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TV Signal breaking up |
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#51 |
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Redditch Worcs
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Oooh.....should have gone to Specsavers!
![]() Can't ever remember needing to do that with the Freesat one though. Further update on the aerial biz.....spoke to some guy earlier at Satcure and he lives close to my area so was a bit surprised when i told him i was using Sutton Coldfield. He recommends checking the existing aerial terminals first. If corroded then bin it but if not, just replace the cable. He told me the quality of co-ax cable 20 years ago was a darn sight better than they turn out now (price for price) so it might still be ok. You most likely have the lower quality so called low loss cabling. These cables are designed to work at the higher frequencies required for satellite reception. Seems a good type of business as he was saying he doesn't like selling stuff people don't really need. Pleasant surprise! ![]() And whoever told you that about coax cable is an idiot. WF100 has much lower losses and much better screening than a 20 yrs old cable. At the very least the outer cable covering degrades with UV light and by now could well have cracks that let water into the cable, if you have air spaced dialectric the water can enter your receiver and completely ruin it. . I would get a an advisor that at least has some idea of what he is talking about. For example http://www.aerialsandtv.com/cableand...maincabletypes WF100 has a solid copper central core. It has solid dialectric that resists water transfer and two screening layers to avoid rf interference. |
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#52 |
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Join Date: Dec 2008
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50 miles by road so 'as the crow flies'.....less.
Been looking through that Satcure site which seems to have everything and going by what others said on here, this appears to be the best aerial if i replace. Unless you suggest otherwise? Get your postcode in the area finder above and also talk to local installers to find out what the signal is like in your area. Putting up a 10db aerial in an area that requires high gain won't do you any more favours than putting up a 10db aerial in an area that requires low gain. You need to match the aerial to the local signal strength. +1 for what Graham said on cable. After 20 years there's a good chance water has got through the jacket into the cable and oxidised the copper core. |
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#53 |
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Join Date: Dec 2010
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The default PIN on all Humax boxes, satellite or terrestrial has always been 0000. Right back to the first Freeview single tuner pvr they released in the UK.
And whoever told you that about coax cable is an idiot. ![]() Quote:
WF100 has much lower losses and much better screening than a 20 yrs old cable. At the very least the outer cable covering degrades with UV light and by now could well have cracks that let water into the cable, if you have air spaced dialectric the water can enter your receiver and completely ruin it. . I would get a an advisor that at least has some idea of what he is talking about.
For example http://www.aerialsandtv.com/cableand...maincabletypes WF100 has a solid copper central core. It has solid dialectric that resists water transfer and two screening layers to avoid rf interference. I got the impression from what he told me, 'bog standard' co-ax was better made 20 yrs ago than 'bog standard' of today. In other words....cheap crap cable made today is not as good as how it was made 20 yrs ago, hence the reason i said 'price for price'. He wasn't referring to WF100 when he said that as that is no doubt a higher quality spec than 'bog standard' cheap crap off fleabay or wherever. He did mention to check the outer covering for cracks/splits which i will do once i get my arse up on the roof to check out the aerial. And this is the aerial he advised V10-36L (4G) "L"......if my existing one turns out to need replacing. |
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#54 |
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Join Date: Dec 2010
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Depends on your reception area and whether or not 10db is enough gain (or too much).
Get your postcode in the area finder above and also talk to local installers to find out what the signal is like in your area. Putting up a 10db aerial in an area that requires high gain won't do you any more favours than putting up a 10db aerial in an area that requires low gain. You need to match the aerial to the local signal strength. +1 for what Graham said on cable. After 20 years there's a good chance water has got through the jacket into the cable and oxidised the copper core. He said i'm 35 miles from Sutton Coldfield so i assume that to be 'as the crow flies'. There is no 'line of sight' as there's a large hill somewhere between me and the transmitter. Yes for what it will cost i may as well sling some new cable up.....can't complain after 20 years! Even the aerial only cost me a tenner.
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#55 |
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And whoever told you that about coax cable is an idiot.
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He told me the quality of co-ax cable 20 years ago was a darn sight better than they turn out now (price for price) so it might still be ok.
Which is perfectly true - there were some exceptionally high quality cables available back then - not as high a specification as WF100 (which isn't intended for UHF use anyway, so has a higher spec).
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#56 |
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The aerial he advised is the one in the above post but as he said, if the terminals aren't corroded or any elements damaged, then the aerial is ok.
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#57 |
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Which is perfectly true - there were some exceptionally high quality cables available back then - not as high a specification as WF100 (which isn't intended for UHF use anyway, so has a higher spec).
If cable is 20+ years old, then it makes perfect sense to replace it. Also, more modern (quality) cables often have lower losses. |
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#58 |
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That is true Nigel. But after 20 years even a high quality cable can suffer water ingress / oxidation / water shorting between the conductor and shielding.
Incidentally, my satellite dish is still wired using high quality TV coax from back in 1989, still in perfect condition - back in the early days of Sky analogue it was almost impossible to source satellite coax, and even F connectors were difficult as well ![]() Rather than wait until some satellite cable 'turned up', I used TV coax - not as low loss at the higher frequencies, but still works perfectly after 25 years. Quote:
If cable is 20+ years old, then it makes perfect sense to replace it. Also, more modern (quality) cables often have lower losses. |
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#59 |
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Assuming the aerial is group A, as you stated above, then that's VERY poor advise, as a group A aerial will work poorly on Sutton Coldfield.
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#60 |
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Assuming the aerial is group A, as you stated above, then that's VERY poor advise, as a group A aerial will work poorly on Sutton Coldfield.
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#61 |
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The V10-36L (4G) "L" aerial mentioned in post 53 is one of the new Ch21 - 60 types.
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#62 |
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He did.
Getting a Wideband would mean he could get channels above A band |
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#63 |
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He did.
Getting a Wideband would mean he could get channels above A band ![]() Like I said above, group A aerials work VERY poorly on higher frequencies. |
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#64 |
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Join Date: Dec 2010
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Assuming the aerial is group A, as you stated above, then that's VERY poor advise, as a group A aerial will work poorly on Sutton Coldfield.
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The V10-36L (4G) "L" aerial mentioned in post 53 is one of the new Ch21 - 60 types.
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Sorry, I was under the impression that the OP had stated he had a group A aerial?.
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He did.
Getting a Wideband would mean he could get channels above A band ![]() ![]() Yes the one he recommended was a V10-36L spec detailed here which he told me would be suited for my area to pick up Sutton Coldfield. Here is more 'tech spec'. The aerial i have at the moment is this Yagi style design type. But as Satcure guy said, if the terminal connections are sound and none of the elements damaged there is no point in replacing it. |
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#65 |
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The aerial i have at the moment is this Yagi style design type. But as Satcure guy said, if the terminal connections are sound and none of the elements damaged there is no point in replacing it.
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#66 |
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Is the aerial group A? (as you've previously said) - if so it's essential it's replaced, as you're not on a group A transmitter.
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#67 |
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I'm not sure where this idea that Bulletguy1 has a Group A aerial has come from. Another poster stated that in post 32 but I can't find anything to justify that assumption, unless I'm missing something obvious??
If it is a grouped aerial it may have a coloured bung in the end of the support beam. Group A - red Group B - yellow Group C/D - green Group K - grey Group E - brown Wideband - black |
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#68 |
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Triax compared their 'bacofoil' Unix 52 (although their early ones were more robust than their later ones) to the DAT45 - presumably without the MRD dipole - here http://api.triax.dk/Perfion/File.asp...00&action=save
If you remove the aerial psu the MRD doesn't work but still passes a signal (unlike normal masthead amps) -- so I assume the BOSS units work the same way? Televes tend to quote antenna gain as dBi so as to get the bigger number Must be better if it is bigger
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#69 |
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Join Date: Dec 2010
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Quote:
I'm not sure where this idea that Bulletguy1 has a Group A aerial has come from. Another poster stated that in post 32 but I can't find anything to justify that assumption, unless I'm missing something obvious??
If it is a grouped aerial it may have a coloured bung in the end of the support beam. Group A - red Group B - yellow Group C/D - green Group K - grey Group E - brown Wideband - black ...and i'm 20 years older than i was when i stuck the thing up there!
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#70 |
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I'll get me 'binos' out tomorrow and have a look. I don't fancy getting up on the roof yet as it's freezing cold shite weather....
...and i'm 20 years older than i was when i stuck the thing up there! ![]() |
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#71 |
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It's likely to be a wideband if you bought it locally as most retail outlets only stocked widebands as they would work with all transmitters in the primary service area.
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#72 |
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It's likely to be a wideband if you bought it locally as most retail outlets only stocked widebands as they would work with all transmitters in the primary service area.
The coloured end caps wasn't always adhered to either, and even if it was after 20 years it might bear no resemblance to whatever colour it was ![]() But as he's now mentioned that HE never said it was group A?, then presumably it's actually group B or possibly wideband. |
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#73 |
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That's only fairly recently, and he said it was over 20 years ago - when it was normal to keep all groups of aerials in stock.
. It's over 50 years since I first put up a UHF yagi to get the BBC2 Monochrome PAL service from Emily Moor. That was a wideband. |
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#74 |
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It's over 50 years since I first put up a UHF yagi to get the BBC2 Monochrome PAL service from Emily Moor. That was a wideband.
However, perhaps it was different in the USA?, seeing as you mentioned Radio Shack ![]() If you meant Tandy?, you could certainly buy grouped aerials from them, and most there were - I doubt DIY stores even sold aerials back then?. |
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Must be better if it is bigger