Do Indoor Aerials work?

RobitTV

Hi, i recently Purchased This Indoor aerial it says it Can Pick up Digital tv Link

So i set it up, And scanned for DVB-T Stations Got nothing on it, Im disspointed, I Live in Co.Waterford, so i was kinda expectin to get somethin, any ideas on how to get any of the digital stations?

But do Indoor aerials actully work? and it says on the box my tv is H.264 MPEG4

Trevord

It depend on signal strength and location.

I can get a dtt signal with an aerial from the 2 euro shop and I am about 40 km from the transmitter.

Do a manual scan and try channels 22 and 55 only. If you have no luck then try the aerial in different position and scan again.

RobitTV

Trevord wrote: »

It depend on signal strength and location.

I can get a dtt signal with an aerial from the 2 euro shop and I am about 40 km from the transmitter.

Do a manual scan and try channels 22 and 55 only. If you have no luck then try the aerial in different position and scan again.

Yeh i done that just dont that, Nothing still, and i dunno if it will work even if i move it, dissapointing As i dont live far from a Transmitter, around 15km As my nearest Transmitter is Waterford City

Mr McBoatface

Like Trevord said it all depends on the signal. I've bought similar type Aerials for friends and family and had success with some of them located beside the TV, however I've had 100% success when they are placed in an attic with a cable running down to the TV. In my own house I've tested similar aerials and get no signal at all in my sitting room yet it's perfect when the aerial is located in the attic.

I actually have a high quality outdoor aerial located in my attic and I've never had a problem with it, however after my tests I'm sure I would have been fine with an aerial just like what you have.

byte

I remember Watty talking about indoor aerials somewhere, and he said to go for more tradional Yagi types if possible.


Of course, where you are with relation to the transmitter is important too.

Koloman

I live in Dublin and have a Panasonic TV which I bought earlier in the year. I bought this aerial in my local Tesco's and it gets all the Irish digital stations on my TV. It's a one for all aerial.

http://direct.tesco.com/product/images/?R=203-3905



It just sits beside the TV and I get perfect reception.

winston_1

The transmitter network is designed with outdoor aerials in mind.
Indoor aerials generally don't work unless you are very near the transmitter. The worst are the ones with a single loop like you bought.

watty

Koloman wrote: »

I live in Dublin and have a Panasonic TV which I bought earlier in the year. I bought this aerial in my local Tesco's and it gets all the Irish digital stations on my TV. It's a one for all aerial.

http://direct.tesco.com/product/images/?R=203-3905



It just sits beside the TV and I get perfect reception.

Overpriced rubbish. Please, NO-ONE buy One-for-all aerials. Boycott their snake oil adverts They should have stuck to making remote controls.

The long rods are for VHF/FM radio, or Analogue Band III RTE in some locations.
The local "euro" store sells one of identical performance for 2 Euro. It gives abysmal pictures on Analogue and slight artefacts at times on Digital as I'm too far from Transmitter.

Any internal (indoor) aerial, especially the "loop + two rods" gives about 1/100th signal , yes 1/100th!, of a typical outdoor aerial. An amplifier does not compensate as it just amplifies indoor interference and noise. I have compared on a professional spectrum analyser that shows the noise level as well as the signal.

If it works it just means you are in a very good signal area. Never ever recommend an indoor aerial unless you have compared it with others in a marginal area for Indoor aerial. Some at €80 are no better at all than €2 models!

The only indoor aerials for Digital worth using are these:
http://www.techtir.ie/radio-tv/uhf-aerials

If a €2 to €12 indoor aerial doesn't work try it in the attic, then try an outdoor aerial in attic, if that fails, then you need an outdoor aerial

bmaxi

I'm surprised the obvious question hasn't been asked. Do you have a tv or box capable of receiving Irish DTT?
I am not an expert but in my experience, in this area there doesn't appear to be an exact science.
I live outside Courtown, Co. Wexford , a notorious blackspot for DTT. We are about 35 miles from the transmitter at Mt. Leinster, which I'm told broadcasts on reduced power to this area. I receive perfect DTT on a much maligned, "One for all" combo indoor aerial, which is positioned behind the TV in a downstairs room.
One thing I have noticed though is that positioning for the aerial is critical, a few inches either way means no reception at all, though I haven't tried it in other rooms.
Sorry if I'm rubbing salt in your wounds but as I said earlier, science is not foolproof.

homer911

This works for me, about 6 inches tall...

bigron2109

Would one of these Indoor aerials pick up the freeview channels from Wales.Im on the coast in Wexford, and ive a digital tunner on the tv..

watty

Not a hope

You need to be able to SEE the transmitter mast for an Indoor aerial to work reliably.


BTW the spike/ 6" rod aerial is vertical polarised. It's about 1/3rd gain of indoor yagi and works as well as a 6" knitting needle in the aerial socket

But for Horizontal polarised transmission it works better stuck sticking out sideways from a metal panel or desk lamp.
Less good than 2 Euro "rabbits ear". I've tested it as well!

Trevord

watty wrote: »

Not a hope

But for Horizontal polarised transmission it works better stuck sticking out sideways from a metal panel or desk lamp.

Or indeed stuck to a radiator as I have found. Watty can you explain why this works? The aerial collect some signal from the object its stuck to because it happens to be magnetic ?

watty

the rod is a Monopole, half a dipole. To work you need a whole dipole. Mounting the monopole on middle of a conductive surface more than 1/2 wave in size ( more than about 30 cm total in all directions) will cause a radio reflection, like a stick on a Mirror, In the case of the mirror you see a 2nd stick "inside" or behind the mirror.

The Radio/TV case is not an analogy. It's a real reflection at the TV frequency, so you have 1/2 a virtual dipole. Hence the rod now acts as a dipole aerial.

So the Rod aerial ONLY works properly on at least 30cm of conductive horizontal (for vertical polarisation) or vertical conductive surface (Horizontal polarisation).

It doesn't need to be magnetic. That's just convenient. The minimum size is related to frequency. At LW it's about 750meter, or nearly 1/2 mile across. The rod would have to be 375m (1/4mile) tall. TV frequencies are more convenient for indoor aerials. At Band III, the RTE Analogue VHF TV the rod would have to be about 45cm (1'6") tall and "reflecting" surface about 90cm (3')

Now you know why "Rabbit's Ears" have TWO rods that pull out to about 45cm!

Sam Russell

Also a rod aerial is a monopole, and so single ended so it does not need a balun.

watty

Though a Balun at UHF is simple. You can even simply coil the coax as tight as spec allows about 4 turns near the aerial, or use 1/4 wave length of Coax, Or PCB in the aerial junction box.

Tom Slick

bmaxi wrote: »

I live outside Courtown, Co. Wexford , a notorious blackspot for DTT. We are about 35 miles from the transmitter at Mt. Leinster . . .

It's more like 25 miles (or less). The transmitter mast is 350ft. AFAIK, on top of a 2000ft. mountain and there's practically no obstruction from there to that part of the coast. Presumably the "blackspot" reputation is caused by co-channel with Wales?

bmaxi

Tom Slick wrote: »

It's more like 25 miles (or less). The transmitter mast is 350ft. AFAIK, on top of a 2000ft. mountain and there's practically no obstruction from there to that part of the coast. Presumably the "blackspot" reputation is caused by co-channel with Wales?

Yes, should be Km. and yes it is because of co-channel with Wales but the powers that be have decided that the tax and licence payers of this part of our island, should be the victims. It's been discussed at length on this forum.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056045506