Mast Dvd
Digital Aerial?
I had a new Digital Aerial fitted last month. I live in a dip so was informed that we needed a 3 meter mast and a mast head amplifier. When the work was done the engineer said that the BBC channels do not have a very good signal and it would be better if we watched these (1 and 2) through the TV and not the set top box. Does anyone know if this is correct. BBC 1, 2 and the others all drop out like a badly scratched DVD. He said that it will be better in 2009 when work at the ‘Sandy Heath’ transmitter is done. If this is normal would a loft amplifier work better, the type the is boosted using electricity and how does a mast head amp work with out mains power? Would a better free view box work better or am I just stuffed?
You have asked a lot of questions, so here’s a lot of answer.
You’re stuffed and the bloke who fitted your aerial was not being very helpful.
In the first place they’re only aerial fitters, not engineers. This means that they have the barest minimum of technical training to fit aerials and point them more or less in the right direction.
He should not have left you in this sorry state. I hope he didn’t charge you for a half-baked job. If he did then call his boss and complain. If reasonable reception is impossible in your location then he should have been honest “up front” and not taken on the job (Sale of Goods and Services Act).
In the meantime …
If you have a clean analogue picture – without any ghosting or wavy lines or other artifacts – then you will probably get a perfectly adequate digital signal that works on ALL channels, not just a few.
What you have is a classic symptom of a weak and poor signal. There are real technical reasons why some digital channels behave differently from others but they’re beyond the scope of this Answers forum.
If you are not getting these then you need a better aerial.
Note that the designation “digital aerial” is just a salesman’s puff to enable them to charge a lot of money for it. Ask for a very-high-gain aerial and you’ll get the same thing in a different box at lower cost. Look at what Maplin electronics sell.
Terrestrial digital television needs a better signal to work properly than analogue.
You should be aware that digital signals have two parameters which must be high for good pictures. Both of these are normally measureable on a built in meter for tv sets with built in Freeview and also on some of the better set-top boxes (you will need to study the insructions):
Signal Strength – this is the “power” of the signal measured at the aerial cable. If the signal is low then electrical noise and interference will get in the way and this is what gives rise to ‘snow’ on an analogue picture and break up of a digital one.
Signal Quality – this is a measure of the integrity of the digital bit-stream being transmitted. If it is low then the tv will be unable to recreate the picture. It doesn’t matter how strong the signal is if the bit-stream is corrupted – the picture will fail.
Aerial amplifiers or boosters can only increase signal power. They cannot repair a corrupted signal and improve its quality. Also, a long aerial cable will introduce ‘noise’ itself and will also weaken the signal. It helps if you have a very high quality double screened cable. Therefore, it’s likely that in your case a loft amplifier will be a waste of money.
Mast head amplifiers take their power supply from the aerial lead. It is “squirted” up the wire from a power supply unit that you have to install behind yoru tv set (another 13A socket used up). The power supply and the amplifier each have some circuitry that separates the tv signal from the amplifier’s power.
If you must fit any sort of booster then a mast head one is what you should use because it will amplify the signal as close as possible to the aerial and it won’t be amplifying the electrical “noise” which the cable inevitably picks up.
Ask why didn’t the fitter provide one as soon as the poor signal was apparent when he tested it?
Tv aerials’ ability to capture the transmitted signals are indicated by their “gain”. A fair clue to the relative gain of an aerial is given by the number of “elements” it has. These are the horizontal bars that are fitted in front of the grid that forms the “reflector”.
For a good chance of decent reception of digital broadcasts when you live in a weak area you should be looking at at least a 12 element array. Probably bigger. In your case, the more the merrier.
You may have a problem with your tall mast and the big thing on top wobbling in the breeze. This may mean fitting braces to the pole.
It is true that many transmitters will increase their power in the coming years. You should Google for the information relating to your local transmitter for details.
I hope that this helps you understand the situation a bit more. The aerial fitter should have explained all this better.
You really should phone and complain (the Law is on your side) because you paid for adequate reception and he’s just sold you a half-baked installation and a load of excuses. As I said, he’s the expert and should either have done the job properly or been honest if it was impossible. It makes my blood boil that there are people around who take money for not doing the right thing.
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