Measuring TV signal strength

[pls1]

I need to measure the signal strength on several downleads from a roof mounted TV aerial.
I'm aware that some freeview boxes do this but are there cheap handheld (standalone) units that do this?
Alternatively I can use my laptop but would like to know if there is any software/USB dongles that do this?

 

[MasterAbacus]

I too was after such a thing, There are devices available that do it, but they are not cheap.... i think if memory is correct, they are about £200 each.... so pretty expensive.... unless your in the trade.....and would use all the time...

I spent several weeks trying to locate some software for this job too, with out success....

Let me know if you do find something..... It will always come in handy..


Good Luck

 

[bernardgreen]

There is a bit more to it than just signal strength.

The aerial is receiving many channels some of which your TV set top box will ignore. But if these are strong signals they may affect and distort (intermodulate) the signals you are interested in.

The un-wanted signals have to be measured as well if a full appraisal of the aerial's "goodness" is to be made.

 

[pls1]

I guess what I was getting at in terms of the software/dongle solution is if any DVB USB sticks you see around for £20-40 have software that displays the signal strength for particular channels.
Presumably this way you can work out if the aerial signal is strong enough.

 

[MasterAbacus]

I guess what I was getting at in terms of the software/dongle solution is if any DVB USB sticks you see around for £20-40 have software that displays the signal strength for particular channels.
Presumably this way you can work out if the aerial signal is strong enough.

Now theres an idea..... Never thaught of that.....

Time to test some DVB usb sticks out......

 

[pls1]

Anyone know if this is possible since the original post ?
Still haven't come across a good solution !

 

[EddieM]

don't know if this is any good.

 

[bernardgreen]

The only "good" solution is a tunable receiver with an accurate indication of the signal level on the single channel it is tuned to.

These are NOT cheap.

There is also a question of the quality of the signal A signal may show as very strong on a signal strength meter but it may be of poor quality. A common quality problem is mutlitpath reception. This is where the signal is received once directly from the transmitter and then a few micro-seconds later a second signal is received having taken a longer path when reflected from a building or other object. Having the same signal twice can easily confuse the decoder and lead to high bit errors and freezing pictures and stuutering sound. On analogue TV this multi-path creates a second ghost like image to the right of the main image

 

[ericmark]

My 70cm handy will receive out of band and has an S meter I used this but with the freeview box and TV with signal strength they need to be set to analogue or digital to suit channel and from scratch had to tune some in.
Kworld Hypermedia center for PC does have a S meter built in but again needs to be tuned in first.

 

[flameport]

The cheapest meter which will actually be of any use will be something like these ones (click pictures for more details)


At the other end of the scale are full spectrum analysers which are thousands of pounds.