A silly question (1 Viewer)

[Teasy2007]

Hi.

You know the TV aerial on a motorhome, is it just analogue?

If it is, why are manufactureres still putting them on when most of UK will be digital soon?

 

[philw111]

The motorhome aeriel works the same as your home aeriel. It used to pick up analogue and will now pick up digital (freeview).

Phil

 

[Douglas]

Hi.

You know the TV aerial on a motorhome, is it just analogue?

If it is, why are manufactureres still putting them on when most of UK will be digital soon?

Any aerial (antenna) is nether analogue or digital, its just an antenna, however to receive a digital TV signal you may need a higher signal level than is required for analogue TV.

So if you cant receive an exceptionable signal you need to get closer to the transmitter, or put your antenna higher, or use a better antenna, which is what most people do. hence the change of antenna's in poor reception areas.

Doug...

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[Teasy2007]

Any aerial (antenna) is nether analogue or digital, its just an antenna, however to receive a digital TV signal you may need a higher signal level than is required for analogue TV.

So if you cant receive an exceptionable signal you need to get closer to the transmitter, or put your antenna higher, or use a better antenna, which is what most people do. hence the change of antenna's in poor reception areas.

Doug...

Thats a great answer, so if we only ever use the aerial when we are in Dover carpark - mainly because Mike can't be bothered to set up the inverter - would we be better off asking the manufacturer to not put the aerial on in the first place?

We have a KVH dome which is brilliant, a 12 volt freeview and Sky +, so do we really need the aerial???

Ginny

 

[johnp10]

There is no such thing as a digital aerial.
Its a con by the providers / installers.
As said here, an aerial is an aerial.

 

[pappajohn]

Thats a great answer, so if we only ever use the aerial when we are in Dover carpark - mainly because Mike can't be bothered to set up the inverter - would we be better off asking the manufacturer to not put the aerial on in the first place?

We have a KVH dome which is brilliant, a 12 volt freeview and Sky +, so do we really need the aerial???

Ginny

took my flying saucer aerial off to fit a much more usable piece of kit.....a solar panel.

still had the crank up sat dish though

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[slobadoberbob]

most rv's have win guard

took my flying saucer aerial off to fit a much more usable piece of kit.....a solar panel.

still had the crank up sat dish though

John I am sure you had a Winguard on your roof? now that is a good bit of kit that has a booster and can be wound up and turned directional to pick up a signal.. but with the satellite dome we pick up free view and free to air satellite tv... so we get everything via the saterlite and have the Winguard if we want to crank it up .. but we have not used it that much. The little status arial that are used on caravans we found was not that good as it did not boost the signal much (Had one years a go on an old Glendale and also on a caravan we had).

But as said an Arial is an Arial and it just depends how big and the direction it is pointing it and what transmitter it picks up.. In fact where we live is less than a mile direct to the Pembury Transmitter yet our TV arial is aimed at a transmitter 15 miles further away..we get a better signal on that than the local one!

Bob:thumb:

 

[peter marshall]

Hi Teasy
Not what your asking, but if you go on the CC Crystal Palace site, You dont need an ariel at all in fact you get a better picture with none plugged in to the tele, your that near to the transmitter the signal is to strong with the ariel plugged in. Pete :thumb:

 

[pappajohn]

John I am sure you had a Winguard on your roof? now that is a good bit of kit that has a booster and can be wound up and turned directional to pick up a signal.. but with the satellite dome we pick up free view and free to air satellite tv... so we get everything via the saterlite and have the Winguard if we want to crank it up .. but we have not used it that much. The little status arial that are used on caravans we found was not that good as it did not boost the signal much (Had one years a go on an old Glendale and also on a caravan we had).

But as said an Arial is an Arial and it just depends how big and the direction it is pointing it and what transmitter it picks up.. In fact where we live is less than a mile direct to the Pembury Transmitter yet our TV arial is aimed at a transmitter 15 miles further away..we get a better signal on that than the local one!

Bob:thumb:

i do Bob, actually its a 'Signal Commander' but just about the same.:thumb:

i was refering to my old kontiki which had a status 315 saucer.

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[Douzeper]

Not sure how true or relevant this is, but....

My Brother in Law is the type that researches every tiny little detail before buying ANYTHING!

He told me a few years ago that when buying an upgraded aerial to receive a better digital signal (house), they are all colour coded, the small plastic coloured insert on the end of the aerial has to be suited to your area.

His is yellow, mine is grey.

So with that in mind, any aerial bought for a motorhome surely will never be at it's optimum.

 

[sedge]

Heehee at Bob's post, at Kidderminster we lived about a couple of miles away from the Burlish Park transmitter but couldn't get BBC2 for love nor money, so #1 turned it round and just pointed it in the general direction of Sutton Coldfield - bingo!

 

[pappajohn]

Heehee at Bob's post, at Kidderminster we lived about a couple of miles away from the Burlish Park transmitter but couldn't get BBC2 for love nor money, so #1 turned it round and just pointed it in the general direction of Sutton Coldfield - bingo!

A tv signal can be too strong as well as too weak.

it has been known to put aerials in house lofts, or even turn them the wrong way round, to attenuate the signal.

we live within 1/2 mile, and in 'line of sight' of, the local transmitter and use a small wire type set top aerial in our bedroom.

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[Jaws]

They are colour coded ..

Red cap is A group ( power end of the band ) Yellow is B group, and Green is C group ( there is a D group but it is more a sub group of C )

Grey or black are normally wide band aerials..

If you are fitting an antenna on a house of fixed place then using one meant for the same group of frequencies as your local transmitter is pretty much essential

Fitting one on a motorhome or other mobile base it is essential you use a wide band |( log periodic ) antenna as it will have to work on all groups as you move around the country

For a full list of the transmitters and what group they use go to http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/reception_advice/index.asp.html

 

[grumps147]

Hi.

You know the TV aerial on a motorhome, is it just analogue?

If it is, why are manufactureres still putting them on when most of UK will be digital soon?

We have just returned from a week at the Bardsey end of the Llyn peninsular where our son was camping and he wanted to watch the end of the Tour a week ago today.

Our MH has a tv as standard, (with freeview) but had not been used since the demo at pick up just over twelve months ago.

After a hasty read of the instruction book, and finding where to generally point the aerial, I pressed the auto detect button.

Even more surprising than me getting the buttons pressed in the right order first time and without any cursing, it quickly found the signal from the aerial (I did have line of site I found a few nights later when the red lights showed up many miles across the bay), and it loaded many freeview channels, including the one with the Tour on it.

It was switched off after that programme and will be some time before it will be called into use again.

So Autotrail are and have been fitting digitally compatible systems for some time.

Dont ask me what special kind of aerial it is they have fitted, I have no idea. It looks like those many caravans have.

 

[Jaws]

As said else where there actually is no such thing as a 'digital' aerial

It is a lump of metal ( and some plastic ) and has NO idea if the signals it is detecting carry a digital signal or an analogue one

And just reread my previous post..

There is an error in the grouping descrition ..

The red end capped aerials are not at the Power end .. that was meant to read the Lower end !

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