how to set up the Aerial?

[coloureye]

ok i know this is a stupid Q....
there is an aerial on the roof, but it doesn't work well...
BBC2, ITV from it not bad ..the other three(BBC1 Ch4& CH5) all blur..
what can I do?

is there anyway to do it without taking my TV onto the roof? (it is a 24" TV!!)
or is there any special meter for it?

thanks in advance

C-eye

 

[rolfw]

You can try amplifying it closer to the aerial, ie, in the loft, but UHF meters are quite expensive, cheapest being £400 or so, have you checked what your next door neighbour is receiving and whether your aerial is pointing in exactly the same direction?

 

[Simba27]

It's worth getting a quote from a local aerial company.

I had similar poor reception, and was going to try and sort it out myself. But I didn't have a suitable roof ladder to gain access to it. A local installer quoted me about 30 quid to adjust it. But after a quick look at it, he brought the aerial down for me to inspect.

It was totally knackered. The terminal connections had completely corroded away to the point where the central core of the cable was no longer even attached.

He put up a new aerial and lined it up using a meter. Total cost was 100 quid. The difference was astonishing - perfect sharp clear picture on all channels.

IMHO it was money well spent. Wish I'd done it years ago.

(Note I'm talking about analogue reception, I don't have DTT but I assume the same principle applies).

 

[gameboy]

Is there anyway to do it without taking my TV onto the roof?

You could use walkie-talkies, a baby monitor, cordless phone or even a mobile phone to communicate the quality of the picture to the person moving the aerial.

Watch out going on roofs - sometimes best left to the experts - more so in the winter!

 

[coloureye]

thanks all of you guys

I'd like try it myself
I have a 6.5 meters ladder, should be long enough
Just dont have the knowledge about it
one strange thing is the aerials around my house are various....
as least 4 different directions...it makes me mad..
maybe mobilephone is a good idea..


C eye.

 

[rolfw]

You are obviously in an area with a choice of transmitters, it may be worth you doing a bit of research on which is the strongest. Some of the digital receivers have a responsive signal strength bar and could be useful for aligning, but it isn't quite as critical as with a satellite dish, in fact no where near..

 

[sprog]

No one has mentioned what happened to Rod Hull and Emu on this thread... wheres "Rod Hulls Aerial"? i think its his avatar thats amusing in a strange sense!!
p.s. I selected these keys as my avatar as I figured its the only way of posting keys without been banned.

 

[gameboy]

I selected these keys as my avatar as I figured its the only way of posting keys without been banned.

Excellent... I like it!

 

[gameboy]

As Rolfw says try and find out from your neighbours who has a good picture on their TV and then where their aerial is pointing.

Use that as your guide when adjusting your own.

Check that their aerial is not longer or has more fins that yours.

The number of fins can be a factor in receiving signals.

 

[sprog]

On the technical issue above, if the T/mitter is a main T/mitter then the fins should be horizontal, if its a small local repeater T/mitter, the fins should be vertical, also the aerial can be specific to the freq. band of the T/mitter. Maplin electronics used to list the bands allocated for each t/mitter in the country, a,b,c etc, also the end of the aerial had a coloured plastic plug to indicate which band it was intended for. Alternitavely get a wideband aerial and a megaphone to shout left a bit, right a bit, too far etc... or get a local Aerial expert as mentioned above.

 

[Analoguesat]

If the aerial has been up a few years its quite possible its out of band for the DTT signals. Which town are you in coloureye? That will give us an idea of which tx you are suppose to be on.

 

[PaulR]

If you're after DTT signals then these will only be on the main transmitters. The relay transmitters are only for analogue signals - in fact they usually don't even include Five.

PaulR

 

[coloureye]

thanks you all.. so appreciate..
haven't got time to do this job yet

If the aerial has been up a few years its quite possible its out of band for the DTT signals. Which town are you in coloureye? That will give us an idea of which tx you are suppose to be on.

hi, analoguesat.
I m in Leeds now, my postcode is LS10.

C-eye

 

[sprog]

Hi c-eye


Check the BBC site http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/tv_transmitters/index.shtml
Should give you an idea of what TX ur on.