Need a new digital aerial!

[SteevieNiteHeat]

Hi we are looking for the best digital aerial, and I was thinking about maplins to go to, which from the Outdoor TV Aerials do you reccommend?

Installation is no problem as our next door neighbour will probably do it if we bung him a few quid (I am no good with heights) and he has all the ladders!

So which do you reccommend?

It all depends on how far you are from the transmitter. Further away needs a higher gain. It also depends on the transmitter you are picking up, as this will dictate the group of aerial you need. Theres no such thing as a digital aerial, all digital TV signals are carried on analogue carriers, the manufacturers are simply using the word digital as people pick up on it.

[AndyCambs]

I suppose the best thing is to get an aerial installer to fit you one...

[SteevieNiteHeat]

Originally Posted by Losttheplot

It all depends on how far you are from the transmitter. Further away needs a higher gain. It also depends on the transmitter you are picking up, as this will dictate the group of aerial you need. Theres no such thing as a digital aerial, all digital TV signals are carried on analogue carriers, the manufacturers are simply using the word digital as people pick up on it.

Hi!
I have used a site to check and the nearest is Sandy Heath.
But we definately need a new aerial, as we have lived in this house for the last 23 years and the same aerial was up before we moved in, and we need a signal booster to even get a picture (channel 4 & 5 are still bearly watchable)

I recently bought a new PVR with built-in freeview, but I can only get 17 channels (scanned at morning, afternoon & evening but now newer channels found), most of which are the BBC radio channels which none of my family ever watch anyway, and a few other boring channels (channels found are BBC radio 1,2,3,4, R5 Live, BBC 4, CBeebies, BBC Parliament, Community, 301, 302 (red button channels), BBC 5L SportsX, BBC 6 Music, BBC7, BBC Asian Network BBC World Service & 1Xtra BBC) none of these we watch, so we have decided to switch to a digital aerial.

Originally Posted by AndyCambs

I suppose the best thing is to get an aerial installer to fit you one...

Could you reccommend a good, reputable & most importantly CHEAP company that will do a professional job please?

EDIT: I forgot to say that the signal check on freeview is rubbish, at most its around 35, but drops real low at times, even to 0 which then I cannot get a bean out of it!

Sandy Heath needs a wideband aerial (what most shops call a digital antenna, but its not!). Horizontally polarised.
Any antenna fitter worth his chips will be able to sort you out.

[Kymmy]

We had an antenna fitted just before digital came out, now I know it was a wideband, but not very hi-gain, once freeview cam out we had signal strength problems coupled with the fact that we also wanted to feed 3-4 TV's around the house...

So instead of a new higher-gain antenna I got a mast-head 4 way amp kit (off ebay 2nd hand for a tenner and not to be confused with a end fed TV amp that amplifies the noise on the Co-ax as well as the wanted signal). Now all the TV's worked perfectly on freeview....

Just a thought at a possible option that will give you the same result but can be more useful in the future...

[AndyCambs]

Originally Posted by Losttheplot

Sandy Heath needs a wideband aerial (what most shops call a digital antenna, but its not!). Horizontally polarised.
Any antenna fitter worth his chips will be able to sort you out.

If I recall correctly, Sandy Heath doesn't have a full picnic basket (full set of channels). According to the Freeview site, I would have to tune to Waltham to get BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 etc - these aren't available to me in Peterborough anyway from Sandy Heath.

[SteevieNiteHeat]

Thanks Kymmy & AndyCambs!
Would it be possible at all for you to list which freeview channels you can currently get?
If it isn't that many, then I think I will stick to cable for the TV, but I was under the impression that ?most? of the virgin & sky channels would be availble on freeview?

As you can probably tell, I'm a complete noobie when it comes to Freeview and all I know about it is from the TV adverts & from family out of town on what they can get, so I am totally confused by it all!

[AndyCambs]

Check here - it gives you a choice of transmitters if more than one is available.
http://www.freeview.co.uk/availability
For me - Sandy Heath would have the local news, but Waltham has news away from the area.

Sandy Heath may well have a very directional antenna to prevent interference with existing analogue transmissions from other sites. I have little to no idea on the location of the transmitter, but the antennas may well be directed to prevent interference with French Tv.
Your location will define which site you have to use.

[Kymmy]

Just go to tvguide.co.uk and click the freeview button, that'll give you an idea of what channels are about and what's on them. The only thinks not listed on there is the 4 shopping channels (qvc, ideal, bid-up....), BBC news24, Sky news, BBC parliment.. A few very limited hours channels like teachersTV and Nuts TV and then the text/interactive channels.

[AndyCambs]

Originally Posted by Losttheplot

Sandy Heath may well have a very directional antenna to prevent interference with existing analogue transmissions from other sites. I have little to no idea on the location of the transmitter, but the antennas may well be directed to prevent interference with French Tv.
Your location will define which site you have to use.

Here is the location of the tranmitter - directly outside Sandy, Beds.
http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=52...=15&iwloc=addr

Info on the transmitter here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_H...itting_station

Originally Posted by AndyCambs

Here is the location of the tranmitter - directly outside Sandy, Beds.
http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=52...=15&iwloc=addr

Info on the transmitter here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_H...itting_station

I used to work for ntl broadcast, based at Emley Moor, nearly ten years ago now. We used to look after the analogue TV transmitter sites, and be able to switch to redundant equipment etc in the case of any faults. Great days!

Anyway, it doesn't matter how close the OP is, he needs to be within the radiation pattern from the transmitter if its very directional. A local aerial installer should have local knowledge. Or take advice from a local TV shop (especially a small local one, not the likes of Currys etc), on TV reception.

[SteevieNiteHeat]

Thanks all for your input!
I clicked on Andy's link (http://www.freeview.co.uk/availability) and it says that for Sandy Heath, I can get all of the channels (even though there are only 69 channels shown) but for the Waltham transmitter, none are availible from our area (even after the switchover), so this leads me to believe that either: a) the aerial isn't as alligned as it is supposed to be or b) we need a new aerial!

I have checked on the new PVR in the digital settings, and the RF channel is 33, signal strength fluctuates between 0-46%, but the signal quality fluctuates betewwn 0-50%, at the moment of writing this it is 45% signal strength & quality is 34% (in yellow, fair)

So are we just going to get these boring 17 channels until we upgrade the aerial, and when we do upgrade, will we only get the 69 channels that are shown? as I know people in other towns of England that have 100's of freeview channels, seems poor to me!

Thanks all again

[Kymmy]

Although the channel numbers go upto something like 700+ you'll find that there is only about 58 TV channels here, but there is also teletext and radio channels that I have not included in that