TV Aerials again - HELP

[lizandjill]

I have read a number os posts about TV aerials and decided to buy a Gigaboost with powered signal amplifier. It's designed to run off a 230 volt supply, and I'm not sure what else I need to use it with 12 volt power on the boat - do I need a DC1 in-line DC inserter or decoupler or a regulated power adaptor as I've read on the forum, or both of these? What are these in any case and are they easy to obtain/fix up? Can anyone help in words of one syllable please - I don't really do technical stuff - I just want to see the Olympics.

[steelaway]

I have read a number os posts about TV aerials and decided to buy a Gigaboost with powered signal amplifier. It's designed to run off a 230 volt supply, and I'm not sure what else I need to use it with 12 volt power on the boat - do I need a DC1 in-line DC inserter or decoupler or a regulated power adaptor as I've read on the forum, or both of these? What are these in any case and are they easy to obtain/fix up? Can anyone help in words of one syllable please - I don't really do technical stuff - I just want to see the Olympics.

 

 

Hi There

 

If you do not have any 240v (13A sockets) then will need an inverter to create 240v from your 12v battery's and plug the unit into this

 

Alex

[paulcatchpole]

I have read a number os posts about TV aerials and decided to buy a Gigaboost with powered signal amplifier. It's designed to run off a 230 volt supply, and I'm not sure what else I need to use it with 12 volt power on the boat - do I need a DC1 in-line DC inserter or decoupler or a regulated power adaptor as I've read on the forum, or both of these? What are these in any case and are they easy to obtain/fix up? Can anyone help in words of one syllable please - I don't really do technical stuff - I just want to see the Olympics.

 

Two things here...

 

Quite a few mast head amps are driven from 12v - our one at home is [to overcome a large cable run, and feeding a *lot* of tuners] - if so, you may be able to use a 12v line inserter to drive it.

 

Have a look at: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~jpsl/powering_remote_units1.htm

 

Secondly, can you let me know whether the small-gain-antenna/big-amp combination actually works for you? My RF TV network course I went on, in a previous existence, suggested that it'd be much more useful to have a slightly larger antenna and no amp unless absolutely necessary...

 

PC

[Gary Peacock]

Personally I would stay away from amplifiers mast head or other, I have never had great results with any and with the increase of terrestrial digital they will probably be even less useful.

 

If you are located primarily in one area than your money would be far better spent on a pole and a suitable high gain aerial, if you move over a larger area things are a bit more complex but the high gain aerial will help.

 

A bit of research on the Internet or purchasing directly from a installer will help with selection.

 

Forget about omni-directional aerials too, in my view they are more a thing of boating myth than any better picture quality.

[paulcatchpole]

Personally I would stay away from amplifiers mast head or other, I have never had great results with any and with the increase of terrestrial digital they will probably be even less useful.

 

If you are located primarily in one area than your money would be far better spent on a pole and a suitable high gain aerial, if you move over a larger area things are a bit more complex but the high gain aerial will help.

 

A bit of research on the Internet or purchasing directly from a installer will help with selection.

 

Forget about omni-directional aerials too, in my view they are more a thing of boating myth than any better picture quality.

 

I very much agree... The amp at home is there for a good reason though, not to boost signal because we're in a poor area, but to overcome the losses getting it down from the antenna to where it needs to go! :-)

 

I suspect the omnis might work in a lab environment where you can guarantee there aren't too many phase-shifted reflections and other rubbish floating around. I tried one years ago and didn't have a lot of luck!

 

As has been said before, DVB-T suffers from two problems at the moment, relatively low transmitter power and, from that, in some places in the country where the digital muxes are very close to the analogue channels [bad planning somewhere along the line], they get 'drowned out' or interfered with. Both of those problems should disappear when the analogue goes away, leaving most people with a better DVB-T signal.

 

As someone else pointed out on the last thread about this, there're still remote parts of the country connected via chains of low power and low bandwidth relays. I believe the BBC have signed a deal with a satellite provider to backhaul [forehaul?] the DVB-T signals to remote locations where they can be retransmitted. Can't remember who the provider was now, might have been Globecast?

 

PC

[Nickhlx]

+1 to the high gain aerial with no booster ( and no more power draw although this is tiny) However the high gain aerials for people on the move are usually wide band covering all the channels - A high gain aerial for a specific group ( e.g. Band A) if you will be in one particular area has a higher gain than a wide band aerial for all the channels. ( and cheaper)

 

Nick

[Tony Brooks]

I have read a number os posts about TV aerials and decided to buy a Gigaboost with powered signal amplifier. It's designed to run off a 230 volt supply, and I'm not sure what else I need to use it with 12 volt power on the boat - do I need a DC1 in-line DC inserter or decoupler or a regulated power adaptor as I've read on the forum, or both of these? What are these in any case and are they easy to obtain/fix up? Can anyone help in words of one syllable please - I don't really do technical stuff - I just want to see the Olympics.

 

 

I can not comment on your proposed setup but I am now very happy with my setup which is all 12v and as follows. Because I want two TV outlets with one at the other end of the boat and cabled in close proximity to some 12v circuits I am using a "caravan" 12 volt amplifier splitter. My cabling is nothing special, just ordinary TV coax - not the low loss stuff.

 

The aerial is (I think) called a Status which is far more compact than a domestic TV aerial but is directional. This is mounted on top of an extending B&Q window cleaning pole about 12 ft long when extended. The aerial "lives" just inside the rear doors flat against the hull side. When in use it its lead is plugged into the boats cable just under the cratch cover. The amplifier is inside the boat on the front bulkhead. The set is a 10.4" analogue/digital 12 volt. The aerial can be rotated through 90 degrees to receive local vertical polarised signals.

 

When it comes close to mooring time I take a compass bearing from the house TV aerials and when moored extend the pole and align my aerial with the bearing.

 

I have never in three years failed to pick up the main channels, although sometimes it is on analogue. There are some "black spots" like Marsworth and Chrystal Palace digital seems to be problematic.

 

I think most boaters do not realise the importance of aerial height and alignment. Also note that (as I was told on here a while ago) that often it helps if the tip of the aerial is pointing upwards very slightly.

 

I even managed to get Hannington from the "Prison" moorings in Reading which are surrounded by very tall buildings and the local areas point in all directions (London/Oxford/Hannington & Henley local transmitter).

 

From my limited knowledge I would tend to avoid mains solutions that involve inverters unless you are going to buy a good quality pure sine wave one. I get too many question about problems with audiovisual equipment running on modified sine wave ones. I understand pure sine inverters tend to use more power than modified sine ones.

[steelaway]

+1 to the high gain aerial with no booster ( and no more power draw although this is tiny) However the high gain aerials for people on the move are usually wide band covering all the channels - A high gain aerial for a specific group ( e.g. Band A) if you will be in one particular area has a higher gain than a wide band aerial for all the channels. ( and cheaper)

 

Nick

 

 

I agree Nick

 

I bought a standard (small/short) domestic Digi ariel and almost always picks up most channels, even in places surrounded by buildings - amazing sometimes?

I simply check the direction of the local house ariels and go in that direction.

 

One problem that crops up some times is that some areas have ariels with horizontal legs and some with vertical - but I have simple system of turning the ariel through 90 degrees

 

Alex