Question about TV aerials (Bill Wright?)

[nothanks]

We're in a "variable reception" area for Ridge Hill mast, about 20 miles away. The Humax STB reports a very weak signal on most channels but the picture is OK for much of the time - the boss would like it to be OK all the time so I need some advice. The current aerial is a 16 element Yagi, with a masthead amp and newly replaced Webro WF100 cable; all connections are good. The house is tall and the aerial is on a 1m'ish mast attached to a tall'ish chimney (worryingly, a bit above the lightning conductor!).

It looks like I need to replace the aerial with a higher-gain type so I'm wondering whether to go for a group A multi-boom type, a Yagi18A, an XB16A or ... ? Also, the attic has lots of headroom (about 9 feet in the centre) so, with a higher gain aerial, I'm tempted to try it in the Attic to make life easier, but have no idea what attenuation the block walls might cause(?). All suggestions gratefully received.

[S]

try uk.tech.digital-tv!

Bill and others frequent there too.....

[charles]

If you're in an area that needa masthead amp , forget a loft aerial. Also, a bigger (multi-element) might just double the signal you are gettting. You might do better with a higher gain amplifier. Or go for satellite

[John Towill]

I cannot get a decent signal here, so I went the satellite route, i am totally satisfied with it.

[nothanks]

Thanks!

[newshound]

I have been wondering about that too. Jackdaws have taken to bouncing up and down on my aerial since I put an anti-nest cap on the (unused) chimney that they used to nest in.

[Roger Hayter]

I doubt if it's coincidence. Intelligent birds, jackdaws.

[Dave W]

I too would be worried about lightning. The small aerial on the chimney of my terraced house, lower than the chimney pots, was struck by lightning, blowing many fuses in the TV and recorders. The lightning blew the plastic cover off the aerial's terminal block, and now flaps about in the wind making an annoying clicking noise.

Luckily I'm in a good reception area so installed a loft aerial, which was fine until the recent use of channel 55 which is outside London's group A. I now use a small set-top aerial mounted at the top of the loft.

In your case Freesat is the way to go. I have installed a dish at the base of a tree at the end of my garden, as it can see over my roof without being visible in the street.

[alan_m]

Isn't this the arrangement on the majority of aerial installations in the UK?

[williamwright]

No Channel Four HD.

Bill

[williamwright]

From experience of lightning damaged aerials and houses it appears not to make any difference how high the aerial is relative to the lightning conductor or anything else. Lighting rarely strikes the aerial direct; if it does it's fairly obvious because you can't find the aerial or the cable the next day. Most lighting damage to aerials is caused by a strike to the building.

Heavy/big aerials need a strong fixing, and they need to be well away from masonry or anything else.

Also, the attic has lots of headroom (about 9 feet in the

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no please don't put it in the loft.

I suggest you check the aerial alignment and make sure it isn't near anything, then fit a masthead amp of moderate gain (at the aerial) and see what happens. Even if you change the aerial you'll need a masthead amp.

Blakes:

Proception proMHD11M 1-Way UHF Medium Gain Masthead Amplifier; 1 Input;

1 Output-16dB

PROPSU11F 1-Way F-Type Inline Power Supply; 1 Input; 1 Output-12v 100mA

Bill

[Adrian Caspersz]

Council houses used to be identified (allegedly) by them having a satellite dish attached ...

[alan_m]

Sky Free to Air. I have my Enigma2 box set for Sky FTA channels with the

7 day EPG obtained over the air from the Sky IEPG channel - although I could fetch the dame data over the internet.

[Paul]

With an antenna that nice, and at that distance, why isn't this "just working" ?

That's my first question.

Maybe there's some on-axis multipath ?

Paul

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Well loft space is probably a non starter as weather problems will be magnified when you get wet roves or snow. I'm not up in the modern ways of aerials, but if the signals are fringe, you might not be able to do much better without other issues happening, like co channel from other places during lift conditions making the reception worse. Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

What trash the aerial and the roof at the same time? :-)

Actually 20 miles does not seem that far away to get such a crap signal, there has to either be a poor lobe your way, or something substantial in the way, I'd have thought. Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Yes he did not say what amp he was using already, if its an unknown one, might be a good thing to try a well tested one in case he is getting interference from out of band signals which might explain the most of the time it works issue. Brian

[The Natural Philosopher]

Most TVs have plenty of gain these days.

if you have crap signal to noise the only thing that will improve it is a bigger aerial.

Boosting shit just leads top bigger shit and/or being overloaded with shit.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I did similar when in a steep valley. Freesat is slightly better than freeview, if ugly as sin

[Martin Brown]

And have had for ages. The older Panasonics in Manchester would easily pull in the Welsh TV in a sidelobe of the antenna when they were nominally pointed towards Winter Hill in the WNW.

It became a big problem shortly after digital switchover when the signal became stronger and was found first. Some sets putting the first found in the main channel positions.

Certainly nothing beats starting with a better signal. If TDTV reception in your locality is so poor I would go for satellite instead. You get a bunch of other channels some of them interesting that way too.