coaxial cable is 75 Ohm. This is not correct. The impedance obviously does not (fully) depend on the type of connector, and the most commonly used IEC connectors for TV and radio have an impedance of 75 Ohm.

I am not sure where this comes from, but I think the author confused IEC connectors with BNC connectors or something? 50 Ohm BNC connectors do exist (and are being used for 50 Ohm equipment and cable).

Also when I google for "50 Ohm IEC connector" the only article that I find that talks about IEC TV plugs is this wikipedia article.... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Paulmathot (talk • contribs) 12:15, 10 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I agree, the impedance mismatch claim is at least not documented and may be wrong. Even if the claims arose from the Belling-Lee connector being confused with BNC connectors, it should be noted that the latter are available in both 75 Ohm and 50 Ohm variants. Jdthood (talk) 10:57, 2 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Someone else who thinks that the claim is incorrect: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sci.electronics.repair/tj2Zn6ysYZc/zHyzs1lmFHcJ

Belling-Lee and F-connector use throughout the world
Are Belling-Lee connectors used elsewhere other than Europe? And how about house cable outlets and TV sets in countries where B-L is in use: Do they use B-L connectors exclusively, or do they have both, a B-L and and an F connector, so that you can choose which one to use? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.130.237.201 (talk) 19:51, 6 April 2013 (UTC)
 * It would be unusual to put two coax outlets for the same thing at the same location unless there were two devices to feed because splitters lose signal and splitters with unused outlets are especially problematic. The norm in the UK is to use belling lee connectors for TV and FM outlets and to use F connectors for sattelite and cable outlets but I have seen cases where a F connector was used for a TV outlet and sometimes people don't bother with outlets and just have a length of cable coming out of the wall/floor that is plugged into the TV. I don't have any personal experiance with the rest of the world but i'd imagine their conventions are influenced by whose system they adopted for TV equipment. Plugwash (talk) 20:25, 6 April 2013 (UTC)
 * That's very useful information. Thanks.  How about the TV sets?  Do they standardize on the F or the B-L connector?  And then I am assuming that F-to-Belling-Lee adapters would be commonplace to be able to accept either input, correct?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 17.114.51.60 (talk) 17:14, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Australia uses Belling-Lee connectors more commonly called PAL plugs for television and video equipment and use F connectors for satellite and cable outlets. Mirrabooka (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 13:56, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

he Belling-Lee connector is used throughout the (British) Commonwealth, not just Europe and the UK. Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India all use them as well. Its very common to have both Belling Lee and F-type connectors side by side in these countries because it is generally understood that B-L is for broadcast terrestrial television, whereas F-type is for satellite/cable tv :) BaronVonchesto (talk) 10:44, 16 March 2016 (UTC)

Company Website / Contact Information
Hello.

Is there a website etc. about this company "Belling & Lee"? Tobias Claren (talk) 12:26, 28 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Gosh. What does Google say? --Wtshymanski (talk) 16:10, 28 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Looks like they got absorbed in 1992, into a company now calling itself Dialight. Or so says Google. We have no article on Belling Lee Limited, but it shows up as a 100% owned subsidiary in the Dialight annual report (http://www.dialight.com/Assets/investorrelations/financialinfo/financialreports/pdf/dialight_ar_2016_final_170316%5B2%5D.pdf) (page 117).  Nothing about Belling meeting Lee and starting a radio company in the '20s, nothing about their WWII production of aircraft antennas, and noting about the big TV boom of the '60s, then the inevitable buy-out by some bland faceless multinational.  There's a story there, all right.  --Wtshymanski (talk)
 * It sounds like there is an interesting history to this company. I saw this in a Belling Lee data sheet from 2001  The website no longer works JBel (talk) 10:11, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

"PAL Antenna Connector"
I take issue with the assertion that these connectors are known colloquially as "PAL antenna connectors" in countries where they are used. We tend to use the word "aerial" in the UK, rather than "antenna," and I doubt anyone here would include "PAL" in the name. This sounds more like an informal name an American would use to describe the connector. The only common name I've heard used for these connectors is "TV aerial connector." 86.161.120.93 (talk) 21:09, 16 April 2024 (UTC)