whats the best all round tv aerial for freeview channels?

[watty]

just wodering if anyone has had the frustration with using a normal tv aerial on narrowboat!! I have had conflicting advise on the best type omnidirectional and normal!! the normal domestic areial is not man enuff to be moved about when cruising or getting a pump out and am costantly straightening fins and other bits!!Where i am i am regularly swivelling my high gain arerial around to get a decent ITV picture!! Are the omnidirectional ones more effective and do you need a booster? cheers!!

[bottle]

Watty

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Have a search (top right) you will find many answers about aerials, if you still have a problem comeback and ask again.

 

I will give you this though, omni-directional, 'jack of all trades master of none'.

 

Boosters will only boost the signal it gets, crap in, crap out.

[Denis R]

I will give you this though, omni-directional, 'jack of all trades master of none'.

Boosters will only boost the signal it gets, crap in, crap out.

Blimmin' right. My boosted omnidirectional gives a very modest performance and that's being kind. Neighbour has a dirt cheap B&Q job strung on an old broom handle and gets a far better picture than me. And he was still whining 'cos it had cost him £9.99 and that was a rip-off for a bent bit of aluminium....

[Tony Brooks]

just wodering if anyone has had the frustration with using a normal tv aerial on narrowboat!! I have had conflicting advise on the best type omnidirectional and normal!! the normal domestic areial is not man enuff to be moved about when cruising or getting a pump out and am costantly straightening fins and other bits!!Where i am i am regularly swivelling my high gain arerial around to get a decent ITV picture!! Are the omnidirectional ones more effective and do you need a booster? cheers!!

 

 

So far - A £20 wide band directional job I got from a boat show. The thing that makes a real difference is the 12ft extending pole (B&Q painting/window washing pole) I fit it to.

 

Having got the best signal the old Maxview booster helps, but with a crap signal you still get crap.

 

 

Note - I chose that aerial because it can be stowed flat. I expect if I used a domestic one it would be even better.

[saltysplash]

So far - A £20 wide band directional job I got from a boat show. The thing that makes a real difference is the 12ft extending pole (B&Q painting/window washing pole) I fit it to.

 

Having got the best signal the old Maxview booster helps, but with a crap signal you still get crap.

Note - I chose that aerial because it can be stowed flat. I expect if I used a domestic one it would be even better.

 

 

Get a sat dish and decoder. Ive never had a problem apart from a bit of faffing to find the right sat.

 

If youve got sky at home then just get yourself an spare dish, sat finder from maplins and take your digi box cruising with you.

 

I understand there are also free sat systems out there

[chris w]

I've mentioned this before on the forum but here it is again. A so-called "signal booster" is a misnomer to laymen because it boosts everything that goes into it including the mush and crap on a low-level signal - known electronically as "noise".

 

To get a good TV picture there needs to be a minimum ratio between the signal and the noise known, not surprisingly, as the signal-to-noise ratio. A "signal booster" will boost the desired signal AND the noise so the signal-to-noise ratio doesn't change and hence the booster is doing nothing to help you.

 

Boosters are meant to be installed at the aerial in front of a long run of coax cable down to the TV and compensate for the signal lost through attenuation in the cable. They won't do anything to improve the signal coming through the air.

 

Chris

 

PS: Omnidirectional aerials are bad news on canals as most canals sit in valleys and/or are surrounded by hedges and trees and omnidirectional aerials have no way of "focusing" the signal in any one direction - they pick up all round and hence have a poor signal-to-noise ratio. You ideally need a high-gain directional aerial on a pole.

Edited November 14, 2007 by chris w

[bottle]

I said that in post #2

[Denis R]

Wandering off topic a mo, many years ago when we hired boats, a 'boffin' mate who regularly crewed with us was working at GCHQ at the time and turned up once with his own satellite system - literally an old umbrella, some metallised foil (no idea what, something he 'borrowed' from Marconi) a couple of coat hangers and some Gaffa tape to hold the LNB in the right place. B****r me if it didn't work a treat!

You ideally need a high-gain directional aerial on a pole.

Based on the above 'Blue Peter approach'....

Neighbour has a dirt cheap B&Q job strung on an old broom handle and gets a far better picture than me.

[chris w]

Wandering off topic a mo, many years ago when we hired boats, a 'boffin' mate who regularly crewed with us was working at GCHQ at the time and turned up once with his own satellite system - literally an old umbrella, some metallised foil (no idea what, something he 'borrowed' from Marconi) a couple of coat hangers and some Gaffa tape to hold the LNB in the right place. B****r me if it didn't work a treat!

 

Based on the above 'Blue Peter approach'....

 

You've missed the point that what your friend rigged up (Heath Robinson or not) was a high-gain directional antenna.

 

Chris

[Denis R]

Oh, I thought that was the point I was making. And that an improvised directional is still far better than my engineered omnidirectional...

[chris w]

I missed the ironic humour Denis.

 

Chris

[blackrose]

I said that in post #2

And it was reiterated in post #6

 

I don't think anyone's mentioned using a freeview box. If you've got a dodgy analogue signal with a medium or high gain ariel you can often improve things with a freeview box if there's a decent digital signal in your area. I think most standard ariels now are designed to pick up both.

Edited November 14, 2007 by blackrose

[carlt]

I wouldn't bother with an omnidirectional, and a signal booster merely amplifies the whole signal, good bits and bad.

 

Edited to add:

Edited November 14, 2007 by carlt

[blackrose]

I wouldn't bother with an omnidirectional, and a signal booster merely amplifies the whole signal, good bits and bad.

 

Oh yes, and on the subject of signal boosters, crap x amplification = amplified crap.

[Semitrad]

A good quality signal booster, fitted at the masthead, will give good results and overcome losses in cable and joints, if there are any. Well worth having, in my opinion, but don't forget - height is the god to worship when erecting aerials!