Help! Life without telly is unbearable :(

[Dovetail]

No TV is bliss but we have weak moments I got one after 6 years and have gone back to hardly watching it following a few weeks of what seemed like catch up.

 

Your problem may be reception and I don’t think the magnet thing will work unless it’s a very very big magnet. I got that briefcase sat dish from Maplins and providing you can get a signal works well but you or at least I don’t get all the channels.

Edited May 9, 2012 by Dovetail

[BlueStringPudding]

A cheapo caravan aerial is easy. They can be dismantled easily and can clip onto a part if the boat. I had this one mounted on a long pole which could also be dismantled. Worked brilliantly for five years. It was only the gales in January that finally killed it! I havent got round to replacing it yet but will do.

 

Caravan tv aerial

 

The only places it didn't pick up a signal was in one or two deep cuttings. It came with a 12v booster it plugged into too.

Edited May 9, 2012 by BlueStringPudding

[twbm]

First pick your means of delivery: FreeSat is as you might guess from a satellite so needs a dish pointing up and clear skyline to work, whereas Freeview is generated from terrestrial sites and uses a more conventional looking aerial. Once you've found the local Freeview broadcast location you'll find out whether you're getting a good enough signal to use, and being in a cutting puts you at a disadvantage. (Tim will be along shortly to say it's crap). Thing is with digital, it doesn't fade gracefully through a snowy picture like analogue did, it just suddenly st

[BlueStringPudding]

No TV is bliss but we have weak moments I got one after 6 years and have gone back to hardly watching it following a few weeks of what seemed like catch up.

 

Your problem may be reception and I don’t think the magnet thing will work unless it’s a very very big magnet. I got that briefcase sat dish from Maplins and providing you can get a signal works well but you or at least I don’t get all the channels.

 

I also have one of these. Unlike the caravan aerial I find the dish is more susceptible to poor weather affecting the signal and it is entirely dependent on a clear sight line to the satellite which isn't always easy on the tree lined cut. But it's been very useful. The other tragedy is that FreeSat doesn't have Channel Dave whereas Freeview does! think of all the QI repeats I'm missing!

Edited May 9, 2012 by BlueStringPudding

[Guest]

First pick your means of delivery: FreeSat is as you might guess from a satellite so needs a dish pointing up and clear skyline to work, whereas Freeview is generated from terrestrial sites and uses a more conventional looking aerial. Once you've found the local Freeview broadcast location you'll find out whether you're getting a good enough signal to use, and being in a cutting puts you at a disadvantage. (Tim will be along shortly to say it's crap). Thing is with digital, it doesn't fade gracefully through a snowy picture like analogue did, it just suddenly st

 

There is that delightful and entertaining bit just before that point where the picture breaks up into huge pixelated blobs and stripes on the screen though - progress eh...

[BlueStringPudding]

. Thing is with digital, it doesn't fade gracefully through a snowy picture like analogue did, it just suddenly st

 

Yeah, that is a drawback of digital. I have watched many a snowy programme over the years. But when the digital signal wavers it is unbearable "bloop blip blip!" noises and a mosaic of squares across the screen. Utterly unwatchable.

[Mac of Cygnet]

I find the title of the OP very sad. Is there not a help group or clinic for this sort of thing?

[Higgs]

Why not start a third thread. Is two ever enough?

[jonathanA]

if your not moving very much then just get the biggest (most elements or biggest gain - highest dB number ) ordinary aerial you can. Maplins, CPC, DIY sheds.

something like one of these :

 

http://cpc.farnell.com/maxview/asy12w/12-element-super-yagi-uhf-tv-aerial/dp/AP01921

 

most of the 'caravan types' need a power supply usually mains or if your lucky 12V.

 

a while ago I moved to using a little magnetic aerial like this :

 

http://cpc.farnell.com/pro-signal/psg08010/aerial-indoor-dvb-t-uhf-26db/dp/AP02205

 

you can get them off fleabay too for about £10-15. This one uses a mains adapter, but as our tv is 240v the inverter would be on anyway. we find it nearly as good as the 'jodrell bank' huge house tv aerial we had previously that had to be set up every time we moored and pointed in the right direction whereas this little thing sits on the roof and usually works pretty well. when it doesn't then our aldi £50 freesat in a case thing comes out. If that fails then SWMBO and I resort to conversation and card games...

[keble]

And if you want to know where to point it (aerial that is) look Here

[pauly]

And if you think there might be a problem with the transmitter it's all on here http://www.ukfree.tv/txlist.php

[pauly]

Midland Chandlers do a good little aerial, bit like the Maplins one but cheaper. I'm in there tomorrow, I'll post the name of it.

[Wild Is The Wind]

Thanks everybody. So many good ideas - and good that not everything on the boat is going to cost an arm and a leg

[Canal Rat]

I bought an ariel from Argos with a mains amp and I put it through an old combined VHS / DVD player (using that internal amp ) and it doesn't matter which way the ariel is pointing, I always get a great picture.

[Nose Miner]

Watching TV is like a drug - it takes a while before you can kick the habit, but when you do, life is so much sweeter!

 

Reformed TV watcher.

[Domino_2]

Has anyone tried the aerial that looks like a copper ring that are often seen on hire boats? Do they work well?

[Smelly]

I find the title of the OP very sad. Is there not a help group or clinic for this sort of thing?

 

 

Watching TV is like a drug - it takes a while before you can kick the habit, but when you do, life is so much sweeter!

 

Reformed TV watcher.

 

I've run out of greenies... The irony is that I fixed my aerial a few weeks ago; however powering up the digibox for the first time in 4 years has eluded me!

[onionbargee]

I haven't had a telly since 1995, it's really a waste of time, unless you can download exactly what you really want to watch, and avoid the adverts, and daytime dross. Digital is 99% ads it drives me nuts.

[Ange]

Ahem. Can I add that there is a middle road between TV addiction and TV abstinence. When we lived in a house we were addicted - Sky + meant we could record all our favourite programs when we were out and two televisions were on from the moment we walked into the house until we went to bed.

 

Now we're living on the boat we're very very selective with our viewing. We quite often go a week at a time without watching it, but every now and then there's a gem of a documentary or a damn good film that I'm glad we have the facility to watch.

 

It doesn't have to be between black and white folks - there are shades of grey

[Monkey 1]

My digi aerial cost about £2.50 and is made of wood and two wire coat-hangers. Works well. Plans from Youtube. Given the amount of tripe on the telly, I think £2.50 is about right. The aerial sits inside the front deck, under the cratch. Basically eight 'V' sections of coat-hanger and a couple of joining lengths, and coaxial.

 

Thanks Higgs, I have been inspired! There's nothing so satisfying as building something yourself that works properly, so I'm going to have a go

 

Now, where to find some old wire coat hangers...

 

 

 

[Higgs]

Now, where to find some old wire coat hangers...

 

I bought mine from wilko's.

 

Piece of wood - about eighteen inches. 8 pieces of hanger about 11" - bent into a 'V' and set in pairs. Two other lengths of hanger - connect end of one at top right 'V', run across to the two opposite middle 'V's then back across to the bottom right 'V'. The other starts at top left, across to right middle two on right side then back across to bottom left 'V'. These pieces crosss over and I've kept them insulated from each other at cross-over points.

 

The coaxial is just connected at the centre, signal wire to one side and screening to the other.

[Jim Batty]

Hi

 

For two months now we've managed fine without live TV, just catching up occasionally with some favorites using BBC iPlayer ...

 

Try a digital radio ... the pictures are so much better ...

 

Given the unfathomable ingenuity of television and energy that goes into producing the myriad of content available and the technology to deliver it, I'm still amazed (when I come across it) how low a standard it aims at. A good chunk of advertisement-driven TV I find idiotic and insulting and don't fully understand how people can stomach the ads as the 'price' of viewing the stuff in between. Turning the sound off and looking away I guess helps.

 

I accept that there is some very good viewing - it's just very very thin on the ground, and not worth all that investment.

 

Hope you get your iPlayer sorted ... and then able to exercise some control over your viewing. Or how about watching and recycling DVDs from charity shops at £1 - £2 a pop?

[Woodstock]

Has anyone tried the aerial that looks like a copper ring that are often seen on hire boats? Do they work well?

 

 

[On the hire boats we've had in the past, we've never been able to get a decent if any picture at all with these. Somebody told me that although they're expensive ~£80ish the copper corrodes easily- I dont know how true this is. We bought an aerial from Midland Chandler for about £25, and didnt really expect that much of it- but it's been brilliant- our boat has a status pack on it, which the aerial plugs into, which I guess is some sort of signal amplifier]

[Monkey 1]

I bought mine from wilko's.

 

Piece of wood - about eighteen inches. 8 pieces of hanger about 11" - bent into a 'V' and set in pairs. Two other lengths of hanger - connect end of one at top right 'V', run across to the two opposite middle 'V's then back across to the bottom right 'V'. The other starts at top left, across to right middle two on right side then back across to bottom left 'V'. These pieces crosss over and I've kept them insulated from each other at cross-over points.

 

The coaxial is just connected at the centre, signal wire to one side and screening to the other.

 

I built one of these last week & I'm impressed, it works very well, but my wife thinks it looks odd Cheers for the tip

 

 

Edited May 30, 2012 by Monkey 1

[Guest]

I built one of these last week & I'm impressed, it works very well, but my wife thinks it looks odd Cheers for the tip

 

 

I'm impressed! Going to have a go at one of them. Do you have to point it at the transmitter or is it non directional?

 

Thanks