TV reception

Which mast is the antenna aimed at? The official guidance told us to use Bluebell Hill (west-ish from you) but we get a much better signal from Dover (south of south-west I guess). Of course, not knowing where you are in relation to hills, I can't be sure, but most of Thanet should be able to 'see' Dover).

(I'm in Herne Bay, a few miles west of you, and that's my experience. Note that there are two separate, spaced, masts in Dover and only one has all of the muxes)

Then why dont you put a decent aerial system in? A loft aerial is never going to compare with a roof ae, so at least that part of the system is 2nd rate..

NT

On Sat, 17 May 2008 16:18:05 +0100 someone who may be "Endulini" wrote this:-

Television signals can be very local. A large tree can affect them and thus without seeing your roof any suggestions will be broad.

I would start by finding out which transmitter your aerial points at and then use the information at

to see whether the aerial you currently have is suitable for transmissions at the moment and more importantly post digital switchover.

It may be that at the moment you would be better off with a wideband aerial but after the switchover you don't need one. Are analogue channels currently good, or are they bad too? Is only channel 5 analogue bad? If the analogue channels, except perhaps channel 5, are good then some of the digital channels are probably being transmitted out of band for your current aerial. If that is the case they may be moved back in band at digital switchover and your current aerial will be fine. You then need to decide whether to do nothing or whether spending money is worthwhile.

The information on that site should allow you to get a fair way along your quest.

I'm in Ramsgate and we have a new "digital" aerial in the loft, facing roughly South. It runs through a booster, although I don't know if it really has to as the booster was just there from the previous aerial so I re-used it. Excellent picture.

My niece lives near Ramsgate town though, which is significantly lower than where I am, and her reception isn't fantastic but her aerial's in the loft too. I'd imagine you should get a good signal anywhere with a decent outdoor aerial.

Si

Ask your neighbours what their reception is like.

Any outdoor aerial will be far superior to an indoor one.

It's possible the digital muxes are outside the frequency range of the old aerial. Indeed it's likely. So you may have to change to a wideband one. And having it inside won't help matters.

All the analogue signals are poor and Channel 5 is completely unavailable except on digital.

Why would I care what the neighbours' tv reception is like?

Si

Well its a good comparison to what your getting..

As a onetime manager of a TV shop I can tell you that the biggest problems we ever had were with bloody loft aerials and lost many a customer who didn't believe us.

Then we made it a rule that no TV would be supplied on anything other then an outside aerial most all of the usual problems disappeared and we then developed a reputation for the place that did the best TV piccys:))..

nothing quite like customers recommending you to others!..

Was this your shop?

Really? I thought they were all on the one big mast. The other masts are MW radio and FM radio (on the cliff by the memorial - MW, the three by the castle/A2 are FM) AFAIK.

I can see that mast from the back of our house - no need for aerials at all here :) All muxes perfect reception with nothing more than a bit of cable a few foot long (probably slowly cooking me as well ;-))

Darren

Wasn't me asking the question about reception though. Do try to keep up :)

Si.

Well, there used to be two! (but that was three, maybe more, years ago). May have been a changeover thing, but they were on opposite sides of Dover..

Exactly, assuming that the "view" from your house is little different then:

If neighbours get no problems with reception - you know the problem is with your setup.

If they all have problems even with outside aerials - you know you are going to have to do something a lot better than them with the aerial. No point in repeating their mistakes.

On Sat, 17 May 2008 18:29:04 +0100 someone who may be "Endulini" wrote this:-

Then perhaps the aerial is misaligned, or you are in a poor spot for reception. I would see if the aerial points in the same direction as those on other houses and ask neighbours about reception.

Then you can't expect FreeView to work either.

Someone has done a crap installation. Obvious by having the aerial in the loft anyway. It would take a pro little longer to fit an external aerial than a loft one.

Are other aerials in the street external? Do they look larger than some? This can give clue to the local reception conditions.

The last owner didn't like anything unsightly cluttering the outside of the house. :-)

Just get a new aerial put up on the roof and its guaranteed to boost the signal considerably.

More likely didn't have a ladder. Or be willing to climb one.