Just noticed this thread on the AVFORUMS site.
read the thread and look at the photos.
The elderly neighbours have an external aerial on quite a high external pole so they presumably cannot be in a strong signal area.
Have a look at the manufacturer's page:
Note the claims that it is
"High gain ? suitable for weak signal areas"
and
"Receives all locally available digital TV signals"
and
"suitable for most signal strength areas"
OK OK, we get it !
Note that "according to Amazon, it is omnidirectional, then the high gain refers to an amplifier? Hence the power supply
If it is omnidirectional why the triangular marker on the "dome"
How does it recognise the polarity?
Just sayin' !
As regards the neighbour, the implication is that he has marginal reception ("but not 100%") anyway. I wonder if this is the curse of recent channel changes ("their TV reception on certain channels has been really poor") exacerbated by radiation from an amplified then amplified again neighbour directly in the suffering neighbour's beam direction?
On the other hand, the supplied PSU may be radiating enough hash to tip the balance for the neighbour.
Being a skinflint with a Group A aerial (weak signal from Crystal Palace) I've had to tweak the big beam in all three dimensions to receive the two reallocated signals reliably.
Just speculation in the absence of more data !
PA
Andrew was thinking very hard :
You can get them, but they don't work very well.
Yep, it's an omni - it relies on an amp to boost the much smaller signal, to an acceptable level for the TV. The problem being that in boosting the signal, they also boost all signals and all the noise and interference along with it. A proper antenna maximises the signal, just the wanted one, to a level which is normally enough for a downlead and the TV.
Omnis were popular on the roof of caravans, like a flat saucer shape, with again an amp. They were almost useless except in a strong signal area - most caravans are used in the countryside, which tend to be poor signal areas.
The neighbours issue is probably just coincidental, maybe damage to the download admitting water and rotting it from the inside - happens a lot.
Yes those sort of aerials only sort of work on caravans and the like. Thy can be omni directional and of no particular polarisation, but that forgets one thing, That thing is that channels are shared and the idea of directional aerials is to discriminate against the ones you don't want, not always just boost the signal. Also in my view if there are strong signals about even out of band. Many amplified aerials produce mixing products putting nasty signals into the wanted band that make signal quality bad. I have also had personal experience of mast head amps when used with aerials that have an open circuit dipole, ie not a folded design, being zapped regularly by lightning over a mile away. Hopefully they now make them better than the Antiference tin can ones we used to use!
Brian
I just tested my Disc on my Samsung,Its wide band and omni but has no amp It works perfectly here in line of sight to Crystal Palace, but there are some extra stations, just repeats really. I guess these are some fill in stations from around the area that are not co channelled with the stronger ones. I can imagine further out from a main transmitter this effect could cause havoc!
Brian
Yes those sort of aerials only sort of work on caravans and the like. Thy can be omni directional and of no particular polarisation, but that forgets one thing, That thing is that channels are shared and the idea of directional aerials is to discriminate against the ones you don't want, not always just boost the signal. Also in my view if there are strong signals about even out of band. Many amplified aerials produce mixing products putting nasty signals into the wanted band that make signal quality bad. I have also had personal experience of mast head amps when used with aerials that have an open circuit dipole, ie not a folded design, being zapped regularly by lightning over a mile away. Hopefully they now make them better than the Antiference tin can ones we used to use!
Brian
Reading more of the external thread the implication is that it is a toss-up between Crystal Palace and Sandy. With the neighbour and - previously, the OP - apparently using contractor yagis and getting away with it - and the latter in his loft - they must have quite a good location.
If it is not easy for you to navigate the manufacturer's web-site, Brian, the links "Call Our Sales Department" or "Technical Support" both lead to a 404 error. Enough said !
PA
You can probably get Hannington, Guildford & Hemel Hempstead.
Possible that the amplifier in the antenna is oscillating and interfering with the neighbors antenna.
Quite.
Shame that you snipped off the part of my post implying that!
PA
My total and profuse apologies - you comments unsnipped below; "Many amplified aerials produce mixing products putting nasty signals into the wanted band that make signal quality bad."
I wish you guys had tvfool.com , as this tells you so much about your local conditions.
Here, I plugged in an address in an area that is poorly served by TV.
If I used a directional, and pointed it at 149 degrees true, I could pick up 9 and 12. There would be enough additional gain just from the antenna (say 10dB) to make 12 a bit more solid. But if I wanted all four 31,44,9,12, then I might need to put the directional aerial on a rotator. And the mount would have to be solid enough, that when the wind blows, the deflection does not cause temporary loss of sync on the TV set (black screen etc).
Summary: You can use just about anything, if the conditions are right for it. Things work in your favor, if all the desired channels are on the same compass point. Our cottage back home, TV starved as it is, has all available channels on one compass point, so no rotator could ever be needed (and you can go crazy with the directional setup).
Maybe in the case of the elderly neighbours, it's the pole and clearing the treeline that is the most important aspect of this install, and what is on the pole was not considered important in any way. Maybe a rabbit ears could have been stuck on top of the pole :-) Think how cool that would be.
Paul
I think tvfool is for America, the original post is in the UK and we follow OFCOM rather than FCC when it comes to TV and radio transmissions....
VHF TV ceased back in the 1980s if I recall correctly......
PLus we have DAB here wehereas you ahev Sirius/XM radio.....
I took care to explain the utility of the site, and how it aids in setup. Some private person set that up, but I don't know whether the dataset comes from government, or is derived in some other way.
If you had similar, then less guesswork is required.
The colours indicate the class of aerial required for the job. Green, is just about anything works. If you want the outer ring, then a massive Yagi is required, plus some luck. There are some other sites that use the colouring scheme for antennas, to guide consumers.
One of the columns shows how the signal arrives. My cottage example receives a boost, because the signal travels over water for a portion of the trip. And when a large ship passes in the bay, the TV goes off :-)
Paul
Many UK related sites for TV reception, including those that give channel lists/frequencies, aerial groups, compass bearing from the house to the transmitter and the terrain between the house and transmitter (hills that can block transmission etc.)
In the case of the OP question there are a few things that may be wrong with the neighbours setup.
They may be getting signals from more than one transmitter and depending on how their TV equipment works the channels on their TV may be allocated to the wrong (weaker signal) transmitter. For instance, my aerial is pointing to one transmitter but can still see, on a good day, signals from 3 other transmitters. The neighbours cable from aerial to TV may still be that commonly used in the past (and still on sale) that has very little screening and may be easily picking up local electrical interference. etc.
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