Aerial(s) for fringe area

[alex812]

I’m in fringe area for both Hannington (33km) and Crystal Palace (50km). Yesterday made my first ever sortie into Freeview using my two existing analogue aerials.

Results from my Hannington aerial were rather poor. Not surprising as it’s probably not the right band. For the record this aerial comprises 1x3 dipole reflector element and 16 director elements. There is a masthead amplifier.

Results from Crystal Palace were much more robust but even so there were occasional freezes on BBC 1 and 2 and ITV1. The first thought was to spend on a new Crystal Palace aerial. However the present aerial looks fairly high gain already. It comprises a V shape 6 element reflector, a cross dipole reflector, and 18 cross dipole directors. There is a masthead amplifier. Would I be able to improve on this without installing a ‘chimney breaker’ or am I already in the region of diminishing returns?

Alternatives are:

Spend on a new Southern aerial
Forget Freeview for now (Guildford is not an option – hill in the way)

NB. Already have Freesat which serves the lounge. I can get this into the bedroom via an RF link from the digibox but the quality of this link is poor compared to accessing Freeview.

Any advice welcome

Alex

[SamRadford]

Replace your cable with a fully-shielded type such as WF100.
Replace your masthead amplifier with a REALLY low noise type. The best I've found so far is 1.4dB with variable gain control.
http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page11c.htm#variable
You can install it in the loft.

The best aerial for Crystal palace ought to be a Blake DMX10A (group A) aerial. I think CPC sell these. The Blake DMX10A has 12.8 dBd (ie 15.0 dBi) of gain.

The only way to do better is to get it higher or install a DAT45 or a chimney-busting DAT75. However, this is 7 feet long!

Obviously another possibility is to buy a used Sky Digibox, a quad-output LNB and another £20 Freesat card.

[alex812]

Originally Posted by SamRadford

Replace your cable with a fully-shielded type such as WF100.
Replace your masthead amplifier with a REALLY low noise type. The best I've found so far is 1.4dB with variable gain control.

The existing cable is fully shielded except for the final 3m or so. That's buried in the plaster so non negotiable. I'll probably take your advice about the amp and try the DAT45 too. The DAT75 a bit too heavy for my liking.

Originally Posted by SamRadford

Obviously another possibility is to buy a used Sky Digibox, a quad-output LNB and another £20 Freesat card.

That's an option I hadn't considered. Still the same problem with the final 3m of cable though.

Thanks for help - much appreciated.