UHF or VHF Antenna?

Sir Osis of Liver.

Hello.
I have an antenna on my roof which hasn't been used in a while.
If it's a uhf antenna I'd like to hook it up to my new tv with built in Saorview,with a view to getting rid of Sky.
I had a 2nd aerial on my roof that blew down during a storm a few years ago.Can any of ye tell by looking at the pic if it's capable of picking up the Irish terrestrial channels AERIAL.jpg

steveon

Sir Osis of Liver. wrote: »

Hello.
I have an antenna on my roof which hasn't been used in a while.
If it's a uhf antenna I'd like to hook it up to my new tv with built in Saorview,with a view to getting rid of Sky.
I had a 2nd aerial on my roof that blew down during a storm a few years ago.Can any of ye tell by looking at the pic if it's capable of picking up the Irish terrestrial channels AERIAL.jpg

That is indeed a UHF Aerial, however it looks from a pic there is something like a masthead amp hanging from the cable, which will need a power supply to power up and provide a picture. The cable is also loose so its possible the box will be full of water, best to replace the cable minus the mast head and it could possibly work.

The Cush

Sir Osis of Liver. wrote: »

Hello.
I have an antenna on my roof which hasn't been used in a while.
If it's a uhf antenna I'd like to hook it up to my new tv with built in Saorview,with a view to getting rid of Sky.
I had a 2nd aerial on my roof that blew down during a storm a few years ago.Can any of ye tell by looking at the pic if it's capable of picking up the Irish terrestrial channels AERIAL.jpg

That's a wideband UHF grid aerial, vertically polarised.

Use the Saorview coverage checker to see if the aerial is pointing at an existing transmitter and correctly polarised.

Sir Osis of Liver.

It seems to be pointed towards Mount Leinster(approx. 50 km).
I'll test and replace the cable if necessary so and I should be good to go.
Thanks lads.

The Cush

Sir Osis of Liver. wrote: »

It seems to be pointed towards Mount Leinster(approx. 50 km).
I'll test and replace the cable if necessary so and I should be good to go.

That aerial is vertically polarised so it was either pointing at a transmitter other than Mt Leinster or incorrectly oriented for Mt Leinster. That transmitter uses horizontal polarisation for Saorview as it did for UHF analogue TV previously.

If you're going to replace the cable I'd suggest going one step further and replace the aerial also with an in-group aerial for Mt Leinster or the transmitter recommended for your location by the Saorview Coverage Checker. That existing aerial could be up there a while, up to 20 years and co-located with a VHF I assume, until it fell down. As it's an old full wideband aerial it could be susceptible to 4G mobile interference from any nearby mobile base station as it reception range now overlaps with these new mobile frequencies. A new aerial will set you back less than €20 and could save a bit of hassle if it too fell down due to age/corrosion etc.

steveon wrote: »

however it looks from a pic there is something like a masthead amp hanging from the cable, which will need a power supply to power up and provide a picture.

Could also be a VHF/UHF aerial combiner or combiner/masthead amp for the second aerial that fell down previously, had similar setup myself. With a correctly installed aerial pointing at a hi-power Saorview transmitter a masthead amp should no longer be required.

Antenna

The Cush wrote: »

That aerial is vertically polarised so it was either pointing at a transmitter other than Mt Leinster or incorrectly oriented for Mt Leinster. That transmitter uses horizontal polarisation for Saorview as it did for UHF analogue TV previously.

It was probably originally installed for a now defunct 'deflector' service which provided UK channels in times past.
If locality was known someone could comment on this and also if Mt Leinster is best transmitter (or another one)

As you have said the aerial would need to be horizontal polarised if for Mt Leinster, so for that type of aerial :

X
X
X
X

instead of

X X X X

Sir Osis of Liver.

Antenna wrote: »

It was probably originally installed for a now defunct 'deflector' service which provided UK channels in times past.
If locality was known someone could comment on this and also if Mt Leinster is best transmitter (or another one)

As you have said the aerial would need to be horizontal polarised if for Mt Leinster, so for that type of aerial :

X
X
X
X

instead of

X X X X

Yes,it was for a deflector service.I'm in South Tipperary/Waterford area.