External DAB aerial

mobily

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Hey all,

I am a big DAB listener and currently have two DAB radios each connected to the tv wall socket which provides good reception. I am moving house soon and the bedroom where one of the radios will be situated does not have a wall socket. Since I have no idea of costs in matters like this would ot be cheaper to get another tv point installed or an external DAB aerial?

Cheers :thumbsup:
 
I'm no expert and I believe I live in a strong reception area (North London) but this is what I've got.
On the roof I fitted a high gain TV antenna for Freeview and an FM aerial (one of the C shaped horizontal ones).
These go into a device called a diplexer than combines both signal ranges into one downlead. I used to use diplexing sockets in the lounge (marked FM and TV) but a move around meant I swapped back to a standard socket (marked TV) which I split into the DAB/FM tuner and the various TV sources.
If I were to do it again I would have added a thing called a mast head amplifier and a power supply to improve Freeview reception.

I don't have a 'proper' DAB aerial up there but I get all the stations I should with decent signal strength.

If you get decent signal through the existing TV point then I would just run a splitter and an extension to the other bedroom.
 
I guess it depends on the signal strength near your new house. An active internal antenna should do the job most of the time and save making holes in the house.
 
Watch out for older uhf/fm diplexers and the cheap three-cornered plastic ones - they're not always that good at separating the dab frequencies onto the fm leg and can split them onto the uhf leg instead. Dab radios usually have a signal indicator and it's worth seeing what strength you get on each leg if your house has separate fm and tv sockets.

The distribution system in my house (a bungalow) feeds four rooms, each ending in a separate fm and uhf socket using a diplexer in the loft (bar one room). Only one of the four diplexers gives a good dab signal on the fm leg and that was a unit less than a year old. The others are a few years older and put the dab frequencies on the uhf leg although they do give a borderline signal on the fm one. I've replaced two of the other three and they now work fine. The final one was an expensive MK screened diplexed wall plate which I've replaced with a Global one that works well and was half the price.

I could have done nothing and just used the uhf legs for dab, except that it limits using a tv on it, as well as being in the wrong position for, say, a bedside radio.

John
 

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