Re: Aerial advice
- From: Pete Verdon <usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:32:23 +0100
Pete Verdon wrote:
So, any advice on the simplest way to get an acceptable signal into
the back of my freeview box?
Thanks for the advice so far - that was quick!
A lot of it was similar, so rather than reply individually I'll summarise here.
In a way the fact that the aerial is the right group is good, though in another its bad in that it would have been a simple problem to fix. However, if you think it would be worth fitting a better-quality one then I will do that - any recommendations for suppliers?
The aerial is not as close to the metal plate as the picture makes it look in DSCN34871 - there's probably two feet of horizontal space between the frame that the rope is tied to and the one that the plate is part of. Of course, the loft is liberally sprinkled with the plates but none of them are closer than maybe 8 inches - not great, but better than it appeared to whoever thought they might have been touching.
The aerial is indeed bent; I didn't realise this could make such a big difference. But it looks like I'll be replacing it anyway, so I won't bother fixing it just yet.
As for pinpointing my address; yes, I was aware of this, but I'm not especially concerned. This information is already out there, and I don't have any particular reason to hide.
When I fit the new aerial I'll aim to get it bang-on alignment-wise. My living-room telly doesn't have an analogue input, but handily there is a 12" CRT telly stored in the loft right by the aerial so I'll run up an extension lead and use that. I'll try to avoid the complexity of an powering an amplifier - there's no mains in the loft and enough spaghetti already in the living room.
(Speaking of spaghetti, I may not have been entirely clear in my original post. The aerial cable is tangled up with many signal and power cables, but the only actual *connection* is to the freeview box. There's no loop-through anywhere in the system.)
A couple of people suggested a new downlead. I want to avoid this if possible, mostly from an appearance point of view as it would have to be external. I may yet bite the bullet and do it though, as the route is not too difficult. I really don't want to start erecting stuff externally - there's no chimney and it's a hipped roof, so it would have to be a mast (admittedly short) sticking up from the eaves, which would look really ugly in my opinion.
The "furniture rework" wasn't the minor effort of moving stuff, but of replacing the existing with something that wouldn't have all the boxes crammed so tightly together with the resultant spaghetti effect in the small space at the back.
Someone mentioned water pipes and tanks - fortunately there are no such obstacles in my loft as it's a combi system with all the plumbing under the first floor.
For the cable from socket to freeview, any advice on where to get a decent one at a sensible price, rather than the TV equivalent of PC World charging £15 for a USB cable? I can find a cheap one on my own, but I wouldn't know how to ensure I was getting a good (as opposed to expensive, gold-plated, and with manly-looking chunky plugs but technically mediocre) one.
Thanks,
Pete
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