Freeview aerial/sky problem

gt568

Hello all!

The house I've just moved into, the !!!!!!s have gone and nicked the aerial when they left, but left the sky dish. So the question is thus, can I plug my freeview box into the sky aerial or do I need to cough up for a "standard" tv aerial? And if i need a new aerial where is best to find someone to fit it and what sort of approx cost am I looking at. Live near wooton basset in wilts if that helps.

irnbru_2

gt568 wrote:

can I plug my freeview box into the sky aerial or do I need to cough up for a "standard" tv aerial?

cough cough

gt568 wrote:

And if i need a new aerial where is best to find someone to fit it and what sort of approx cost am I looking at. Live near wooton basset in wilts if that helps.

Depending on your reception you might get away with just an internal aerial.

Next up would be an internal loft aerial then an external one.

See this post for info on installers.

penrhyn

What a load of t*ssers.
There seems to be more and more of this going on. Freeview needs a terrestrial (standard)aerial.
You could get a Sky Box of Ebay and plug it into the dish if you wanted but the LMB may be duff which would cause you more expense.
I think Argos fit TV aerials, if not aska neighbour who is a reputable fitter.
You could be paying around £100 odd for supply and fitting.

littleange

I've got this one installed in my loft and it works perfectly and comes with cable.

Alternatively there is this one which doesn't come with any cable.

zappahey

If it's anything like us in Calne, you'll need a whopper of an aerial to get Freeview. Best to ask a decent installer.

gt568

zappahey wrote:

If it's anything like us in Calne, you'll need a whopper of an aerial to get Freeview. Best to ask a decent installer.

Can you recommend anyone?

rammy007

You can get an aerial from wicks (D I Y store ) for about £9.99 and install it your self i`ve done 3 rooms for my kids and all works fine

Joe_Bloggs

This site may be of use http://www.wolfbane.co.uk/
I can't link to the digital and analogue TV reception predictor page directly.
You can use your post code or the links to the map to determine the bearing of the most suitable transmitter and the distance. The type of aerial is also recommended. There is also a plot of the land between transmitter and receiver available.

For Wooton Basset there is a choice of two transmiters Mendip (Bearing 240 and Oxford (Bearing 060). Both are 36 miles away. Mendip is twice as high as Oxford so it may be the best unless there is a line of sight obstruction in that direction. Bearing 240 would be 8 o'clock, 060 is 2 o'clock, if a watch was lined up with North being 12 o'clock.

The aerial type recommended is type CD for Mendip. With this you can get both analogue and digital from Mendip as they use similar UHF frequencies.
For Oxford you would need a wide band aerial but it would work for all transmitter frequencies. The wide aerial might have to be a bit bigger as it is less tuned. Both recomendations suggest a mast head amplifier.

What your neighbours have got and where it is pointed may be a clue. This does not tell you if they get a good signal. Perhaps there should be a sticker you can put in your window if your signal is good or poor. Do not try to save money on the cable. Poor cable will lose much of the signal strength and pick up more interference, use at least CT100 or equivalent.
J_B.