[xvoguex]

Can anyone recommend any good indoor aerials for my Freeview TV in my bedroom.

I think the one I have in my room has had it's day. The picture keeps breaking up and the signal is dropping out and it's started to do it on BBC channels where I have also had a great signal.

Preferably not to expensive.

[Digifriendly]

Telecam TCE 2001 is one of the best.
See also thread - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=505405

[Rossall]

I bought one from Asda which is excellent. I'm 20 miles from Winter Hill but get all muxes perfectly.

http://direct.asda.com/Asda-Indoor-D...efault,pd.html

It's now £5 so at that price it's an uber bargain.

[xvoguex]

Originally Posted by Digifriendly

Telecam TCE 2001 is one of the best.
See also thread - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=505405

thanks

[chrisjr]

Originally Posted by Digifriendly

Telecam TCE 2001 is one of the best.
See also thread - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=505405

Agree with that. Seems Argos no longer do them which used to be a handy "hight street" source.

Online CPC still do them

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/br...questid=155008

As you can see they come in two flavours, plain and amplified.

Whatever you do though avoid those near useless loop types. In my experience they are only suitable if you live in the transmitter hut at the base of the mast Any where sensible and they are hopeless.

[N.Dean]

Whatever you do though avoid those near useless loop types. In my experience they are only suitable if you live in the transmitter hut at the base of the mast Any where sensible and they are hopeless.[/quote]

I know the above was tongue-in-cheek, but if you were at the bottom of the mast, I think the signal would be bouncing around from all directions, so you would probably need a very directional aerial with a high F/B ratio. This would also have high gain, so you would then have to fit an attenuator to reduce the signal strength.
Or is the transmitted signal directed away from the mast, rather than towards its base?

[campioni06]

Please excuse my ignorance folks, this could be the daft question of the day but here goes...

The original post was regarding an ordinary indoor aerial to get Freeview. I've already got an outdoor aerial splitting into 2 for 2 tv's at the front of the house. Could I then buy another set top box, connect it to another tv and just whack in one of mentioned Asda aerials and receive Freeview? Cheers.

[Spot]

Originally Posted by campioni06

Please excuse my ignorance folks, this could be the daft question of the day but here goes...

The original post was regarding an ordinary indoor aerial to get Freeview. I've already got an outdoor aerial splitting into 2 for 2 tv's at the front of the house. Could I then buy another set top box, connect it to another tv and just whack in one of mentioned Asda aerials and receive Freeview? Cheers.

If your question is 'would a set top box work with an indoor aerial?' the answer depends entirely on your location - proximity to transmitter, buildings and other obstructions which might affect signal strength, etc. In a strong signal area you might be OK, and it helps if you are on the side of the house which is looking out in the direction of the transmitter.

Remember also that your chances of success with such a setup will increase dramatically after digital switchover, as the powers of the digital signals will increase sharply at that point. If you can get a good analogue signal on a set top aerial at the moment, there's a good chance you will get a decent digital signal too - but you might have to wait till DSO!

[campioni06]

Originally Posted by Spot

If your question is 'would a set top box work with an indoor aerial?' the answer depends entirely on your location - proximity to transmitter, buildings and other obstructions which might affect signal strength, etc. In a strong signal area you might be OK, and it helps if you are on the side of the house which is looking out in the direction of the transmitter.

Remember also that your chances of success with such a setup will increase dramatically after digital switchover, as the powers of the digital signals will increase sharply at that point. If you can get a good analogue signal on a set top aerial at the moment, there's a good chance you will get a decent digital signal too - but you might have to wait till DSO!

Yes that was my question, albeit in a long-winded way round!
Currently I get tip-top analogue with a set top aerial in one of the spare rooms, I'm in South London postcode SW12, and yes the rooms I'd want to try it in are facing the direction that the roof-top aerial points.

[Spot]

Originally Posted by campioni06

Yes that was my question, albeit in a long-winded way round!
Currently I get tip-top analogue with a set top aerial in one of the spare rooms, I'm in South London postcode SW12, and yes the rooms I'd want to try it in are facing the direction that the roof-top aerial points.

I'd give it a try then. I use set top aerials successfully on two sets in the house and I'm about 12 to 14 miles from the transmitter - but I do live on a hill and can see it out of the window! It involved a bit of experimentation to get the position of the aerial exactly right, and of-course you've got six muxs to experiment with so it would be worth looking at one channel that is on each mux whilst doing the setup, so that you know you're getting each one satisfactorily and will have a full lineup.

If it doesn't work now, it probably will after DSO.

[campioni06]

Originally Posted by Spot

I'd give it a try then. I use set top aerials successfully on two sets in the house and I'm about 12 to 14 miles from the transmitter - but I do live on a hill and can see it out of the window! It involved a bit of experimentation to get the position of the aerial exactly right, and of-course you've got six muxs to experiment with so it would be worth looking at one channel that is on each mux whilst doing the setup, so that you know you're getting each one satisfactorily and will have a full lineup.

If it doesn't work now, it probably will after DSO.

Brilliant, thanks for your help Spot. Looks like I'm heading to get one of those £5 Asda aerials. As you say worse case scanario I'll be fine once the DSO is complete. Many thanks.

[Spot]

Originally Posted by campioni06

Brilliant, thanks for your help Spot. Looks like I'm heading to get one of those £5 Asda aerials. As you say worse case scanario I'll be fine once the DSO is complete. Many thanks.

It sounds as if you have everything you need to try it out before buying anything - if you've already got a set top aerial in the house and a set top box on another set, why not try with these and see how you get on?

[Rossall]

Originally Posted by campioni06

Brilliant, thanks for your help Spot. Looks like I'm heading to get one of those £5 Asda aerials. As you say worse case scanario I'll be fine once the DSO is complete. Many thanks.

I'm on the wrong side of the house for Winter Hill and the Asda aerial pulls all muxes in with 95% or 100% signal so I would imagine it should work fine given you are within 5 miles of Crystal Palace.

[chrisjr]

Originally Posted by N.Dean

Whatever you do though avoid those near useless loop types. In my experience they are only suitable if you live in the transmitter hut at the base of the mast Any where sensible and they are hopeless.

I know the above was tongue-in-cheek, but if you were at the bottom of the mast, I think the signal would be bouncing around from all directions, so you would probably need a very directional aerial with a high F/B ratio. This would also have high gain, so you would then have to fit an attenuator to reduce the signal strength.
Or is the transmitted signal directed away from the mast, rather than towards its base?

It entirely depends on the site.

Some relays for example use arrays of what look very much like ordinary roof top aerials. They beam signals in a fairly tight pattern in one direction.

Main transmitter sites use arrays of antennas more often than not beaming in all directions - though not always. But in most cases there is actually not a huge amount of signal beamed straight up and down. So the signal strength at the base of the mast may be lower than you imagine.

Though in the case of a main site several hundred kilowatts 500 feet up in the air still produces enough signal to make a receiving aerial largely redundant And if you did use an aerial you would not point it straight at the top of the mast anyway. Just sort of point it in any vague direction you like and it should pick something up.

[PhilH36]

I'm in the SM postcode areas running my old OnDigital box on the kitchen portable using the loop aerial on the set and I get perfect pictures with very little break-up.

[N.Dean]

Originally Posted by chrisjr

It entirely depends on the site.

Some relays for example use arrays of what look very much like ordinary roof top aerials. They beam signals in a fairly tight pattern in one direction.

Main transmitter sites use arrays of antennas more often than not beaming in all directions - though not always. But in most cases there is actually not a huge amount of signal beamed straight up and down. So the signal strength at the base of the mast may be lower than you imagine.

Though in the case of a main site several hundred kilowatts 500 feet up in the air still produces enough signal to make a receiving aerial largely redundant And if you did use an aerial you would not point it straight at the top of the mast anyway. Just sort of point it in any vague direction you like and it should pick something up.

Thank you.

[albertd]

Originally Posted by chrisjr

Though in the case of a main site several hundred kilowatts 500 feet up in the air still produces enough signal to make a receiving aerial largely redundant And if you did use an aerial you would not point it straight at the top of the mast anyway. Just sort of point it in any vague direction you like and it should pick something up.

I agree with the point N.Dean made. I have seen the analogue signal from Crystal Palace at a close hilltop location in north Croydon and it was completely unwatchable without quite a reasonable aerial due to reflections. However, with digital, it may be OK due to the resiliance of the encoding.

[campioni06]

Originally Posted by Rossall

I'm on the wrong side of the house for Winter Hill and the Asda aerial pulls all muxes in with 95% or 100% signal so I would imagine it should work fine given you are within 5 miles of Crystal Palace.

Just thought I'd give a quick update. Plugged in a spare set-top box with an old 'loop' aerial I had laying around and picked up all the freeview channels straight away! Signal strength not great and slight delay displaying the channel sometimes but I reckon with the addition of a better aerial it'll be fine.