Television aerials ... boosters etc.

[JP_]

Chimney is coming down today. The idea is to either move that aerial to the back of the house, or get a new one.

This area has a booster on it, which is plugged in in the room. I did not need a booster in my previous house, or if I did, it was not attached to the aerial ...

anyway, would I be better off getting a new one? I know nothing about them so no idea if that is a good one or not.

Maybe I could just have something like this in the loft: https://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-tv-aerial-high-gain-digital/60215

Do they work much better on the outside of a house?

 

[flameport]

Do they work much better on the outside of a house?

Yes, an indoor one will be substantially inferior.

If the existing one works, then just relocate it.

That Screwfix item is overpriced junk.

 

[JP_]

cool, thanks, will re-use it then.

 

[turanafon]

Just relocate and use booster if your feeding more than 2 rooms

 

[JP_]

I think i get it now... .. the splittrr/booster is on the aeriel and powered via the coax?

 

[winston1]

Maybe I could just have something like this in the loft: https://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-tv-aerial-high-gain-digital/60215

Do they work much better on the outside of a house?

No such thing as a digital aerial. Screwfix are lying, I would't buy from a liar. You'd be better off buying from a professional aerial installer than a DIY shop anyway.

 

[JP_]

Will be keeping existing. Big question is, how was the booster powered,?

 

[Lucid]

Yes, the white ProCeption box in the fuzzy picture is the power supply for whatever masthead/masthead splitter amp is fitted to your aerial. Yes, the power goes up the coax cable in the opposite direction to the signal.

As a side note, the box on the aerial might not be a "booster" as such. It could simply be compensating for some of the signal loss that is inevitable when splitting the signal X ways. For example, ProCeption makes a 4-way splitter with 4.5dB gain per output, but the losses from splitting 4 ways would be to reduce each signal leg by roughly 7dB, so there's a nett loss in signal strength. You'll know for certain what you've got there when the aerial comes down. Flick the lid open and you should see a model and some descriptive text about the spec of the device.

 

[JP_]

Aeriel is down, on the lawn ... looks like a splitter to me, has a few sockets, two where in use. Guess I should put it somewhere dry ... this is all good news though, as it solves my dilemma of how to power the splitter - in my previous house I had a power socket in the loft that powered the splitter.

 

[turanafon]

the proception unit is the power for the splitter, so the coax comes from the aerial to the IN on the unit and then the OUT goes to the TV. if using this make sure u dont turn it off or you obviously lose the power for the signal.

 

[ericmark]

No such thing as a digital aerial. Screwfix are lying, I would't buy from a liar. You'd be better off buying from a professional aerial installer than a DIY shop anyway.

I was a common thing to call the aerial digital, what it did mean was wide band, so you got aerials with coloured bungs and the colour told you what frequency range it covered, and if you use a narrow band aerial it is lighter and has less air resistance so less likely to be damaged in high winds, so personally I would not buy a wide band aerial if not required.

Buying an aerial which does not state the frequency range I would be unhappy with, mainly as there are two wide band aerials, the old black code covered channel 21 to 68 but now we have lost the top channels so new white covers 21 to 60, as the frequency goes up the elements get shorter

and the colours change, however the broadcast frequencies have changed many times since analogue days, with masts once again keeping the frequencies within a group. It all depends on your local transmitters, even then Winter Hill for example has some aerials pointed in set direction so even if you know your transmitter is Winter Hill it also matters which side of Pennines you live.

English is a living language and dictionaries show what the word is used for, not it's original meaning, so decimate means to kill one in ten, but it is used to show getting rid of nearly everything. Only when looking at legal things do we need to be careful on wording, so an apparatus to receive TV signals is an aerial not a TV set, so we can have a colour aerial or a black and white one? No even that does not work, we work on case law, so once tried and the court has ruled it means a TV set or a video recorder then even if the English is wrong it does not matter, you will still get done.

So as far as TV aerials go, digital means broad band, I would agree we should not be using this name any more, adverts should say which group the aerial covers, but I can get Moel-y-parc and Winter Hill, so having a broad band aerial makes some sense. In my home in bryn-y-baal my problem is signal strength for Winter Hill changes, so some times Moel-y-parc is strongest and some times winter hill is, don't need to aim at Moel-y-parc could pick that up on wet string, so my TV is continually saying new channels please retune.

I have made many aerials, and I suppose I should have built a slim jim for moel-y-parc but when I transmit I can read how much power is reflected (Voltage Standing Wave Ratio) but on receive only it is trial and error so I have in the main bought TV aerials ready made. But years ago I could go into most local DIY stores and buy a banded aerial, today can't buy one local, I have to send away for it, or buy wide band. Even the local aerial fitters only seem to stock wide band.

So since you like screwfix this amplifier which will need this power supply will allow you to fit amplifier in loft without needing 230 volt power in loft. Some TV's can be set to give out DC power to run the amplifier, others you need the external power supply. It says it requires 12 volt DC 30 mA for that model, seem to remember TV output is 5 volt, not a clue of make of my mast head amp, but it does not seem to mind if 12 volt or 5 volt still works. Some amps need 60 mA the power supply listed is 100 mA so would power either.

 

[Lucid]

Whilst I agree with @winston1 that there is no such thing digital aerial, I think it's pushing it a bit to accuse Screwfix of lying.

As @ericmark correctly says, English is a flexible language. We use contractions and product names in place of device types. On top of this there's the general dumbing down to help make tech understandible to the layman. Hence "an aerial for digital TV signals" becomes a "digital aerial". We know what it's referring to even if the name is technically incorrect.

Something similar is happening with TV right now. Often people refer to a '4K TV' when in reality there is no such thing. It's a UHD TV. But that doesn't sound as snappy or exciting as 4K.

 

[winston1]

I agree Screwfix are not deliberately lying, it is more a case of ignorance. But legally retailers are responsible for what they sell and goods must be "as described" which is clearly not the case here. Much of the blame can be attributed to some of the smaller aerial companies who mis-describe the aerials on their boxes. Retailers should really be rejecting these items back to the manufacturers. These manufacturers also often lie about the number of elemrnts, claiming things like 93 elements when in fact there are around 21. A director is ONE element not four even if it is shaped like a cross. Likewise a reflector is ONE element whether is is a single ali sheet or a number of parallel rods.

Wide band has nothing to do with digital, wideband aerials were available long before digital transmission was thought of. In fact DSO was originally setup so that in most cases existing grouped aerials could continue in use. It is only recent government greed in selling off TV frequencies that has changed this requirement in some areas.

 

[Lucid]

I don't disagree with any of that in broad terms.

What I would point out is that whilst it's correct to point out that 'digital' is the wrong word to attribute to TV aerials, one has to take a pragmatic view that this is the common name by which they're now known. It's the same as Plasma for any flat screen TV, iPad for any tablet, Hoover/Dyson for a vacuum cleaner. None of those are correct either, but it's common parlance.

As in all retail transactions, it's down to the buyer to do their homework. Caveat emptor We are not the Internet Police. We aren't Trading Standards either. All we can do in a practical sense is educate those who come here if they're interested in understanding this stuff. Some folk are. Some folk aren't. It's a cliché but true; you can lead a horse to water, but can't make it drink.

 

[JP_]

Thanks for all the advice. Old aerial moved to new roof and gives an excellent picture, using the Proception box, now in the loft, rather than attached to the aerial.
Amazed how weatherproof that box is though, surprised it survived on that aerial all that time - it looked a bit knackered when the aerial came down!