In article ,
Andy Dingley wrote:
Almost certainly. We live in a densely populated country with good
radio and TV coverage. I imagine there are more people suffering
problems with urban ghosting than there are with remote weak signals.
Input stages also have AGC and very good sensitivity these days. In
such cases, a simple attenuator is more use than a bigger antenna. A
gadget like this (which I assume to have some level of band-pass
filtering) probably works very well for those people suffering from
out-of-band interference, induced pickup in long antenna leads, and
much ghosting.

Don't believe you. To get a good clean signal, the best way is with a
decent roof top aerial and a good downlead. If this results in too much
signal, an attenuator is pennies.
The problem with any set top aerial at UHF is reflections from people
moving about in the room etc. Hence get the aerial above any such
interference. This also applies to decent MF reception - get the aerial
above the interference fields and use a decent screened feeder.

And of course, if your existing antenna is already working well,
you're unlikely to shell out on any new gadget. So even if this thing
is useless for nearly everyone, for probably two thirds of those
people who have a problem, it's quite possibly appropriate - contrary
as its technical capabilities might suggest.

Years ago I worked briefly for the radio interference investigation
branch of BT. In one small area (underneath a local radio transmitter)
a standard technique was _unplugging_ the aerial altogether. There was
just too much of it - no sensible radio could cope. Signal strength
was such that I really did hear Radio Merseyside on Granny's fillings.

It was usually due to 'poor' receiver design - it was picking up the
strong signals elsewhere than the actual aerial input. A decent receiver
will filter out all the crap at every stage - as will a simple amplifier.
But this costs money.

Years ago, I spent some time sorting out a very expensive TV of a pal who
lived close to Crystal Palace, and who had a near unwatchable picture. It
took quite some time, but the components cost pennies.

--
* I like you. You remind me of when I was young and stupid

Dave Plowman London SW
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