Best Arial Signal-Booster Box?

dynamic turtle · 20-01-2005, 5:23 PM

Hi,

The signal quality from my aerial is very poor (terrible during last night's sunspot activity). For various reasons, I cannot alter/improve the aerial or the cabling.

I'm using a cheapo signal booster that does little to improve things and was wondering if there was anything out there that can make a meaningful improvement? I.e. something that boosts the signal, rather than the noise!

Budget £100.

What make/brand do you use?

dynamic turtle · 21-01-2005, 5:33 PM

Bumpety bump.....

gbmitie · 22-01-2005, 12:33 AM

what u need is a mast head amplifer, u place a the amp box as close to the aerial feed as possible then u plug in the amplifier near the tv, this provides the curent for the amp and u are boosting the signal at its strongest point.

have a look here, scroll down get the 26db one and the power pack.

http://www.beststuff.co.uk/aerial_amplifiers.htm

there are better ones but cant think at moment.

gbmitey

Tight Git · 22-01-2005, 1:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dynamic turtle

The signal quality from my aerial is very poor (terrible during last night's sunspot activity). For various reasons, I cannot alter/improve the aerial or the cabling.

Mast head amplifiers are fine to make up the loss in a long cable run.

However, the QUALITY of the signal is dependent on the specification of the aerial (gain, directivity, front to rear ratio etc).

If you don't get that right, a mast head amp will only give you more of the same.

Oldbean · 22-01-2005, 2:12 PM

This might be of no help if you already tried a booster:

I just bought a Philex one room aerial booster and it has worked really well with a portable labgear aerial and a On digital box. It has a variable boost screw too, it was 9.99 from Argos. It does 14Db and says its low noise.

I also saw a Philips 12Db booster for £6.97 in Asda, i didnt buy it as i just had a bad experience with their dish shaped portable aerial. Someone on digital spy recently recommended it though for improving their signal.

dynamic turtle · 24-01-2005, 12:16 PM

GB, I'm a tennant, so installing a masthead amp would be expensive and pointless, as I couldn't really take it with me if I moved again.

GB, I bought one of those £9.99 Philex/SLX2B jobbies from Maplins and they are rubbish! It wouldn't work daisy-chained with another aerial booster either

Wasted a lot of time & money so far.....

Tight Git · 24-01-2005, 4:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dynamic turtle

Wasted a lot of time & money so far.....

Sorry DT, but you'll continue to waste time and money while you continue trying to improve an already rubbishy signal.

As I posted earlier, your problem lies at the other end of your feeder cable.