10:39 Apr 16, 2009 

Shunt = shunt: scientific French or English. (Dunod 1959).

08:43 Apr 16, 2009 

...they do actually list the fitting of an amplifier.

Now, I may be wrong, but it seems unlikely to me that one amplifier would need two PSUs (one in each flat) — so it strikes me that this is in fact perhaps a dual amplifier, and so maybe the 'chintage' going on is in fact making the aerial connection bridge across between the 2 amplifier inputs — this would usually be a no-no, and it's a bit curious just exactly what they are doing here; maybe these are special techniques that have to be used with terrestrial digital TV installations... Normally, I'd have expected a single amplifier to produce 2 outputs, but maybe they had to do it this way so that the signal is not lost even if the power is turned off in one of the flats (for example).

08:37 Apr 16, 2009 

This would make a bit more sense in the aerial context — it might well be loading the aerial by connecting an inductor or capacitor (say) across it — though I rather suspect they in fact really mean 'connecting this amplifier/splitter unit between the aerial and the downlead' — that's the operation I'd logically expect them to be carrying out, but I think 'chintage' is a rather dubious way of expressing it; probably just techie jargon, by someone who knows more about electronics than language.

08:36 Apr 16, 2009 

Yes, that's the point David: even in EN, the term can mean slightly (subtly!) different things.

It is very often used (especially in FR) to mean 'by-pass' — to put a short / jumper across between 2 connections (e.g. to override a safety interlock, or to make something work in the absence of a peripheral device); however, that would make little sense in the context of an aerial, since then it wouldn't work at all! And also, they are installing these PSUs, which rather clearly implies that there is going to be some kind of head-end amplifier that they are being used to power — so shorting it out would hardly seem like a sensible idea!

However, in other terms, 'to shunt' can mean simply 'connect something across (= in parallel with) something else' — like a 'shunt resistor' to change an ammeter reading range, for example.