need new areal for freeview wich to buy???

[D.J.KRIME]

I spent most of Saturday setting a friends new TV but after tuning in the Freeview channels 90% of them dont work and a on screen message saying "week or no signal" and I am guessing this is a areal issue as the onefitted in the loft definatly predates Freeview. This areal feeds 2 TVs but the other works fine, tho this is on a shorter cable run by about 20ft.

Is it worth just getting a new areal in hope this will fix the problem?

 

[8009514]

Sounds like you need a higher gain aerial fitted. There must be a splitter fitted somewhere in order for 2 TVs to be fed. Well that splitter will lose you about 3db of signal level on each leg. In order to counteract that signal loss then you either need a higher gain aerial or an aerial amp. put in. Unfortunately, higher gain aerials aren't ideal in an attic, if the attic is used much. They are quite a bit longer because there's more elements on it. Sometimes not easy to fit in an enclosed space. Is it not possible to roof mount the aerial, that should help a lot.

Not a big fan of aerial amps, tendancy to amplify the noise as well as the signal.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

8009514: Is it not possible to roof mount the aerial, that should help a lot.

The only possible place to mount would be on the chimney stack but this is located in the middle of the roof, and lets just say I am not too fond of ladders

 

[8009514]

Get your friend to hold the ladder? ;-) or even go up it!!!. Seriously though its worth getting an aerial fitter to do it really, he'll have all the right straps and tools etc. If not possible then its either amp. or better aerial in the loft.(space permitting).

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Got a High gain areal and installed it in the loft last night and Vola problem sorted

but after re-tuning the TV a few channels are missing so now have to figure out the exact direction to point the new areal (pointing at roughly the same direction as the old one), so another night up in the loft beckons

 

[daveh75]

Is it a wideband aerial? or a grouped one,

 

[D.J.KRIME]

daveh75:Is it a wideband aerial? or a grouped one,

Not sure, it is THIS ONE if that helps

 

[daveh75]

Hmm, doesn't say, which isn't very helpful.

The reason i asked is because digital signals use a wider frequency range than analogue signal's so usually a wideband aerial is needed and not an grouped one.Which could have been the reason for missing a few channel's!

Though given they're marketing it as an "digital aerial"(no such thing as a digital aerial) then one would hope/asume it is a wideband aerial.

 

[8009514]

D.J.KRIME:

daveh75:Is it a wideband aerial? or a grouped one,

Not sure, it is THIS ONE if that helps

Bet you had fun fitting that into an attic! The higher gain aerials aren't exactly small and compact are they.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

LOL no it is a tad on the larger side, I just had to move the mast to a differant location to accomodate it.

All I can guess is that I definatly don't have it pointing the right way as having checked the picture on the analog side ofd things the picture is quite poor.

By the way some of the channels I am missing are 5 on both analog and DTV, sky3,ITV2,Sky Sports News and maybe a few more.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Checked last night and yes it is a wideband unit so good news there

Checked the signal strenght on both sets connected to the aeral, on set 1 it's 70% with 0 bitrate error but on set 2(new one with missing channels) it's only 30% with a bitrate error of 3-4 so I am guessing that the issue lies in either the junction box where the coax splits, or in the coax to set 2 which if that is the issue is a right pain as the coax to the 2nd set is channeled into the walls

Is there a meter/device that I can get that connects onto both ends of the 2nd coax feed to check it is carrying the signal correctly?

 

[proffski]

Is the aerial CAI approved?

For hinnts & tips:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/pdf/factsheet_tvaerials.pdf

http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/freeview_digital_tv.htm