All posts by Dave Lindsay
Below are all of Dave Lindsay's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Dan: I write on here as a technical bod rather than a rigger (you wouldn't get me up on a roof!).
I don't think having two aerials combined will work, or if it will then they would have to be set up correctly.
You can end up getting a worse signal because combining ends up with one cancelling the other out (to some degree).
Ideally a dual polarised aerial might be better (I imagine), but how much better I don't know. But then such a thing might not be available.
Rowridge's channels are all Group A, so a Group A aerial (now wideband) is what you want if it's a yagi type. See:
Rowridge Transmitter
I think your best bet is a log periodic which is wideband but doesn't suffer from the drop off in sensitivity on lower channels.
Perhaps one of the other experts can chip in here.
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Chris Shaw: To get BBC Four HD your aerial will need to be horizontal rather than vertical. So if you switched to vertical polarisation it will need changing back again as the new HD muxes aren't VP..
Judging by the terrain plot you may have clear line-of-sight at 22.6 miles. A loft aerial may do. It's not that you need a different type of aerial per se but that the transmission power is lower, although at just over 24kW it should be ample to serve you.
Can you not put the aerial outside or try moving it in the loft? See whether any trees might be in the way.
Also, try going to the manual tuning part of your receiver and enter/select UHF channel 31 but don't press the button to scan/add channels immediately. Instead wait and see whether it gives you any indication as to strength and quality.
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H J Hill: You might need a wideband aerial as C31 is out-of-group if it's a Group C/D (i.e. not replaced since long before digital came along).
Also, it's on lower power than the rest, although the reported 25kW at 32 miles is expected to serve you well.
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H J Hill: For more information see:
Winter Hill Transmitter
Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial
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B.Balaam: Six, albeit that two timeshare (BBC Three and CBBC), so only five at any one time.
These are: BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, CBBC,, ITV and Channel 4.
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Chris Shaw: In answer to your question of a dual-pole aerial: Possibly, but not one for UHF television reception.
If it's vertical (elements up/down) then turn it to horizontal (elements flat) and see what you get on UHF channel 31.
If it's a log periodic aerial then it won't have a reflector. See:
Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial
If you do get a new aerial then I would get a log periodic one. Mount it horizontally in the loft. If you don't have a good enough signal anywhere in the loft then your plan B is to have it fitted outside.
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Kevin Greenhill: There is currently no issue with Sutton Coldfield broadcasting East Midlands programmes as it doesn't carry them!
A quick look at Ibstock High Street on Streetview and I can see all aerials pointing to Sutton Coldfield. I think you're going to be out of luck, especially with reliable reception from Waltham, which will give you East Midlands.
This is a terrain plot and there's an awful lot of high ground in the way starting from six miles out, to the east of the M1:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
If you want to watch East Midlands programming then you will have to view it via satellite (Freesat or Sky).
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Timothy Bennett: The aerial on your roof points to Sandy Heath and judging by your location I would have thought it always would have done.
If the reception is via a communal aerial system, as it appears it might be, then you need to speak to the party responsible for it citing poor reception if what's coming to you (from the wall socket) is poor
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Timothy Bennett: I've answered the same question here:
Ofcom annual plan: 600MHz band for Freeview HD, potential release of 700 MHz
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Friday 21 November 2014 12:21AM
Puppy: 1. The "HDMI amplifier" you refer to is a repeater. The problem is that the signal isn't loud enough to get to the other end. A repeater "listens" and then repeats (hence its name) what's heard.
2. With all the talk of high definition I don't understand why it is that people still want to use an RF analogue signal whose quality is poorer than scart and whose sound is mono! When video recorders were first invented there was no way of getting the picture onto the TV except to generate an analogue signal. Then along came scart and subsequently HDMI which are superior. Yet people subscribe to HD services and are content to watch them in analogue TV quality. Bizarre!
Anyway, if the living room TV which requires Freeview but no analogue output from the Sky box ("RF2") then could you put the splitter on the "RF" output or before the Sky box and then this would avoid this potential issue?