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Craig Campbell

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All depends on how far you are from the nearest mast. When you are in a poor reception area then a house type...small one...may be the only option. In stronger signal areas, a Moonraker type works well IF you get a signal strength meter

 Where are you or where will you be cruising?

 

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58 minutes ago, Craig Campbell said:

hello all

Any good advice/websites on TV reception equipment for our new boat?

I don't want a standard house ariel

A small log periodic aerial works well in most areas. I've got one and never failed to a signal yet.   

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stealth-MINI-DIGITAL-TV-AERIAL-LOG-PERIODIC-4g-LTE-Ready-Aerien-Antenne-Antenna/150848879726?hash=item

Edited by Flyboy
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I have tried several different aerials, supposedly sutiable for boats, and a satellite dish.  Our mooring must be in a digital dead spot, because nothing worked properly.

I found a solution with a 3 Go Binge MiFi and the TVPlayer app.  We now get perfect reception and can watch as much TV or Netflix as we want.  We haven't tried it out and about on the cut, but then we don't tend to watch TV when we're boating.

(We got a pretty good deal from 3 - £9 for 20 gig).

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1 minute ago, Flyboy said:

A small log periodic aerial works well in most areas. I've got one and never failed to a signal yet.   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stealth-MINI-DIGITAL-TV-AERIAL-LOG-PERIODIC-4g-LTE-Ready-Aerien-Antenne-Antenna/150848879726?hash=item

I've used antennae from the above ebay supplier for some years and (for what they are) they're excellent. Quite small - so store easily when cruising. The next size up is much bigger and awkward to stow away. It doesn't really add much signal strength. However, that depends on where you are when you want to watch TV....

I find a signal strength 'meter' is useful and cuts out some of the guesswork, especially as you move from one transmitter area to another. I'm not a fan of the Labgear variety, preferring those from Fringe electronics -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FRINGE-PRO-Meter-TV-Satellite-signal-finder/201498931433?hash=item2eea45b0e9:g:CTIAAOxyOlhS5T~z

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30 minutes ago, Flyboy said:

A small log periodic aerial works well in most areas. I've got one and never failed to a signal yet.   

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stealth-MINI-DIGITAL-TV-AERIAL-LOG-PERIODIC-4g-LTE-Ready-Aerien-Antenne-Antenna/150848879726?hash=item

Thats precisely what I have. It gets brill picture everywhere and in places my bro in law gets nowt with his posh multi directional EXPENSIVE boat aerial.

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9 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Thats precisely what I have. It gets brill picture everywhere and in places my bro in law gets nowt with his posh multi directional EXPENSIVE boat aerial.

Those log periodics are the best (or bigger ones) but they do look a bit ugly. If you are 50 Kms from a transmitting mast then they are likely the only option. We bought a moonraker but as we spent a lot of time on the warwickshire ring, and that is a long way from Sutton Coalfield, it only worked at the northern end of the ring and we needed to revert to the log periodic. The problem with the moon raker is that it is not really omni directional and you need to algin it to the transmitter, but how do you do that? It is not obvious which way to turn it....and even have it on its side in a horizonal orientation....even if the transmitter was vertically polarized. That's where the signal meter is essential. It is now so easy to allign the moonraker and get the optimum signal which now seems to work a lot more often.

Around your location, I would be surprised if you have any poor reception areas so the moonraker may be ok and then use a log peroiodic as a back up. We are about to set off for 3 or 4 months up north and I hope to only use the moonraker once we get away from Warwickshire.

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We switch telly on shove aerial up and look at screen gently rotating till picture comes on and hey presto. They are hardly ugly at about a foot long its nicer to look at than those omni jobbies.

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2 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

We switch telly on shove aerial up and look at screen gently rotating till picture comes on and hey presto. They are hardly ugly at about a foot long its nicer to look at than those omni jobbies.

Why do you and mrs smelly gently rotate whilst watching telly? are you on a spit or roundabout or summit?

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2 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

We switch telly on shove aerial up and look at screen gently rotating till picture comes on and hey presto. They are hardly ugly at about a foot long its nicer to look at than those omni jobbies.

Most modern flat screen TV's will give you a signal strength reading in % if you go into the menu. Easy way to optimise the signal.

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4 minutes ago, Flyboy said:

Most modern flat screen TV's will give you a signal strength reading in % if you go into the menu. Easy way to optimise the signal.

Yes ours does that but with our set up we can put aerial up and adjust from inside the boat whilst looking at the picture so same thing realy.

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2 minutes ago, Flyboy said:

Most modern flat screen TV's will give you a signal strength reading in % if you go into the menu. Easy way to optimise the signal.

That's fine if your cruising area is all within the same transmitter coverage area - if not you have to retune and that means you have to find the signal first.

Our cruising area goes between Crystal Palace, Oxford, Sutton Coldfield and that makes for a challenge without a signal meter (we don't use smartphones / tablets much either...) 

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2 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

That's fine if your cruising area is all within the same transmitter coverage area - if not you have to retune and that means you have to find the signal first.

Our cruising area goes between Crystal Palace, Oxford, Sutton Coldfield and that makes for a challenge without a signal meter (we don't use smartphones / tablets much either...) 

Tvs auto tune very quickly so we simply reposition and retune sometimes twice and then twiddle a bit more for optimum signal.

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