Freeview aerial upgrade?

dreamypuma

We currently use our Toshiba LCD TV to receive Freeview in our living room using an old loft mounted aerial. This works faultlessly.

We have just purchased a new Samsung LED / LCD TV for the bedroom, and tested it this weekend from the same aerial point and we seem unable to receive an acceptable picture for the BBC channels. All other channels are fine.

Now the existing aerial is quite old and made of something that looks like brass or gold aluminium.

I was considering replacing this with a new one from Screwfix, and hopefully this will resolve the picture issue on the Samsung. I was considering one of these: Labgear High Gain

My question is, what type of aerial should I be looking to install? Does opting for one which is for weak signal areas assure you an improvement in reception, even in an strong signal area, or can this cause, additional issues?

shandypants5

To be honest a rooftop installation will always give the best results.

Theres a very good page here with good info.

dreamypuma

shandypants5 wrote: »

To be honest a rooftop installation will always give the best results.

Theres a very good page here with good info.

Thanks. We are trying to avoid a rooftop installation as our house is quite exposed to high winds.

shandypants5

Ok but I would still rccomend having an installer supply and fit one for you.

They have the right meters to check signal strenght and aim your aerial correctly.

I was an aerial installers "mate" for a while and I noticed that just moving the aerial a few mm in either direction can make a huge difference in signal strength.

The meter we used had several bars (about 10) that you had to get within a certain level, not too high not too low.
(I was only doing the labouring so cant remember the technical stuff)

It should only cost you about £80 to supply install and run a new cable all the way to your TV.
They should be able to tell you if you are in a poor signal area before they start work.

Kurtis_Blue

The labgear aerial linked is overpriced tat, it also has very sharp edges, not good for lofts (I have the scars to prove) it is a wideband aerial and that may not be ideal for your transmitter, if you have a grouped transmitter selecting the correct aerial will lead to far greater gain.
An installer should/could select and supply better equipment at not really much greater cost.

Edit: You need to find the highest gain (in Db) but in a compact size for loft, your first priority is to see what transmitter you are on at what group and whether your transmission is H (horizontal) or V (Vertical)

http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/

Saying that if your last TV functioned ok and you are only missing one MUX try a one way masthead amp.