TV AERIAL PROBLEMS

MinuteNoodles

Heedtheadvice said:

Ham? Usually they are very 'switched on'

Probably written in haste @MinuteNoodles but without propagation you will get no signal, wanted or unwanted!

I do amateur radio, I have done for well over a decade and my area of interest is long distance communication. Normal VHF and UHF communication is line of sight, it needs no propogation as is meant in radio communications to work line of sight. It does however need propogation, usually in the form of excitement of the E and F layers of the ionosphere by solar activity for HF and by tropospheric ducting caused by a temporature inversion such as we've had the past few weeks for VHF and UHF in order for a signal to travel further distances.

Been sat here the last few hours on 6m and 2m VHF bands listening to stations from France, Germany, Spain, Italy all coming in, stations you'd normally be unable to hear because the curvature of the earth gets in the way.

[Deleted User]

Propagation, as is meant in radio communications is simply the passage of a wave from one point to another through space or any other medium, be it line of sight or otherwise.

Mickey666

JJ_Egan said:

Mickey666 said:

You can also save money by not buying a TV licence as long as you avoid BBC channels, so win-win really

More than bbc channels   , please don't cancel a licence and watch live TV .

Oops, quite right - I was thinking BBC iPlayer, but you're quite right ANY live TV requires a TV licence.  Apologies for any confusion.

Heedtheadvice

@minutenoodles not really wishing to hijack this thread but jack has it correct. You might find the following link handy https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/antennas-propagation/propagation-overview/basics.php

mobileron

Thers a high pressure at the moment and all signals are traveling much further.hence 2m signals from Spain.
Get a firestick and use streaming.

Rodders53

Without LOCATION (approx, postcode of a nearby shop, pub, church etc.,,.) it's impossible to know whether the OP has a good or bad predicted reception (using Freeview and Wolfbane etc.,.)
Small relay transmitters may only cover a few miles from them.  Main, high power, stations go much further.
Being close to a transmitter means nothing; it could be beaming a signal into the next valley!
What works for one person in one location won't apply to another person in a different location.

Some locations will suffer from regular interference - and the weather has been ripe for this in the last few days.  Even the 1% of time means up to 3.6 days per annum of issues;  happening for a few hours at each event, that can be many dozens of disturbances.

But the Stetson hat and arrival on horseback should have been a warning for the aerial installer(s) described.

MinuteNoodles

Rodders53 said:

Small relay transmitters may only cover a few miles from them.  Main, high power, stations go much further.
Being close to a transmitter means nothing; it could be beaming a signal into the next valley!

They all use omnidirectional antennas.

roddydogs

Is a youview box like the BT one, you need a decent freeview aerial otherwise you lose channels, which is why i wouldn't recommend one.

Heedtheadvice

Do they? Would be interesting to know where that info comes from. https://ukfree.tv/article/1107052513/New_and_improved_Freeview_radiation_patterns says otherwise, based on an FFI question to the BBC with much info witheld and, so I understand, not in the public domain. Not only that many are (non omnidirectional) antenna arrays to ensure desired radiation patterns, are they not? Typical being Crystal Palace, I believe, though cannot confirm that.

I' m sure you will appreciate that, all other things being equal, terrain has a significant affect on reception and thus many local transmitters are designed to fill in reception in valleys. At the same distance 'over the hill' even with an omnidirection radiation pattern can have, not being line of sight, much reduced signal strength.