Indoor TV aerial

Newnoel

We have just finished rebuilding our house and we don't want to put a dish or aeriel on the roof, mainly for aesthetics
Is it possible to use an indoor aeriel or dish? Which ones are any good?

JJ_Egan

Its possible but how far are you from the transmitter .

Mister_G

Newnoel said:

We have just finished rebuilding our house and we don't want to put a dish or aeriel on the roof, mainly for aesthetics
Is it possible to use an indoor aeriel or dish? Which ones are any good?

Put your details into this:

http://www.wolfbane.net/cgi-bin/tvd.exe?

It will tell you what type of aerial you need, but it is based on it being outside on the chimney (10m agl).  For an aerial in the loft you will need to add 10dB loss into your calculations.  A larger aerial plus an amplifier may be required.

I tend to use aerials like this:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-tri-boom-mast-digital-aerial/60215

Chino

Mister_G said:

I tend to use aerials like this:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-tri-boom-mast-digital-aerial/60215

Click on this link http://www.!!!!!!.uk/tech/logperiodic.htm and scroll down to:

So what's wrong with a long, sturdy Tri-boom aerial such as this?

Mister_G

Chino said:

Mister_G said:

I tend to use aerials like this:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-tri-boom-mast-digital-aerial/60215

Click on this link http://www.!!!!!!/tech/logperiodic.htm and scroll down to:

So what's wrong with a long, sturdy Tri-boom aerial such as this?

I can't say, as the link doesn't work.

Rodders53

Mister_G said: <snip>

It will tell you what type of aerial you need, <snip>
I tend to use aerials like this: <snip>

NO and NO  to both in my expert view.  (I was employed to give this advice to the trade and public at one time!)

1.  Wolfbane is over-pessimistic on antenna sizes required and needs taking with a pinch of salt always.  
2. Tri-boom aerials are too big and unwieldy for indoor aerials and are actually out-performed by conventional 18 element Yagi aerials anyway.  
OP:  https://www.aerialsandtv.com/knowledge/aerials/atvs-choice-of-tv-aerials-and-why-we-chose-them is a site worth reading.

LOCATION is key.  Give your approximate location (postcode of a shop, pub, church or other nearby landmark - ideally within 100 m of your home, but suburb or village/town might do.  That will allow estimates of the signal available and  - more importantly - reception predictions from Freeview/help where interference numbers calculated by the UK spectrum planners are available to determine which transmitter to use. 

Loft aerials in the roof space can be good but some building materials are very good a stopping radio waves e.g. foil backed plasterboard and/or insulation boards, certain roof tiles (metallic oxides), etc.,. 
Do you have an attic space that allows the aerial to be positioned in? Will it point through an end wall (gable) or through the roof tiles?

Dishes can be sited at ground level (patio mounts) and shielded from general view by shrubs / out buildings or fitted on walls and are better there (for maintenance access) rather than a rooftop - provided they can see the satellite with no trees or other buildings in the way.

Newnoel

We are within 50 miles of a transmitter, and live in a rural areas with no trees.

Would something like this work?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TV66HDG/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B07TV66HDG&pd_rd_w=gWqIf&pf_rd_p=1055d8b2-c10c-4d7d-b50d-96300553e15d&pd_rd_wg=XEdml&pf_rd_r=TW7G5C7CCZTCB18P76PF&pd_rd_r=732a2145-4865-4cba-b172-3cdf3b63d389&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFJVzhOM1RMSU5JTFgmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA2MTQ5NjUxRDZNMTU0N0RGSFpVJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA0NDM1NjFUWDkyOVAxS1hKQ1Mmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWwmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

Newnoel

Are there any aerials you can hide behind the tv?

Were_Doomed

https://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-x-beam-mast-aerial/30515

I have something like this in my loft to drive the TV in the living room. I also have a much smaller, cheap one next to it to drive the bedroom TV. (That signal goes to an amplifier/splitter so that there is a TV feed to 2 bedrooms). Both aerials are suspended from the roof beams using wire to point to a transmitter approx. 30 miles away.

Mister_G

Rodders53 said:

Mister_G said: <snip>

It will tell you what type of aerial you need, <snip>
I tend to use aerials like this: <snip>

NO and NO  to both in my expert view.  (I was employed to give this advice to the trade and public at one time!)

As someone who spent 45 years in the Broadcasting industry, 20 of which as an Antenna Engineer with a national broadcaster designing and installing antenna systems for TV relay stations, I'll bow to your superior knowledge!

matelodave

It depends on where you live, the signal strength and type of antenna and whats in the way between you and the transmitter

We have an 18 element log-periodic yagi in the loft (tied to the rafters with string) pointing towards Sandy Heath which is around 55kwm away and we get a perfectly good picture on all the channels that are being broadcast but we do live right out in Cambridgeshire fens, where the terrain is pretty flat and there's not a lot between us and the transmitter. In the end it's a case of trying it out although I doubt that set top aerial would work  for us (although I've never actually tried one)