Aerial recommendations

SandsofEss

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Hello again,

Another quick one from me.

The house we've just bought no longer has an aerial (it's lying in a heap in the front garden).

It has a dish, but we'd like to get an aerial installed to use our YouView box.

I've seen that Argos offers an aerial installation service for £70 when you buy one of their aerials in store.

I have two questions:

Am I getting ripped off, or would you agree this sounds like a decent deal?

Is there anything specific I should look for when choosing which aerial to install? I'll probably have just two feeds coming from it - one to the lounge and one to the bedroom above.

Thanks again,

Steve
 
Generally the aerials that Argos sell are not of the best quality. Who they contract the installation to will vary from one area to another. You are probably better off contacting registered aerial fitter in your area who will be able to meet your requirements for two reliable feeds and fit a quality aerial. It might cost a bit more, or even a bit less, but you will have an installation that will give you years of service.
 
Thanks Mike,

Is there anything in particular I should be looking for to ensure the aerial I get is of a good quality?

Steve
 
The sort of aerial sold by many high street stores such as Argos and B & Q is popularly referred to in this forum by experts as being 'tin foil'. They are usually stamped out very basic construction and not guaranteed to last very long. You also have to take into account the specific reception conditions in your area. No two locations are going to be the same. I'm not an expert in these matters but you are best advised to find someone who knows their trade. The down lead needs to be the double screened variety these days, not the cheap stuff we used to use. I'm sure someone else will give you more detailed advice.
 
Without knowing your location, it's not really possible to give advice. You may live a few miles from a high power transmitter and a tiny log periodic aerial would give perfect reception even in your loft. You may be in a difficult area where your best transmitter may be a relay with limited services. but a higher gain aerial may give you all the Freeview channels.

An idea as to where you are would help a lot.

Enter your postcode here and house number

DTG :: DTT Coverage checker

On the next screen fill in the info and tick the detailed view option

On the next screen post the top transmitter and which transmitter is top of the list and which mux (BBCA, D3&4, etc have green entries). Next quote the signal levels underscored in green for each of the above.
 
Thanks Mike, I won't bother with the Argos deal for now then.

Hi Graham,

Thanks for the useful link. I've put in my details and got my results. My most likely transmitter is Crystal Palace, which is 48km away. My nearest alternative is Tunbridge Wells 13km away, though that's a different TV region.

If you'll pardon my ignorance, I've attached the results to this post, as the full list was a tad confusing.

Does this tell you anything useful about the aerial type I should look for?

Thank you for your time,

Steve
 

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Thanks Graham,

Do you recommend the DM log periodic aerial from ATV then? Looks reasonably priced.

I've no idea what the new HD com 7 multiplex is, but it sound fantastic.

The second link you posted seems to suggest the Crystal Palace transmitter won't serve me (I'm in the village of Marden, TN12). It's not covered by the green area on the map. Should I disregard this based on what the other site said?

Cheers,
 
The green colours on the Crystal Palace prediction shows you should have a good signal. Have a look at your neighbours aerials if they have the elements horizontal they will be using Crystal Palace. The other 2 transmitters use vertical polarisation.

Yes a DM log should be fine with that level of signal and they are very compact (low wind loading).

COM 7 adds the following channels to Freeview

74 CBeebies HD, 84 Al Jazeera Arabic, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC News HD, 108 Al Jazeera HD, 109 Community Channel HD,
 
Thanks Graham, that looks great.

Looking on Street View, my neighbours have their aerials set up as attached. This looks horizontal to me, and therefore suggests Crystal Palace. Would you agree?
 

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Thanks Graham, that looks great.

Looking on Street View, my neighbours have their aerials set up as attached. This looks horizontal to me, and therefore suggests Crystal Palace. Would you agree?

Yes Crystal Palace, however the two aerials appear to point in different directions.
 
I've looked at a few more (including pictures of the one on our house until it got wrecked by the winter storms). It looks as though they are horizontal, but they do all point in rather different directions!

Still, it does seem likely that CP is the correct one. I'll get searching for a local installer.

Thanks a lot for your help Graham.
 
Your photo shows an excellent example of a 'tinfoil' job . Goodness knows what direction it is supposed to be pointing. Graham's your man when it comes to aerial advice.
 
I'd respectfully suggest the DM Log may not be up to the job @30 miles from CP; although the predictions are good they do assume the use of the appropriate receiving antenna by location. Wolfbane (whose prediction numbers I take with a very large pinch of salt, btw) suggests signal levels are not particularly high from CP at the village post office: UK digital TV reception predictor

The log 36 or 18-element Group A Yagi would be my suggestions - a professional installer should use a test aerial and meter in making the choice, though. However do refuse any aerial offered with a rectangular aluminium plate for its reflector (a 'contract' aerial). Similarly heed ATV's advice on the use of X-shaped element aerials outside (prone to storm damage, so avoid).

Of course CP is 'wrong region' for the locality (London News) and Tunbridge Wells (aka Pembury) vertically polarised would get Southeast BBC and Meridian ITV news for that area. But that is a choice for the OP.
 
I'm also 48km from Crystal Palace, though to the west side of London, and have similar 'all green' results on the postcode checker.

I've got this aerial in the loft and pick up all the channels.
V10-040 40 Element Super Log Periodic WB Aerial » Vision Products - Powerful Products. Easy Installation. Excellent Value

It's hooked up to a loft box, via a group A pass filter (to take out unwanted signals), using WF100 cable with threaded F plug connectors.

From there the loft box has WF100 cables to feed almost every room in the whole house, including combining 4 feeds from a satellite dish.

I did this myself during an big extension so all the cabling is in the ceiling/wall voids but it works well for me.

You might be able to use a loft aerial too, and do it yourself, but it does depend on your circumstances.
 
No point in recommending a V10-040 since it's obsolete.
A "Group A" log periodic aerial is what you need for Crystal Palace so the V11-20A2 should do the job and has a slightly higher gain than the V10-040.
 

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