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General => General discussion => Topic started by: Godzilla on 17 October 2011, 15:12
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In need of some help here.
I have an LCD TV that has this 'Freeview' built in to it. I am like a dinosaur when it comes to technology! Well I have a little aerial that I have plugged into it and it is picking up some channels but I only have to fart and it goes out of signal thus having to alter the aerial again! The aerial was only £7 so not expecting the best. But on the outside of my house I have one of the old aerials with the co-ax lead cut about 5" off the aerail. Firstly would this aerial be ok with Freeview and secondly would it just be better for me to go and spend £20-30 on a better indoor aerial and if so do I need special one for Freeview?
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Hi, I think you need a modern digital aerial, if you have spent £££££s on a decent lcd tv , don't you think it deserves a decent signal, I would get the best you can afford as a tv is only as good as it's signal.
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use the 1 on top of your house mate
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The ariel on my roof is probably 15 years old, battered and hanging wonky of the chimney.
When normal analogue TV was still available i could barely get a few freeview channels.
All the adverts were saying you needed fantastic new expensive ariels to get freeview.
When they turned off analogue and boosted the freeview signal i had no issues.
I now get all freeview channels perfectly on my battered old ariel on the roof!
So... Give it a go, got nothing to loose. If it dont work its new ariel time.
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Thanks guys.
Will go out and get a load of co-ax cable and see how the outside aerial does......Trouble is I am going to need about 50 meters of co-ax!
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We needed an areal on top of our house. but due to were we live the areal is rediculously big. (The pole to support it is about an inch thich. if not more. and about 8or 9 foot tall ) :grin:
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Rod Hull springs to mind in this thread.. :laugh:
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I'm using the original 1984 aerial that was put on my house when it was built and my freeview signal is better than my sky signal!
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Amongst other things, I design, and my company installs aerial systems both domestic and commercial. (Caravan sites, etc - a site we have just done has 423 caravans running off one aerial)
To receive Freeview signals through your aerial you need a minimum signal of 45db (and not exceeding 75db) and a MER (Marginal Error Rate) over about 22ish. Unless you are right next to the transmitter, you are unlikely to achieve this with an indoor aerial.
If you are on a main transmitter you will get the full Freeview channel line up (about 85 channels) if its a relay transmitter you will only get 18 channels as relays only have three multiplexes. Wether the aerial is horizontally or vertically polarised depends on wether its a relay or main transmitter.
Depending on how far you are from the transmitter and the lie of the land, your old aerial may be ok, without putting a meter on it, its impossible to say what the exact signal its receiving will be. A decision is normally made after checking the signals as to wether a masthead amplifier is required and if so, what value. The aerial meters I have on each of my vans cost about £2500 + VAT each!
Its impossible to accurately say from here wether your existing aerial will give reliable reception as it is, however, as you are picking up some channels on an indoor aerial, I would guess that the signals are pretty good in your area, so you should have better luck with the outdoor aerial, its certainly going to be an improvement. Make sure you use proper connectors when joining cables and waterproof any joins that are outside with self amalgamating tape as if any water gets into the cable, it will end up in your tv. We sell 32 Element high gain aerials designed for digital for about £30 + VAT. Stuff that we use on blocks of flats etc can be 5 to 10 times that price.
50m cable run is pretty far in a domestic situation. Depending on the quality of the coax cable you buy, I would expect to see a loss of around 10db over the length of that cable run.
If you need an amplifier, then Vision stuff is the best.
Hope this helps...
If you need any more advice, let me know...
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Amongst other things, I design, and my company installs aerial systems both domestic and commercial. (Caravan sites, etc - a site we have just done has 423 caravans running off one aerial)
your a gippo arent you :laugh:
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your a gippo arent you :laugh:
You got me! Got any scrap? :grin:
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awesome advice tomp :afro:
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There was me thinking all you do is stick an aerial up and wollah.
If you need a lot of coaxial go wilkinson, the reel will work out cheaper than buying it per meter price, I bought a reel and used it in 3 houses and still have some left over, the thing doesn't end and I payed around £25-30 for it.
Whats the best way to split an antenna so then it runs into different rooms? Aerial is currently on roof and I have power access in loft?
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Careful with cheap cable, you want foam filled cable preferably CAI approved (Confederation of Aerial Industries). Cheaper air filled cable lets water run down inside it, right into your television if it gets damaged or there's a bad join. For what it costs, and for how often you do it, its well worth paying a little bit extra for decent cable. Cheaper cable normally isn't as well shielded so can let unwanted signals into it. We only use WF100, and we use about 1 km most weeks. (We sell it at 70p per metre so its not really that expensive anyway).
As for splitting the signal, it really depends on the signal strength to begin with, a passive splitter has about 3-4db insertion loss so if the signal strength is good (say above 60db) then just use one of them. If not then you can use a two output masthead amplifier and have two cables from the aerial and a power supply on one of the legs, or if you have a sky box in the main room, just plug the aerial into that then use the RF2 output to another room (bonus with this is that the sky will be combined with the Freeview so you will have an analogue sky pic at the second point - add a digilink and you can control the sky box in the second room), or put a two way powered distribution in the loft, aerial into that and then out of that to the two points.
Really depends on the layout of your house, signal strength and what equipment you already have, there are lots of ways of doing it....
As for just sticking an aerial up and wollah, its a bit more scientific than that (although there are loads and loads of cowboys out there!)
We are the only Confederation of Aerial Industries Approved Systems Installers in North Wales and as a result do systems work for several Local Authorities and the NHS...
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There are some bad signal areas in MK, for the last time I worked there about 8 years back I remember some areas where working of a relay transmitter and had have major issues with the digital transponders, I dont know what updates they have carried out since in thr MK area.
You can always try my other company for advise.. :wink: http://www.acornaerials.co.uk/
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I was thinking of dropping the aerial into the loft and splitting it 4 ways along the side of the house from there and going:
Living room
Front bedroom
Rear bedroom
Dining room or kitchen
Am I correct in thinking every time I split the cable, the signal drops in the ratio of the split?
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Am I correct in thinking every time I split the cable, the signal drops in the ratio of the split?
Only if split passively, you just need a 4 way powered distribution amplifier in the loft, something like an SLX4. Aerial plugs into this, then the 4 outputs to your points.
An SLX distribution amplifier actually has a 4db signal gain per output...
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http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker/
Pop in your postcode and house number Godzilla.
Then Click on "Check other transmitters at your address" to find out about channels and signal strength.
Then go back to the screen where you enter your postcode, but this time..
Check the box that says "I am in the aerial installation trade" This will then give you compass bearings to transmitters.
Then you now have the necessary info to point your aerial in the right direction for best signal strength / channels.
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http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker/
Pop in your postcode and house number Godzilla.
Then Click on "Check other transmitters at your address" to find out about channels and signal strength.
Then go back to the screen where you enter your postcode, but this time..
Check the box that says "I am in the aerial installation trade" This will then give you compass bearings to transmitters.
Then you now have the necessary info to point your aerial in the right direction for best signal strength / channels.
Thanks mate :wink:
Mine is coming up as 'Good' :smiley:
Thanks guys for the replies. Well I have attached new co-ax cable to the aerial which was fun as the aerial is right on top of my house next to the chimney. Due to my house being 118 years old it has the old slate tiles up there which proved much fun to get down when it decided to start pouring down with rain just after finishing the aerial :grin: As you can most probably tell.....I don't own a ladder!
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Then you now have the necessary info to point your aerial in the right direction for best signal strength / channels.
Wouldn't go that far, there are way too many unknowns for this to be 100% accurate, in our local town, there are a choice of two transmitters, a main and a relay. A postcode check will tell you that the signals are good from the main transmitter, however, in reality half the town can't get a signal from it as the line of site is blocked by a castle!!!
The only way to setup an aerial correctly is with a signal analyser and a decent knowledge of the area. There are different error rates that need to checked etc etc.
Having said all that if the signals are good then chances are it will work just by pointing the aerial the same direction as next door, its the marginal areas that are more difficult. Also a DIYer might be happy with occasional digital break up, a paying customer will not...
You could just do this....
(http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h117/tommympuk/SatelliteAerial.jpg)
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Why is my most likely transmitter 26km away, when my alternative is only 4km away! :huh: :shocked:
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Probably find that the nearer transmitter is just a relay (so therefore carries less channels).
We always take these postcode checkers with a pinch of salt anyway, local knowledge is much better!!
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Both offer 26 channels according to the link. :undecided:
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In that case they are both relays, 18 channels normally and some radio channels.
One might transmit at a lower power to cover a bad area that the other doesn't cover...
In your case you are probably better with a satellite based system, bbc freesat or pay sky every month...
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Yeah I have Sky. It would just be nice to have some basic channels upstairs without having to fork out for multi-room, so I could send her upstairs to watch eastenders when the football is on. :grin: She just sits here with a face like a slapped arse atm. :laugh:
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Best bet is a BBC freesat then, just buy a cheap box and run another cable from your existing dish to the tv upstairs. (If you have a Sky+ or HD box then you should have a quad LNB on the dish with two spare outputs)
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Yeah I have hd so that's good to know. Thanks for the info. :smiley: