Andy Hall wrote:

On Sun, 7 Dec 2003 14:35:27 +0000 (UTC), "Angela"
wrote:


Any loft antennas, even in strong signal areas are likely to give

poor

results. In poor signal areas, the roof attenuates the signal a
great deal, and in stronger areas the effect of reflected signals

will

cause ghosting and general fuzziness on analogue transmissions and
high error rates leading to possible loss of picture on digital TV.

I live in an area where the signal is rubbish and we are not allowed
to have external aerials. It was a new house and the builder put in
the wiring for 3 rooms which terminated in the loft. I went to a
reputable installer and they fitted a fairly small aerial but a
whopping big signal booster attached to it and the picture is great.
Cost me £130 which I didn't think was too bad having seen the rubbish
pictures some of my neighbours have. He didn't have to do anywiring
but I guess he used quality products.

Angela



I am glad that you ended up with a good result.

Generally, adding amplification to a poor signal doesn't help because
the amplifier itself introduces its own noise to the signal; and
usually this is worse at higher levels of amplification.

A good quality commercial grade amplifier will have a better noise
figure than a cheap one so should be used when a scenario like this
happens.

Normally though, it is better to install a larger antenna and not need
to add amplification......



Totally agree. Boosting a 40dB S/N ratio signal gives at best - a 40dB
S/N ratio!

You muts have reaosnbable signal strenght to start with. However ofetn
its not height you want, but accurate location and adirectionality -
both of which are as easily achieved with a loft aerial as one up a pole.

Only if you REALLY have to get the height to get any signal at all are
externals indicated.





.andy

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