Antiference XG16CD alternative?

According to the CPC website at least this aerial is no longer
manufactured, and an email enquiry to Antiference has not produced a reply
in a week. Googling for someone else selling such a beast online has
produced nothing.

I would just use my standard DAT75 with MRD, but in this location I am
going to have a problem with that. I am in north east fife trying to get a
Freeview signal from the Angus transmitter, which is group C/D. However if
I fit a a wideband aerial (such as the DAT75) it manages to pickup a weak
signal from the Durris transmitter another 32 miles further north.

The problem with this is Durris has all it's transmissions at lower
frequencies than Angus, and on all set top boxes I have tried, when one
does a scan it picks up weak signals from the Durris transmitter and
ignores the much stronger (and perfectly usable) signals from the Angus
transmitter. I can stick a filter in between but that degrades the signal a
bit, and while the signal is perfectly usable (breakups are rare) I
would prefer to use the correct aerial in the first place, and make
breakups rarer still.

So if this aerial is not longer manufactured, what would people suggest
for a large gain group C/D aerial?


JAB.

--
Jonathan A. Buzzard Email: jonathan (at) buzzard.me.uk
Fife, United Kingdom.

Jonathan Buzzard wrote:
snip
The problem with this is Durris has all it's transmissions at lower
frequencies than Angus, and on all set top boxes I have tried, when one
does a scan it picks up weak signals from the Durris transmitter and
ignores the much stronger (and perfectly usable) signals from the Angus
transmitter. I can stick a filter in between but that degrades the signal a
bit, and while the signal is perfectly usable (breakups are rare) I
would prefer to use the correct aerial in the first place, and make
breakups rarer still.
/snip

Why don't you put the filter in, scan, then take it out?

Andy

On Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:56:15 +0000, Andy Champ wrote:

Jonathan Buzzard wrote:
snip
The problem with this is Durris has all it's transmissions at lower
frequencies than Angus, and on all set top boxes I have tried, when one
does a scan it picks up weak signals from the Durris transmitter and
ignores the much stronger (and perfectly usable) signals from the Angus
transmitter. I can stick a filter in between but that degrades the signal a
bit, and while the signal is perfectly usable (breakups are rare) I
would prefer to use the correct aerial in the first place, and make
breakups rarer still.
/snip

Why don't you put the filter in, scan, then take it out?

Andy

Because firstly it would be a right pain in the neck and a botched hack
job. Secondly some set top boxes seem to notice the weak signals and
proudly announce you need to do a rescan.


JAB.

--
Jonathan A. Buzzard Email: jonathan (at) buzzard.me.uk
Fife, United Kingdom.

Jonathan Buzzard wrote...

Why don't you put the filter in, scan, then take it out?

Andy

Because firstly it would be a right pain in the neck and a botched hack
job. Secondly some set top boxes seem to notice the weak signals and
proudly announce you need to do a rescan.

We have a similar problem on a communal aerial in our OAP complex here
in Corby, in that weak signals from Waltham overides Sandy Heath
causing duplicate channel number problems etc. I do much as Jonathon
suggests, degrade the aerial connection, scan then reconnect and
usually all is well. It is a pain, and as you say set top boxes vary in
how they handle this but the "botched hack job" seems to be succesful
most of the time.

--
Ken

http://www.members.lycos.co.uk/buddyduck/

"Jonathan Buzzard" wrote in message
...
The problem with this is Durris has all it's transmissions at lower
frequencies than Angus, and on all set top boxes I have tried, when one
does a scan it picks up weak signals from the Durris transmitter and
ignores the much stronger (and perfectly usable) signals from the Angus
transmitter.

A Gp CD aerial would still pick up enough GpA and GpB signals to cause this
problem. Yagis are inherently quite good on frequencies just below their
design range.

Many receivers allow 'auto retune off'.

Bill

"Jonathan Buzzard" wrote in message
...
According to the CPC website at least this aerial is no longer
manufactured, and an email enquiry to Antiference has not produced a reply
in a week. Googling for someone else selling such a beast online has
produced nothing.

I would just use my standard DAT75 with MRD, but in this location I am
going to have a problem with that. I am in north east fife trying to get a
Freeview signal from the Angus transmitter, which is group C/D. However if
I fit a a wideband aerial (such as the DAT75) it manages to pickup a weak
signal from the Durris transmitter another 32 miles further north.

The problem with this is Durris has all it's transmissions at lower
frequencies than Angus, and on all set top boxes I have tried, when one
does a scan it picks up weak signals from the Durris transmitter and
ignores the much stronger (and perfectly usable) signals from the Angus
transmitter. I can stick a filter in between but that degrades the signal
a
bit, and while the signal is perfectly usable (breakups are rare) I
would prefer to use the correct aerial in the first place, and make
breakups rarer still.

So if this aerial is not longer manufactured, what would people suggest
for a large gain group C/D aerial?


JAB.

--
Jonathan A. Buzzard Email: jonathan (at) buzzard.me.uk
Fife, United Kingdom.



I'd consider using channel-pass filters at the head end.

That's the gold-plated non-botch approach.

But it comes at a price.

Incidentally, I just recieved a fat glossy catalog from Taylor bros today.
Think I'll buy a TV transmittter for the bedroom.

--
Ron

On Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:15:11 +0000, Bill Wright wrote:

"Jonathan Buzzard" wrote in message
...
The problem with this is Durris has all it's transmissions at lower
frequencies than Angus, and on all set top boxes I have tried, when one
does a scan it picks up weak signals from the Durris transmitter and
ignores the much stronger (and perfectly usable) signals from the Angus
transmitter.

A Gp CD aerial would still pick up enough GpA and GpB signals to cause this
problem. Yagis are inherently quite good on frequencies just below their
design range.


True, but the signal from the wideband is er rubbish to say the least. I
expect that with this one needing to point a further 10 degrees away from
Durris and a proper C/D aerial, it would not suffer the same problem as
the DAT75 with MRD the last installation I did does (for my godmother).

Many receivers allow 'auto retune off'.

Any many don't, so I want a "pro" solution that does not suffer this
problem :-)


JAB.

--
Jonathan A. Buzzard Email: jonathan (at) buzzard.me.uk
Fife, United Kingdom.

"Jonathan Buzzard" wrote in message
...
Many receivers allow 'auto retune off'.

Any many don't, so I want a "pro" solution that does not suffer this
problem :-)

It's really good to hear that someone wants a pro solution. It makes a
change.
http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/article...ribution-4.pdf
shows how you can use channel filters and pre-amps. That's the way to do it.

Bill

On Mon, 3 Nov 2008 21:43:01 +0000, Jonathan Buzzard
wrote:

On Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:15:11 +0000, Bill Wright wrote:

"Jonathan Buzzard" wrote in message
...
The problem with this is Durris has all it's transmissions at lower
frequencies than Angus, and on all set top boxes I have tried, when one
does a scan it picks up weak signals from the Durris transmitter and
ignores the much stronger (and perfectly usable) signals from the Angus
transmitter.

A Gp CD aerial would still pick up enough GpA and GpB signals to cause this
problem. Yagis are inherently quite good on frequencies just below their
design range.


True, but the signal from the wideband is er rubbish to say the least. I
expect that with this one needing to point a further 10 degrees away from
Durris and a proper C/D aerial, it would not suffer the same problem as
the DAT75 with MRD the last installation I did does (for my godmother).

Many receivers allow 'auto retune off'.

Any many don't, so I want a "pro" solution that does not suffer this
problem :-)


JAB.

Check out the Blake range. They do some large grouped arrays and
their performance is excellent.

Marky P.

On Tue, 04 Nov 2008 03:48:06 +0000, Bill Wright wrote:

"Jonathan Buzzard" wrote in message
...
Many receivers allow 'auto retune off'.

Any many don't, so I want a "pro" solution that does not suffer this
problem :-)

It's really good to hear that someone wants a pro solution. It makes a
change.
http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/article...ribution-4.pdf
shows how you can use channel filters and pre-amps. That's the way to do it.


Well the system is based around a Antiference ISYS7. I would have
preferred something with less outputs as 12 is overkill, but I could find
nothing else that took a quattro LNB, UHF, FM and DAB and then spit it all
out on one download, had a built in mains supply and provided 12V for the
masthead amplifier. I figure it will pay for itself as I have to run far
fewer downleads as I do the house up :-)

Where does a DIY'er get channel filters?

Another question is the manual for the ISYS7 says I should terminate any
unused outputs. Can I just solder a 75 Ohm resistor to a F plug, are there
pre-made jobs I can buy?


JAB.

--
Jonathan A. Buzzard Email: jonathan (at) buzzard.me.uk
Fife, United Kingdom.