Digital TV Signal Boosters

"Lurch" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 8 Jul 2007 18:03:41 +0100, "TJY" mused:

Too many cowboys about. It sounds like you might need something like a
Televes DAT45 or 75 with MRD!

Er, lol?

I've seen a DAT 75 turned sideways and pointed at a local relay. What's
funny is the relay mast was so close you could even see it from ground
level.

(kim)

"kim" wrote in message
...
"Lurch" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 8 Jul 2007 18:03:41 +0100, "TJY" mused:

Too many cowboys about. It sounds like you might need something like a
Televes DAT45 or 75 with MRD!

Er, lol?

I've seen a DAT 75 turned sideways and pointed at a local relay. What's
funny is the relay mast was so close you could even see it from ground
level.

(kim)

I saw one recently vertical pol pointing at Winter Hill.
I suppose doing it that way saved the householder
the price of an attenuator!
--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%

....snip...
In the end, the fitters gave up, apologised for giving me incorrect
information and didn't charge me. No idea what aerial we ended up with
(the term 'digital aerial' was mine, not theirs) but I have noticed the
aerial wire is brown (You can tell that my knowledge of these things are
zero!).

CT100 can be black, white or (rarely) brown. If you were to cut some open
(got a spare bit left lying around?) you can see the difference between
CT100 and "low loss". A quick Google (or look at Bills "Wrights Aerials"
site...) will give you more info. It does sound like they did their best
and if they didn't charge you then you really can't complain.

There are many people on this NG who have Freeview/Digital from remote
transmitters, the question is how much time and effort do you want to put
in? Also, how soon before your region goes "digital only" and the
transmitter powers get whacked up? Probably worth a little digging around
to find that out before investing further.

Of course you could always use Freesat ($ky/similar receiver and a 20UKP
on-off payment for a card) but you will not get some Ch4 channels as they
are still locked into their deal with $ky.

Paul DS.

Of course you could always use Freesat

Yes, however, the main reason I was looking at the Freeview coverage is that
our ageing TV is in need of replacement. Ideally, I would buy a digital
only set but with a big chunk of the channel line-up missing it would be a
bit daft.

Richard

"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message
.. .
...snip...
In the end, the fitters gave up, apologised for giving me incorrect
information and didn't charge me. No idea what aerial we ended up with
(the term 'digital aerial' was mine, not theirs) but I have noticed the
aerial wire is brown (You can tell that my knowledge of these things are
zero!).

CT100 can be black, white or (rarely) brown. If you were to cut some open
(got a spare bit left lying around?) you can see the difference between
CT100 and "low loss". A quick Google (or look at Bills "Wrights Aerials"
site...) will give you more info. It does sound like they did their best
and if they didn't charge you then you really can't complain.

There are many people on this NG who have Freeview/Digital from remote
transmitters, the question is how much time and effort do you want to put
in? Also, how soon before your region goes "digital only" and the
transmitter powers get whacked up? Probably worth a little digging around
to find that out before investing further.

Of course you could always use Freesat ($ky/similar receiver and a 20UKP
on-off payment for a card) but you will not get some Ch4 channels as they
are still locked into their deal with $ky.

Paul DS.

....snip...
"Richard Wagstaff" wrote in message
...
Of course you could always use Freesat

Yes, however, the main reason I was looking at the Freeview coverage is
that our ageing TV is in need of replacement. Ideally, I would buy a
digital only set but with a big chunk of the channel line-up missing it
would be a bit daft.

Richard


Fair enough - but do digital TVs _only_ have digital tuners? Also, and
something worth considering, I've heard people suggest that buying a TV
"just because it's digital" is a false economy. Some manufacturers (Sony is
apparently bad for this) implement only the current features with no
"headroom" to add later additions to the Freeview standard.

With the alternate approach (TV and external Freeview box), you can always
throw away the (much cheaper) Freeview box and buy a new one if it doesn't
support the new feature that you want.

It's a bit of a minefield this digital stuff :-(. Personally, I've just
bought a widescreen CRT and I have a cheapie Freeview box. I've never seen
an HD LCD that produced a picture from SD Freeview that was up to my
standards (and they're not _that_ critical!).

Paul DS

"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message
.. .
CT100 can be black, white or (rarely) brown. If you were to cut some open
(got a spare bit left lying around?) you can see the difference between
CT100 and "low loss". A quick Google (or look at Bills "Wrights Aerials"
site...) will give you more info. It does sound like they did their best
and if they didn't charge you then you really can't complain.

The fact that they didn't charge suggests that they are on a learning curve;
in other words, that they are new to the job. There's a good chance that
someone who knows what they are doing could sort this out for you.

An established contractor would never allow himself to fall into the trap of
doing a job and not charging for it.

Bill

In article , Mark Carver
writes
Linker3000 wrote:

Do you reckon the OP would have any chance of a pickup from Rowridge
(IoW) with a bigger aerial?

It's a long way to Rowridge, and mostly over sea. There'd probably be some
terrible fading ?


Freesat £150 installed...
--
Tony Sayer

There is a house on the other side of the road to me. It has two Fracarro
High gain aerials with those chicken mesh reflectors on the same pole, both
vertically polarised, pointing a horizontal polarised Sandy Heath..... and
there is no evidence of a masthead amplifier

I struggle to get half decent freeview from Sandy myself as Sutton
Coldfield's analogue channels stomp all over it.... I cannot get analogue
unless I stick a 23dB Masthead amplifier on the pole.

So I can't see how it works for them somehow

Can someone shed light on this?

Stephen

"Graham" wrote in message
...

"kim" wrote in message
...
"Lurch" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 8 Jul 2007 18:03:41 +0100, "TJY" mused:

Too many cowboys about. It sounds like you might need something like a
Televes DAT45 or 75 with MRD!

Er, lol?

I've seen a DAT 75 turned sideways and pointed at a local relay. What's
funny is the relay mast was so close you could even see it from ground
level.

(kim)

I saw one recently vertical pol pointing at Winter Hill.
I suppose doing it that way saved the householder
the price of an attenuator!
--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%

On Mon, 9 Jul 2007 19:31:49 +0100, "Mallory"
mused:

There is a house on the other side of the road to me. It has two Fracarro
High gain aerials with those chicken mesh reflectors on the same pole, both
vertically polarised, pointing a horizontal polarised Sandy Heath..... and
there is no evidence of a masthead amplifier

I struggle to get half decent freeview from Sandy myself as Sutton
Coldfield's analogue channels stomp all over it.... I cannot get analogue
unless I stick a 23dB Masthead amplifier on the pole.

So I can't see how it works for them somehow

Can someone shed light on this?

How well does it work though, have you actually been and checked their
reception?
--
Regards,
Stuart.

"Richard Wagstaff" wrote in message
...
Our area has just started to receive a limited Freeview service from
Whitehawk (14 Km away). We've had an aerial company fit a new digital
aerial and make sure the alignment is OK

Unfortunately, we are still unable to receive some channels - ITV, Ch 4,
Ch5, to name but a few - The BBC channels are all fine.

Do you think an aerial Signal Booster would bring in the missing channels?
I see Maplin have one
(http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...s ter&doy=8m7)
for around the £25 mark.

Failing that, does anyone know if it's at all possible to receive the
missing channels or am I going to have to wait until 2012?

You could use DST (but not C4 or Five yet while $ky have a monopoly)

Many thanks

Richard



There is no such thing as a digital aerial, but you will need a big one in
the right band or more than one band a log periodic see: -

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?...20071&doy=10m7
or
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?...17681&doy=10m7

You might also consider the use of a low noise mast head amplifier and
decent cable (CT100 or better in a single run).

Things to avoid: -

wrong band aerial
misalignment
scrappy cable
lots of joins, tight bends and splits in the cable

A TV or freeview box with good sensitivity is good idea too.