fm aerial

staker

hi,anyone know if this aerial works for fm radio in mitchelstown, co. cork? http://www.triax.co.uk/Products/Aerials/FM%20Aerials.aspx?productId={DE05F665-53EB-417F-91C7-62BDD895DB40}&Tab=0

watty

It's a halo for UK horizontal. Very very poor reception. Don't buy one. Lowest gain aerial in existance.

You need a vertical dipole* or discone as all transmissions vertical to slant or circular to suit car aerials.

(* most horizontal dipoles or 2 to 4 element yagi can be mounted vertical polarised.

staker

cheers watty. will pick one up tuesday... any idea which way to point it? i presume nearest rte tv transmittor?

galtee boy

staker wrote: »

cheers watty. will pick one up tuesday... any idea which way to point it? i presume nearest rte tv transmittor?

A Band Three VHF aerial connected to a DAB tuner, pointed north from Mitchelstown towards Woodcock Hill in Limerick, will pick up the RTE dab mux no problem also.

staker

tnx galtee woodcock is out the desmene direction yeah?

galtee boy

staker wrote: »

tnx galtee woodcock is out the desmene direction yeah?

Depends where you're looking from , but in general yes, that would be the direction. If you do go down the Dab tuner route, point the aerial towards the Kilglass hill where the local RTE FM relay is situated along with the Chorus masts and there are some mobile towers up there too. Woodcock Hill is in the same direction, about 30 miles further on. By the way, that Dab signal is not strong enough for portable reception, we'll have to wait for Mullaganish for that. As I said, perfect Dab reception with a loft or external aerial though.

staker

yup, will give it a go on saturday, tnx again

Rippy

watty wrote: »

It's a halo for UK horizontal. Very very poor reception. Don't buy one. Lowest gain aerial in existance.

You need a vertical dipole* or discone as all transmissions vertical to slant or circular to suit car aerials.

(* most horizontal dipoles or 2 to 4 element yagi can be mounted vertical polarised.

Gain ? what gain ? There is no gain on the ghastly things.
On the rare occasions that I have been forced to use them (run out of fm dipoles and nowhere to buy them in Cork) I have found that the mounting arm can be reversed so the aerial is facing away from the pole rather than encircling it as designed, and the polarity can be changed to vertical.
They can also be gently opened out to something resembling a folded dipole with curled up ends.
Still horrid though.

staker

So i went to cork and was assured by the salesman that the "circular" aerial would work fine. I put it up today and hey presto i've got rte radio 1 for the first time ever. Mounted it as you said galteeboy and no probs at all... Thanks for the advice folks