TV Aerial Fly-lead Troubles?

 I have made a discovery which I share with my viewer in the hope and indeed expectation that it will be useful one day and maybe an expensive repair visit.

Equipping the extension has necessitated a review and redistribution of TV sets around the place, now almost completed.  This has meant purchasing a number of new TV aerial fly-leads.  You know, those concentric cables that connect the TV's aerial socket with the aerial output thingy on the wall.  These things:

Conventionally the one on the left is called male and the one on the right is female on account of the shape of their central parts.  OK?  I did not know this but these connectors are called Belling-Lee connectors.  Thank you Wikipedia.   You will thank me for that bit of trivia if it ever pops up in a pub quiz.  Simple and obvious in their action.   One is a push-fit into the other.  

Nowadays and in foreign parts these are old hat, having been replaced by screw-type fittings decades ago - much better connectors and far more secure.  Perhaps too secure for the Elf n' Safety people who are paid fortunes to worry about what happens if you trip over a TV fly-lead.  The Belling-Lee type just parts but the screw type stays put, dragging you and the telly to the floor.  The UK and Australia are among the few last bastions of Belling-Lee TV aerial connectors

Where is this heading?  Well, our new tellies worked some of the time but at other times showed - 'No Signal - Check Your Connection'.  This problem was not confined to one or two TV sets either.  I can now report my discovery.

The problem was confined to brand new and expensively 'gold plated' male connectors.  They looked fine and impressively concentric  Shiny too.  But hang on, the phallus in the centre looked a bit on the narrow side to me.  Could that barely visible lack of girth really be the problem?  Well it was.  So perfect was the concentricity of the inner and outer parts that insertion into the female part was also dead centre, every time.  Note that the female part (right) is split longitudinally on both its inner and outer parts.   Over time and with continued insertions and withdrawals the inner part widens - especially if the inserted component is wiggled as part of the 'check your connection' process.  Stop sniggering at the back of the class.

Solution? a pair of very fine nosed pliers and carefully tighten up the female bit. Tweezers and a firm grip might do as well.  Just make sure the hole narrows visibly. Re-insertion of the male part meets with considerably more resistance but a satisfactory connection is made.  This sniggering will stop or I shall consider detentions.