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Budget TV signal strength meter
In message , "Brian Gregory
[UK]" writes "-GB-Carpy" wrote in message ... "David WE Roberts" wrote in message ... Prompted by the thread about photos of roofs being used to advertise a meter..... Can anyone recommend a budget signal strength meter for aligning a TV aerial? I am slowly working my way towards replacing my current aerial and would like to be able to align the new one whilst up a ladder without using the walkie talkie and beautiful assistant method. Budget is under £20. TIA Dave R http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philex-SLx-2...h/dp/B001GXQUN Q/ref=pd_cp_ce_1 Not sure what this thing will do if the signal is under 50dBuV but it's certainly cheap & cheerful One LED for every 10dB?? That's not a signal strength meter -- it's a sick joke. Well, it *could* accurate to +/-5dB (which is probably not much worse than some 'professional' equipment). Or is it +10/-0dB? Even if it is, just subtract 5dB. Being realistic, presumably it's just a wideband UHF amplifier driving a detector, so it measures everything as one signal (including the analogues). This customer review probably says it all: "A very useful product to have to hand. It helped identify some poor connections and diagnose other issues. It's not really necessary to have anything more complex unless you're a professional aerial fitter." -- ian |
Budget TV signal strength meter
"Mike Henry" wrote in message
... In , "Brian Gregory [UK]" wrote: "Mike Henry" wrote in message . .. Oh, I didn't realise they were that flexible yet. Can you please list which Freeview boxes give signal readings in dBµV, rather than a percentage figure of an unknown value? And which ones make it clear whether the per is pre- or post-Viterbi, or offer a choice? You're going to have to pay a lot for a meter that can do that in any meaningful way. Yes I know. Hence my astonishment when "David" asserted that you easily could use your STB's signal meter for these purposes. I noted at the time (this is a dead thread from early December) that he didn't reply. One of our STBs (a cheap one from ASDA if I remember correctly) has a clear indication of what it calls signal quality and signal strength (two figures, each 0 to 100 in steps of 1) which I would have thought would be quite good for aligning an aerial. Of course it can't show you all 6 multiplex's at once. And in good signal areas where the normal figures are near 100 you might need to use an attenuator. -- Brian Gregory. (In the UK) To email me remove the letter vee. |
Budget TV signal strength meter
"Ian Jackson" wrote in message
... In message , "Brian Gregory [UK]" writes "-GB-Carpy" wrote in message ... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philex-SLx-2...h/dp/B001GXQUN Q/ref=pd_cp_ce_1 Not sure what this thing will do if the signal is under 50dBuV but it's certainly cheap & cheerful One LED for every 10dB?? That's right... That's not a signal strength meter -- it's a sick joke. Well, it *could* accurate to +/-5dB (which is probably not much worse than some 'professional' equipment). Or is it +10/-0dB? Even if it is, just subtract 5dB. In practice, an increase in signal of 10 dB, say from 55 dB to 65 dB, may not make any change to the reading. OK, the error may not be more than 5 dB, but it's not very helpful when aligning an aerial. Being realistic, presumably it's just a wideband UHF amplifier driving a detector, so it measures everything as one signal (including the analogues). It's not just wideband UHF - the quoted frequency range goes down to 40 MHz. I thought that just had to be a mistake, until I found that the meter picks up a signal from the local oscillator of a VHF radio... |
Budget TV signal strength meter
Mike Henry wrote:
In , "Brian Gregory [UK]" wrote: "Mike Henry" wrote in message ... Oh, I didn't realise they were that flexible yet. Can you please list which Freeview boxes give signal readings in dBµV, rather than a percentage figure of an unknown value? And which ones make it clear whether the per is pre- or post-Viterbi, or offer a choice? You're going to have to pay a lot for a meter that can do that in any meaningful way. Yes I know. Hence my astonishment when "David" asserted that you easily could use your STB's signal meter for these purposes. I noted at the time (this is a dead thread from early December) that he didn't reply. If you Google David's posts you'll see he shown a great deal of ignorance over the years. -- Adrian |
Budget TV signal strength meter
In message , John
Legon writes "Ian Jackson" wrote in message ... In message , "Brian Gregory [UK]" writes "-GB-Carpy" wrote in message ... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philex-SLx-2...h/dp/B001GXQUN Q/ref=pd_cp_ce_1 Not sure what this thing will do if the signal is under 50dBuV but it's certainly cheap & cheerful One LED for every 10dB?? That's right... That's not a signal strength meter -- it's a sick joke. Well, it *could* accurate to +/-5dB (which is probably not much worse than some 'professional' equipment). Or is it +10/-0dB? Even if it is, just subtract 5dB. In practice, an increase in signal of 10 dB, say from 55 dB to 65 dB, may not make any change to the reading. OK, the error may not be more than 5 dB, but it's not very helpful when aligning an aerial. With an in-line variable attenuator* you could back off the signal level until the strongest LED went out, re-peak the aerial, back off again, etc ad nauseam, until the signal was maximised. However, it certainly won't tell you if one (or more) of the channels/muxes is 'in a hole'. *Like the one here, 2/3 of the way down the list of "Attenuators". http://www.beststuff.co.uk/coaxial_accessories.htm Being realistic, presumably it's just a wideband UHF amplifier driving a detector, so it measures everything as one signal (including the analogues). It's not just wideband UHF - the quoted frequency range goes down to 40 MHz. I thought that just had to be a mistake, until I found that the meter picks up a signal from the local oscillator of a VHF radio... In some (relatively rare) circumstances, this obviously could cause unnecessary confusion. However, in the right hands - and under the right conditions - this might be quite a useful tool. -- Ian |
Budget TV signal strength meter
"Ian Jackson" wrote in message
... In message , John Legon writes It's not just wideband UHF - the quoted frequency range goes down to 40 MHz. I thought that just had to be a mistake, until I found that the meter picks up a signal from the local oscillator of a VHF radio... In some (relatively rare) circumstances, this obviously could cause unnecessary confusion. However, in the right hands - and under the right conditions - this might be quite a useful tool. I would assume that the aerial dipole itself would help to tune out unwanted frequencies. Also on the plus side, these meters are quite well made, and they are cheap. Not that I paid for mine - they were sent to me with a satellite kit - I don't know why!! |
Budget TV signal strength meter
Ian Jackson wrote:
In message , John Legon writes "Ian Jackson" wrote in message ... In message , "Brian Gregory [UK]" writes "-GB-Carpy" wrote in message ... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philex-SLx-2...h/dp/B001GXQUN Q/ref=pd_cp_ce_1 Not sure what this thing will do if the signal is under 50dBuV but it's certainly cheap & cheerful One LED for every 10dB?? That's right... That's not a signal strength meter -- it's a sick joke. Well, it *could* accurate to +/-5dB (which is probably not much worse than some 'professional' equipment). Or is it +10/-0dB? Even if it is, just subtract 5dB. In practice, an increase in signal of 10 dB, say from 55 dB to 65 dB, may not make any change to the reading. OK, the error may not be more than 5 dB, but it's not very helpful when aligning an aerial. With an in-line variable attenuator* you could back off the signal level until the strongest LED went out, re-peak the aerial, back off again, etc ad nauseam, until the signal was maximised. However, it certainly won't tell you if one (or more) of the channels/muxes is 'in a hole'. *Like the one here, 2/3 of the way down the list of "Attenuators". http://www.beststuff.co.uk/coaxial_accessories.htm What a wonderful website! I do like their ... .... crimp type F plugs ... (seem to 'magically' fit all cable sizes - except RG11) ... crimp onto cable, best used with crimping tools ... .... screw on Coaxial Plug with Brass Cable Grip ... must come as a surprise to the average punter who's never fitted a 'Belling' plug before ... .... and the ... .... F socket/coaxial socket gender changer ... (they obviously know some very strange females! In fairness to Ian, the variable attenuator could be useful in the context of this thread (but I'd never have got that far down the page, myself!) Being realistic, presumably it's just a wideband UHF amplifier driving a detector, so it measures everything as one signal (including the analogues). It's not just wideband UHF - the quoted frequency range goes down to 40 MHz. I thought that just had to be a mistake, until I found that the meter picks up a signal from the local oscillator of a VHF radio... In some (relatively rare) circumstances, this obviously could cause unnecessary confusion. However, in the right hands - and under the right conditions - this might be quite a useful tool. It must be nice to live somewhere out in the sticks - nowhere near a high-power BII transmitter and not a pirate in sight! In this neck of the woods, you'd need a pretty impressive high pass filter ...! Terry |
Budget TV signal strength meter
In message , Terry Casey
writes Ian Jackson wrote: In message , John Legon writes "Ian Jackson" wrote in message ... In message , "Brian Gregory [UK]" writes "-GB-Carpy" wrote in message ... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philex-SLx-2...h/dp/B001GXQUN Q/ref=pd_cp_ce_1 Not sure what this thing will do if the signal is under 50dBuV it's certainly cheap & cheerful One LED for every 10dB?? That's right... That's not a signal strength meter -- it's a sick joke. Well, it *could* accurate to +/-5dB (which is probably not much worse than some 'professional' equipment). Or is it +10/-0dB? Even if it is, just subtract 5dB. In practice, an increase in signal of 10 dB, say from 55 dB to 65 dB, may not make any change to the reading. OK, the error may not be more than 5 dB, but it's not very helpful when aligning an aerial. With an in-line variable attenuator* you could back off the signal level until the strongest LED went out, re-peak the aerial, back off again, etc ad nauseam, until the signal was maximised. However, it certainly won't tell you if one (or more) of the channels/muxes is 'in a hole'. *Like the one here, 2/3 of the way down the list of "Attenuators". http://www.beststuff.co.uk/coaxial_accessories.htm What a wonderful website! I do like their ... ... crimp type F plugs ... (seem to 'magically' fit all cable sizes - except RG11) A' real' engineer can make any connector fit any cable (can't he?). ... crimp onto cable, best used with crimping tools ... I've seen one engineer's toolbox which contained only a hammer and pair of large pliers. It worked for him... ... screw on Coaxial Plug with Brass Cable Grip ... must come as a surprise to the average punter who's never fitted a 'Belling' plug before ... ... and the ... ... F socket/coaxial socket gender changer ... (they obviously know some very strange females! They look to me like 'species changer, same gender'. In fairness to Ian, the variable attenuator could be useful in the context of this thread (but I'd never have got that far down the page, myself!) Hey, there's lots of good stuff there! Being realistic, presumably it's just a wideband UHF amplifier driving a detector, so it measures everything as one signal (including the analogues). It's not just wideband UHF - the quoted frequency range goes down to 40 MHz. I thought that just had to be a mistake, until I found that the meter picks up a signal from the local oscillator of a VHF radio... In some (relatively rare) circumstances, this obviously could cause unnecessary confusion. However, in the right hands - and under the right conditions - this might be quite a useful tool. It must be nice to live somewhere out in the sticks - nowhere near a high-power BII transmitter and not a pirate in sight! In this neck of the woods, you'd need a pretty impressive high pass filter ...! One of their Tetra filters might help. http://www.beststuff.co.uk/tetra_filter_units.htm However, £10 for the meter, £4 for the attenuator and £10 for a filter - it's all adding up. -- Ian |
Budget TV signal strength meter
"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
om... Would not something like this be more accurate if an analogue meter or earpiece with rising tone for strength was fitted? Yes, a tone with frequency increasing as strength increases would be cheap and highly efffective. If its real broad band I guess it might be rather useful for just finding the strongest, but if its too wide band it might aim your aerial to the local minicab office instead. We get strong signals from Crystal Palace (which isn't our region) on the back of the aerial (which has to point to Hannington if we want our local programmes). I'm sure that would make it useless for us. -- Brian Gregory. (In the UK) To email me remove the letter vee. |
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