Electrical problem

[sdedalus]

I was trying to connect my tv tuner last night and got a nasty shock when i touched the case while holding the coaxial cable.
The voltage from coax ground to AC neutral and ground is 120V. The voltage from coax ground to AC hot is 0V.
I know that its either a reversed connection with the neutral pin hot, the ground connected to the hot neutral pin, and the hot pin is neutral, or the coax ground is tied to hot instead of ground. An outlet tester indicates that the outlets are wired correctly, so I originally thought that the coax ground is tied to AC hot. However, there is no voltage between coax ground and signal, and no voltage between coax signal and any AC connection, so it seems that the coax ground is acting as a ground. Is there any way to be sure about which pins are actually carrying current without using the others as reference points? How would I find out if the coax ground is tied to AC hot?

Thanks

 

[AndrewT]

Hi,
can you arrange a true earth reference to measure against?

Metal pipes coming out of the ground might do.

Add a long single core cable to the earth reference and take this to the problem TV and coax.

You can check the earth & neutral voltages at the distribution board before you check the TV/Coax.