Advice Needed Can Anyone Recommend a Group B Aerial

Markjose

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Hi all,

We currently need to put an Aerial 3 stories up to point at Hannington, we are based near central Bracknell. RG12 2AA for reference

I believe Hannington is group B however COM8 seems to be out of the group B range, So Can anyone recomended anything?

We don't want to purchase LTE filters or booster etc just a passive signal down.

Thanks

Mark
 

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The Group B aerial you have on site already will give you access to Hannington if you align it on the transmitter (WSW), check the coordinates for any buildings in the way though.

The signal from Com8 from Crystal Palace is on the border at your location, according to the following site, and slightly better from the West, though Com8 is 8MHz further up the list on C35

Hannington (Hampshire, England) Full Freeview transmitter
 

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Use Digital UK put your details in and choose detailed view it then gives you options with aerial groups, bearings, distance etc.
FYI in a few years time com7 and com8 will disappear as they were setup as temporary muxes.
 

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Thanks Steve, however we are going to point an Aerial at Hannington and leave the current Crystal palace setup.
We can't receive Com8 in our location from Crystal Palace, The Site you referenced from is out of date and the frequency is now Com7 55 and Com8 56 Same as Crystal palace.

We would like to receive Com8 here to full fill a requirement that is the only reason why, and wonder if a cheap wideband would suffice or shall I go down the route and put another high end group B in for reliability.
 
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Aerials and TV is a good site for aerials. The guy who owns it does proper gain tests on the ones he stocks.

ATV Stock Aerial Tests

The Yagi 18B could be a decent choice, but if you need the maximum gain for COM7 and COM8 on E55 and E56, a group E Yagi 18E might be better - slightly lower gain on Hannington's lower frequencies but higher gain for those two weaker ones.
 

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I'm a big fan of log periodics.
 

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Aerials and TV is a good site for aerials. The guy who owns it does proper gain tests on the ones he stocks.

ATV Stock Aerial Tests

The Yagi 18B could be a decent choice, but if you need the maximum gain for COM7 and COM8 on E55 and E56, a group E Yagi 18E might be better - slightly lower gain on Hannington's lower frequencies but higher gain for those two weaker ones.

There is no group E I know of that will reject the stuff arriving soon, though there are c/d versions that might do what’s required.

I’m wondering if Mark needs a 2m extension pole to raise the aerial that is already on site, it was kept low down to prevent issues with storms, sitting a little above the 1m dishes on the roof.
 

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We can't receive Com8 in our location from Crystal Palace, The Site you referenced from is out of date and the frequency is now Com7 55 and Com8 56 Same as Crystal palace.

Out of interest are you getting Com 7 and if so, is is watchable ?
 

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Yes we are getting Com 7 however a fair few cc errors and low BER.

Do you think the added height will make a difference ?

Thanks
 

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Ok , how much worse is Com8 ?

Imagery of the readings will help.

Adding height is the first thing I would do based on the knowledge of the horizon and fauna in that direction, plus the shielding effect of the perimeter balustrade, though I recall protection on adverse weather took precedent by the accounts department, and lightning protection was limited to the existing build and owner of the plot.
 
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Use a Vision Superlog, 36 element stub tuned to minimise 4G interference. Most installers now use widebands, or at least the new wideband ranged aerials , too many out of band changes to use grouped aerials. If it's a highly amplified system, you may still need to fit a 4G filter prior to the amplifier, but they are cheap.


I use logs on all of my systems now. http://cpc.farnell.com/vision/118360/aerial-36-log-stub-tuning-4g-lte/dp/AP02459 You may find the secondary HD channels come in as weaker signals, but as long as they hit the outlet at around 42db, they'll be fine, they'll work even down to late 30s. You can on most systems get away with a 30db differential in top to lowest power signals.

Sorry edit. See you are just providing a single feed, so if in doubt, just use a small LTE ready masthead amp with the log.
 
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Markjose

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Cheers Rolfw, We have gone with that as it is nice and easy and not too expensive.
CH I will Get some readings later today and post them here.

Thanks
 

Markjose

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I'm back for more, so I did purchase the Log Periodic recomended by Rolfw, and am picking up Hannington very nicely indeed..... however i'm also picking up crystal palace....

from our location both transmitters are opposite so the aerials are pointing in opposite directions.. Apart from a repeater and large buildings any other ideas why ? Would not having a reflector be the cause or the two receiving aerials too close? It's not causing an issue just very confused.
 

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You will receive signal via the back of the log periodic and much stronger than when using an aerial with a reflector, particularly when as in Bracknell, the transmitters are almost perfectly aligned from front to back of aerial. Isn't a problem with most newer tuners, as they can filter channels by transmitter data, selected in the tuning menu. Before the TV software became as selective, I used to have to filter out the "bonus" London channels received via the rear of the aerial to prevent the TV using the first region found as the main channel set and causing breakup.
 

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^^^

Im not a fan of log periodics, for this reason. Aerials just don't look right without a back reflector and the 75 Ohm impedance claim of the ones out there is a bit of a joke.
 

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^^^

Im not a fan of log periodics, for this reason. Aerials just don't look right without a back reflector and the 75 Ohm impedance claim of the ones out there is a bit of a joke.
Mine is 75ohm, are some not designed properly?
I know what you mean about not looking right, but that is because we are used to looking at Yagis, bet people said the same when we switched from 405 line.
I like the log periodic aerials personally, performance and looks.
 

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The unloaded line impedance of a domestic log periodic antenna at UHF frequencies is between two and three times 75 Ohms.
 

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The unloaded line impedance of a domestic log periodic antenna at UHF frequencies is between two and three times 75 Ohms.
Most I've seen have a matching section at the front.
 

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When you say 'matching' across the whole UHF spectrum ?
 

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When you say 'matching' across the whole UHF spectrum ?
Yes, for the whole band it's designed for. I'll put the analyser on mine one day.
There is a matching stub in the front of a log periodic to ensure it's 75ohm, usually a piece of coax tuned to the correct length.
 
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