tv3+tng aerial

tjspock

hi,im in causeway north kerry and have a tv3+tng aerial with a green cap on the end plus a booster about 4 ft from aerial with power supply going to it,my picture is crap to say the least.what i want to know is is there a better uhf aerial to pick up weaker signals ?what make?coax is new and booster seems to be working.any help will be appreciated.thanks t.j

Ulsterman 1690

How many elements (rods) in the aerial 10 ? 14 ? 18 ? 24 ? 43 ? more ?

The green cap (group c/d) means its designed for Maghera (TX located on the Clare/Galway Border)
A red one (Group A) is used for Mullaghanish (TX located on Cork/Kerry) border
Most parts of Co Kerry get their TV from Mullaghanish

Maps taken fromhttp://www.irish-tv.com/irishtrans.asp

tjspock

thanks for reply!i can see 8 rods and the back plate,tried red cap no picture whatso ever.is it more elements the better?saw on maplins site a 48 element high gain uhf aerial would that be better?

watty

Yes, except it is really probably a 21 or 22 element. Manufatureres have taken to countly each piece as an Element, wheras all the "bits" at each position on the boom are directors, the plate at back a reflector and the part with the wire the driven element. So 20 directors (no matter how spikey), one driven element and reflector = 22 elements.

Real measure ratio of boom length to wavelenth (both in Metres). UHF TV is about 0.5m for group A/B so a good aerial is about 3 ft long. You have to go to nearly 6ft long to get a significant next step which is why the "big" aerial systems use an "array" of four aerials with four cables into a "combiner".

The bigger the aerial gets the smaller the channel range unless it is a Log Periodic instead of a yagi.

Foggy43

Tjspock,
Have you an external VHF aerial for RTE 1 and 2?
If so where are you receiving from? Maghera, Mullaghanish or Listowel (I think there is a relay in Listowel but no TV3) The VHF aerial should give you a picture on TV3 and TG4 even though it is a UHF aerial. Why don't you try it?

If you get TV3 and TG4 from your VHF aerial I would check the co-ax connections on your UHF system. There maybe some braid contacting the co-ax cable core. I always double check my connections particularly the mast head amp. Easy to make a mistake on a roof with those winds coming in of the Atlantic. Frozen fingers also this time of year.

Ulsterman 1690

i can see 8 rods and the back plate,tried red cap no picture whatso ever.is it more elements the better?saw on maplins site a 48 element high gain uhf aerial would that be better?

As Watty says the plate is a reflector so you have a 9 or 10 element (probably 10) aerial

more elements are generally better but if buying a bigger aerial make sure its grouped and not wideband. A wideband 18 element aerial may have less gain than a grouped 10 element

The groups are
Ch21 to Ch37 Group A RED (Mullaghanish)
Ch35 to Ch53 Group B YELLOW
Ch48 to Ch68 Group C/D GREEN (Maghera)
Ch35 to Ch68 Group E BROWN
Ch21 to Ch48 Group K GREY
Ch21 to Ch68 Group W BLACK (Wideband)

If the group isint specified its probably wideband

Jimmyireland

Can any one advise if these areiels (Red and Green ) work indoors or are they only outdoor ariels


Thanks


Jimmyireland

Ulsterman 1690

Yes they will work indoors but not very well (unless the signal in your area happens to be particularly strong). If you absolutely cannot put up an aerial outside then you might get away with putting it in the loft (if you have one)