"David Cawkwell" wrote in message
...
I'm thinking of replacing our rather cheap TV aerial with a new
aerial to improved channel 5 reception and hopefully allow us
to pick up digital TV.

We have two aerials on the roof the top has 10 elements with a small back
plate
and the lower has 10 elements with a larger backplate. Reception of
channel
5
on the lower one is pretty good but poor on the higher one.

I notice looking in Maplin that they have several aerials which should get
much better
reception than the aerials I currently have but most don't mention a
group.

Also cpc have aerials which quote different groups A,B,C/D,W/B

Questions
1. Will picking a particular aerial group be better or should I simply
pick
an
aerial W/B that will? pick up a wide bandwidth.
2. I notice a large difference in the number of elements some having up to
90 elements making
the aerial 2 metres long. Is more elements better?
3. Any advice on make Triax,Antiference,Televes,funke,Maxview

Any advice please. There are simply too many aerials to choose from.


The BBC website has a useful page on transmitter types and locations. You'll
be able to see from the direction of your aerial and the website which one
you are using. You can then choose the aerial type.

The difference in signal quality you currently have could just be down to a
poor connection at the aerial. If water gets in the screw terminals may have
corroded.

Don't automatically assume bigger is better. If you are close to the
transmitter and install a high gain antenna, you can overload the front end
of your receiving equipment (not causing damage, but enough signal to
introduce picture quality problems).

I used Scantec to order my stuff online. Great service and prices.

Colin M