On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 16:29:35 +0100, MDD wrote:

Afternoon all,
I am planning on replacing my TV aerial on Monday, but I am looking for
a bit of aerial selection advice before I go shopping tomorrow.

My house is in a dip and suffers from poor signal, I have a choice of
the Crystal Palace transmitter (group A) or Bluebell Hill (group E).

I am considering one of these two aerials
A 48 element http://tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MXD48.html or
a 'Televes' aerial http://tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MXDAT45.html

Both of these are 'wideband' aerials - my theory is I can try each
transmitter in turn and see which one turns out best.

Yes you can, although I believe that Bluebell Hill may carry different
local programmes.



The Televes one says 'very directional' in the description - I am a bit
worried this means that if the wind blows it a bit I will have to get up
there and re-orientate it regularly.

Yes it is more directional, which is why it has a subst antially
higher forward gain of 16.5dB vs. the 11.5dB of the other one.

Also, Televes is a good quality product - I have two of them - one on
Crystal Palace and the other on Hannington (which is another awkward
range of channels) and they are fine.
I have no idea what the other antenna is, but based on experience,
unbranded contract antennas have short lifetimes and are not good in
the first place.

Having a more directional antenna will help if you are in a dip and
perhaps suffer from multipath reception - it may well help to reduce
this.

I have my antennas on quite tall masts bolted to the side of the
house. 50mm quality galvanised tubes were used as recommended.
These do not move a great deal in the wind.



I am thinking about replacing the masthead amp too (the house came with
one but it looks like it has been up there a *long* time).

I would certainly do that too, if you believe that one is needed.
Remember that they will not always improve the final result because
they introduce noise themselves.

You may want to try without first.

Again, buy a good quality brand such as Antiference, Labgear or Fringe
- not Maxview. The noise figure is very important here. The lower
the better. If it isn't quoted, don't buy. I wouldn't buy any of
the TLC antenna amplifier products as it is unclear what they are.

Use CT100 satellite grade cable, not TV coax. This can make a big
difference.

Make sure that you use good quality self amalgamating tape - not
ordinary PVC tape.





Anyone got any advice (apart from get Sky!)

..andy

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