What aerial to buy for good terrestrial reception in Galway city?

RyanAsh

Folks,
Any recommendations for what aerial to buy for my TV, just want to pick up terrestrial as have no NTL point in the room (bedroom). I have a circular one which came with the tv which is rubbish, only picks up rte 2 & changes as i walk around the room. Can anyone recommend one which will pick up all 4 terrestrial channels? Where can i get it at a reasonable price? Also do I need a booster? I live on the headford road in Galway city, not sure if thats a place with bad reception? Should i be pointing the aerials in any particular direction? Thanks!!

Rigel

Your local Maplins in the Wellpark Retail Park should be able to sort you with everything you need.

dhaumi

Rigel wrote: »

Your local Maplins in the Wellpark Retail Park should be able to sort you with everything you need.

I hate that shop (overpriced, poor selection), but you don't much choice if you want to get something local .

Rigel

The satellite thread has a sticky on shops that sell satellite equipment both on-line and bricks & mortar, most of these also sell aerials. Might be worth checking out but still probably easier to go talk to someone at Maplins not sure if O'Connors sell this kind of stuff anymore.

breaux

O'connors on sean mulvoy rd have the correct aerials to use.maplin just sell aerials from the UK - absolutely useless if used on the headford rd.!

coylemj

It looks like Maghera (Gort) is your local transmitter in which case you need a VHF aerial for RTE 1 and 2 and a UHF aerial for TV3 and TG4.

Galway

Do not buy aerials from maplins - all tv are UHF wideband - and very overpriced. use a local company as advised

coylemj

I think you're getting some fairly prejudiced advice here, why don't you check out Maplins and local suppliers. The one thing you can say about Maplins is that they'll probably offer you a greater choice of aerial than local shops and I think you'll find that they're not overpriced at all.

Galway

No at all predujiced advice but FACT - Maplins isn't a specialist aerial shop and yes their aerials are overpriced. Moreover you wont get a Band 3 aerial for the reception of RTEs 1 & 2 from Maghera nor a UHF group c/d for TV 3 & TG4 from the same tx.

There are a number of online sites that are very competitively priced - PM me for info. Also no one pointed out that a VHF/UHF diplexer will be needed to combine the two aerials into a single downlead. Maplins won't have that either. You could buy the cable there but there are cheaper outlets.

snaps

to be honest mate tv reception in Galway city via a vhf/uhf setup is very poor. Most of galway is served by "Cable". if you do have a cable feed into your house you would be as well off getting a 2nd point fitted. Especially the initial outlay of the hardware required to get the 4 stations.

Galway

Galway City is well within the service area of the Maghera transmitter. Efficient installations using a log periodic 7 element Band 3 or a wideband Band 3 5 element aerial aerial and a 10 element UHF group c/d aerial should provide good reception at your location. The Maghera tranmitter is located in Clare Mountains which are visible from the City and Salthill. A proper installation using good quailty VHF band 3 and UHF group c/d aerials and satellite quality cable and a VHF/UHF diplexer to combine the two aerials should provide good quality reception at your location. There are some problematic areas just outside the city on the N59 towards Bushypark and on the N17 at Two mile ditch but reception at your location should be more than acceptable , better indeed than analogue cable - which has an ongoing cost. Poor reception using vhf/uhf aerials is often due to shoddy installations.

Shinto

sorry to deviate from the main thread, more of an extension really...

Galway....you seem to be an informed expert on the issue at hand. Would Cladgaghaduff (near Clifden in Connemara) be in range of Maghera? I've tried to get TV3 for a friend out there but its very hard to get a signal. Maybe the 12 pins of Connemara are blocking the signal.

merde!

Galway

Shinto wrote: »

sorry to deviate from the main thread, more of an extension really...

Galway....you seem to be an informed expert on the issue at hand. Would Cladgaghaduff (near Clifden in Connemara) be in range of Maghera? I've tried to get TV3 for a friend out there but its very hard to get a signal. Maybe the 12 pins of Connemara are blocking the signal.

merde!

You can try Maghera on Channel 66 from Maghera but I think it unlikely you will get a watchable picture unless your on high ground. The reason Clifden is served by a relay is that acceptable pictures aren't available from Maghera in Clare or Truskmore main transmitters in Sligo. You could also try TV3 from Truskmore on channel 60. You will most likely need a large high gain group C/D aerial and a masthead amplifier (giving up to 35dg gain) to have any chance at all. The installation needs to be efficient using low loss satellite cable with no joins. You will also need a power supply for the masthead amplifier. If these two options fail - its either subscribe to Sky Digital or watch the programmes TV 3 makes available on its website.

When reception conditions are difficult, the best aerials & equipment are essential to have any chance of getting viewable pictures.

Shinto

Thank you very much.