AERIAL?

HAMMERCURRENT

I went to my local electrical supplier to buy a C/D directional aerial, and he said they were selling a Triax aerial (10 euro +vat) that did all the bands, no need to specify the band, is this correct? can one aerial be suitable for all bands?

Thanks.

excollier

Yes, it's called a wideband aerial, but if you are only getting reception from one transmitter, then a single group aerial would be better.

HAMMERCURRENT

aerial.jpg

The aerial that I was shown was like this one, could this be a wide band?

excollier

Most likely, if the plastic caps on each end of the aerial are black, then yes. What you see is also called a "contract" aerial, a cheapie, but good enough in an area with a reasonably strong signal.
FYI colour codes for aerial end caps are:
red - group A
yellow - group B
green - group C/D
black - wideband (i.e. all uhf groups)

HAMMERCURRENT

Thanks for your help!

excollier

No problem.

The Cush

HAMMERCURRENT wrote: »

can one aerial be suitable for all bands?

See page 4 of this RTÉNL document which describes the different aerial groups including wideband and includes the following note regarding the use of wideband aerials

Wideband Aerials may be used effectively in most situations; however, their out-of-band rejection of unwanted signals may not be sufficient in certain circumstances, especially in fringe reception areas. In such instances, and where more gain is required, then the appropriate Group aerial should be used.