Hi there, I am after your advice. We currently have a status 530 directional antenna fitted to our 16 year old caravan, however we are trading it in for a newer model and want to know if we can remove the status 530 from the caravan and what type of patches or covers are there available to cover over with. Obviously I understand that everything would have to be watertight afterwards. What are your recommendations or has anyone done this before?? look forward to your comments. Many Thanks
Status 530 Directional Antenna
- Thread starter TheTravelMan
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Have a look here
http://www.gradeuk.co.uk/products/antennas/status.asp
There is a 185mm circular blanking plug made for the job
http://www.gradeuk.co.uk/products/antennas/status.asp
There is a 185mm circular blanking plug made for the job
Hi,
I have just done the same thing, I bought a blanking plate from my local dealers shop, and mounted the original aerial to it.
From past experience make sure you seal the screw holes as well as the mast hole or water will get in.
spj
I have just done the same thing, I bought a blanking plate from my local dealers shop, and mounted the original aerial to it.
From past experience make sure you seal the screw holes as well as the mast hole or water will get in.
spj
Andrew :
I presently (still) have the Status 315 Omin-Directional Antenna which I find to be hopeless. If you were choosing again, would you recommnd the S530 directional antenna to me?
The fact that GradeUK still market the Status 315 Omnidirectional is curious, seeing as everyone appears to say how useless the product is?!
What's your advice please?
John
I presently (still) have the Status 315 Omin-Directional Antenna which I find to be hopeless. If you were choosing again, would you recommnd the S530 directional antenna to me?
The fact that GradeUK still market the Status 315 Omnidirectional is curious, seeing as everyone appears to say how useless the product is?!
What's your advice please?
John
I have the 530 with amplifier and find I can get good digital and analogue signals at virtually all the 18 locations I have stayed at this year - even better than the signals I got last year with a small unidirectional aerial stuck to the roof of our old van.
If I have had a problem it has been picking up and tuning to a transmitter in a neighbouring region instead of my local region - this weekend I could get all the South West channels as well as the South Wales channels equally well with the aerial pointed in one direction.
Everything was in duplicate and the signals were so close together in strength you could not pick the best one!
Good aerial!
If I have had a problem it has been picking up and tuning to a transmitter in a neighbouring region instead of my local region - this weekend I could get all the South West channels as well as the South Wales channels equally well with the aerial pointed in one direction.
Everything was in duplicate and the signals were so close together in strength you could not pick the best one!
Good aerial!
Hi Garry (thought you might 'pop up' on this one!)
When you arrive on site; I suppose you just look at the direction of other aerials and then fine tuen from there? or are your more scientific, using a compass to point directly towards a known transmitter?
BTW Garry; I still have this problem @ home. On Freeview I get 68% signal strength on C5 and also BBC radio stations with 100% quality. Suddenly the quality will drop to 40% and then to zero whilst the signal strength remains steady on 68%. A few minutes later, it bouces back to normal; until the next time a few minutes or hours later. Have you any thoughts on what I should do?
John
When you arrive on site; I suppose you just look at the direction of other aerials and then fine tuen from there? or are your more scientific, using a compass to point directly towards a known transmitter?
BTW Garry; I still have this problem @ home. On Freeview I get 68% signal strength on C5 and also BBC radio stations with 100% quality. Suddenly the quality will drop to 40% and then to zero whilst the signal strength remains steady on 68%. A few minutes later, it bouces back to normal; until the next time a few minutes or hours later. Have you any thoughts on what I should do?
John
Signal strength and signal quality are two very different things. Signal strength can be increased by use of an amplifier but the amplifier will also increase any noise so reducing the signal quality. Signal quality can only be improved by a larger, more directional aerial.
Freeview (Digital Terrestrial Television) is very dependent on signal QUALITY.
It's estimated that 65-75% of campsites in the UK WON'T be able to receive digital TV through a caravan mounted aerial when the analogue switch off takes place, region by region 2008-11.
Freeview (Digital Terrestrial Television) is very dependent on signal QUALITY.
It's estimated that 65-75% of campsites in the UK WON'T be able to receive digital TV through a caravan mounted aerial when the analogue switch off takes place, region by region 2008-11.
Roger L
I hear what you say, but I am not getting the answer to my question. Using an amplifier, I get 100% QUALITY and 68% signal strength. Then suddenly, and for no obvious reason, the QUALITY drops like stone; whilst the signal strength remains. Just as suddenly it returns back to normal some minutes later. This ONLY happens on Freeview C5 (TV) and Freeview radio stations. I can watch BBC and ITV stations all day and remain on 100% QIALITY and (in this case) 62% signal strength. As I say, what's going on and what can I do about it? The aerial engineer was "flumoxed" (technical term!).
John
I hear what you say, but I am not getting the answer to my question. Using an amplifier, I get 100% QUALITY and 68% signal strength. Then suddenly, and for no obvious reason, the QUALITY drops like stone; whilst the signal strength remains. Just as suddenly it returns back to normal some minutes later. This ONLY happens on Freeview C5 (TV) and Freeview radio stations. I can watch BBC and ITV stations all day and remain on 100% QIALITY and (in this case) 62% signal strength. As I say, what's going on and what can I do about it? The aerial engineer was "flumoxed" (technical term!).
John
John.I.S.
Hello again
I look at fixed house aerials sometimes for a clue but I normally do as below and it gets the best signal from a particular transmitter every time.
I do a scan with amp on high and the aerial in the straight ahead position (or as above)and usually get at least a weak signal on one or two channels, if not I move it 90 deg and try again until I get one.
I then turn the aerial for the strongest signal on that channel and rescan, if some channels are weak I pick one of those and turn the aerial in very small movements for best reception on that channel.
I usually do another scan now just to see if any other channels have been added but rarely get any more
You can then see if lower amp power will suffice.
You may have to try another direction if signals still weak but remember roughly where you were in case there is not a better transmitter in reach.
I have had 40 channels on freeview and had the bloke in the next van saying his wife is moaning beacouse they can not get Eastenders on an analogue reciever with aerial on a pole.
Personally Eastenders is the reason I sometimes never put the aerial up!
re. home
This might sound like a silly question but is there a moving obstruction in front of the aerial or even the possibility of an animal/bird sitting directly in front of it?
Does your neighbour get the same problems?
Roger L
My experience in the SW at present is that there is much better coverage than 65-75% and that should improve when they turn analogue off, I am sure there will be small areas that lose all reception at that time however.
Hello again
I look at fixed house aerials sometimes for a clue but I normally do as below and it gets the best signal from a particular transmitter every time.
I do a scan with amp on high and the aerial in the straight ahead position (or as above)and usually get at least a weak signal on one or two channels, if not I move it 90 deg and try again until I get one.
I then turn the aerial for the strongest signal on that channel and rescan, if some channels are weak I pick one of those and turn the aerial in very small movements for best reception on that channel.
I usually do another scan now just to see if any other channels have been added but rarely get any more
You can then see if lower amp power will suffice.
You may have to try another direction if signals still weak but remember roughly where you were in case there is not a better transmitter in reach.
I have had 40 channels on freeview and had the bloke in the next van saying his wife is moaning beacouse they can not get Eastenders on an analogue reciever with aerial on a pole.
Personally Eastenders is the reason I sometimes never put the aerial up!
re. home
This might sound like a silly question but is there a moving obstruction in front of the aerial or even the possibility of an animal/bird sitting directly in front of it?
Does your neighbour get the same problems?
Roger L
My experience in the SW at present is that there is much better coverage than 65-75% and that should improve when they turn analogue off, I am sure there will be small areas that lose all reception at that time however.
Hello Garry :
Noted about what to do 'on site'; I'll do as you say.
Re: Home. We live on the lee side of a small hill; therefore directly in line with our aerial is another house about 150 yards away. The only moving obstruction would be (say) a car driving down the raod (1 in 10 incline) but again, this is 100+ yards away - in the same direction as the aerial is pointing as it happens. We do have birds that often perch on the aerial; but this problem happens day and night and normally the birds aren't 'around' at night.
Any closer?
Noted about what to do 'on site'; I'll do as you say.
Re: Home. We live on the lee side of a small hill; therefore directly in line with our aerial is another house about 150 yards away. The only moving obstruction would be (say) a car driving down the raod (1 in 10 incline) but again, this is 100+ yards away - in the same direction as the aerial is pointing as it happens. We do have birds that often perch on the aerial; but this problem happens day and night and normally the birds aren't 'around' at night.
Any closer?
In that case try waiting for a lorry or bus on that road and watch your signal while it drives past. I am assuming the aerial is pointing at clear space around the side of or on top of the hill - it would only affect the signal if the vehicle obstructs the line of sight towards the transmitter.
If this is the problem you will have to consider resiting the aerial or using a longer pole.
Birds perching on the aerial is not normally a problem but a cat sat on a chimney a few feet away could be a problem.
If this is the problem you will have to consider resiting the aerial or using a longer pole.
Birds perching on the aerial is not normally a problem but a cat sat on a chimney a few feet away could be a problem.
I meant to add this
If there was an obstruction for a short period the loss of quality could take slightly longer as the box recognises or locks onto the signal again.
If there was an obstruction for a short period the loss of quality could take slightly longer as the box recognises or locks onto the signal again.
Garry - there's a lot of the UK north of Bristol!
Digital penetration figures, driven by Whitehall, are aimed at centres of population so that the analogue can be turned off when 90% of the population can get digital. That'll cover the cities and towns well but does little for rural areas where many campsites are located. The official digital reception predictors are based on a roof-top (10m high) external directional aerial. Digital reception depends much more on line of sight than analogue. Most caravanners are limited to a 2.5m high aerial which will put a lot of sites out of line of sight of the transmitter for digital, even if they currently enjoy reasonable analogue reception.
Caravanners investing in equipment to receive digital tv may be wasting their money, depending on the sites they like to go to. A portable satellite system may well be a better investment in the long run.
John - Channel 5 doesn't always use the same transmitter mast as Ch 1-4 so the direction of your aerial may be degrading the Ch 5 signal. For example we live close to the Lichfield (Ch 5)and Sutton Coldfield (Ch 1-4) transmitters, so close they're about 45 degrees apart. We can get digital on 1-4 perfectly but our Ch 5 reception is only moderate. Unlike yours, my IDTV only give signal strength readings, not quality.
Digital penetration figures, driven by Whitehall, are aimed at centres of population so that the analogue can be turned off when 90% of the population can get digital. That'll cover the cities and towns well but does little for rural areas where many campsites are located. The official digital reception predictors are based on a roof-top (10m high) external directional aerial. Digital reception depends much more on line of sight than analogue. Most caravanners are limited to a 2.5m high aerial which will put a lot of sites out of line of sight of the transmitter for digital, even if they currently enjoy reasonable analogue reception.
Caravanners investing in equipment to receive digital tv may be wasting their money, depending on the sites they like to go to. A portable satellite system may well be a better investment in the long run.
John - Channel 5 doesn't always use the same transmitter mast as Ch 1-4 so the direction of your aerial may be degrading the Ch 5 signal. For example we live close to the Lichfield (Ch 5)and Sutton Coldfield (Ch 1-4) transmitters, so close they're about 45 degrees apart. We can get digital on 1-4 perfectly but our Ch 5 reception is only moderate. Unlike yours, my IDTV only give signal strength readings, not quality.
Roger
Agreed, my observations with this aerial and TV setup are limited to the Sout West peninsula from the Cotswolds south and Longleat (not the CC site) west down to the Newquay area - but this covers a lot of transmitters and landscape.
I can not think of a site where I failed to get digital reception and I use the Status 530 which would sit at appx 2.5M.
On some occasions I would get some pixellation on the weaker channels but I always got the more popular cannels OK.
If I switched to analogue I got a grainy picture, so I would have said the digital reception was better than the analogue reception.
I probably have been lucky but I think that it will not be quite as much of a problem as you think when they switch to full power.
There were links to websites on the other thread showing what stations are transmitted on what transmitters and muxes and I think John confirmed that his were all on the same TXer.
CH4 and CH5 are not available on Freesat at present.
I do use a satellite as well on the longer stays for the extra channels.
Agreed, my observations with this aerial and TV setup are limited to the Sout West peninsula from the Cotswolds south and Longleat (not the CC site) west down to the Newquay area - but this covers a lot of transmitters and landscape.
I can not think of a site where I failed to get digital reception and I use the Status 530 which would sit at appx 2.5M.
On some occasions I would get some pixellation on the weaker channels but I always got the more popular cannels OK.
If I switched to analogue I got a grainy picture, so I would have said the digital reception was better than the analogue reception.
I probably have been lucky but I think that it will not be quite as much of a problem as you think when they switch to full power.
There were links to websites on the other thread showing what stations are transmitted on what transmitters and muxes and I think John confirmed that his were all on the same TXer.
CH4 and CH5 are not available on Freesat at present.
I do use a satellite as well on the longer stays for the extra channels.
Garry :
I replied from the office; when home I noticed that the aerial easily beams above the nearest house 150 yards away. Any traffic coming down the road is well below the level of the aerial; so this is cannot be the source of my problem.
Roger L:
Yes agreed; but it's not JUST Ch5; it's the radio channels too; as I say, on TV BBC and ITV are perfect; Ch5 is the rogue. On the radio, BBC R1-4 can all succumb to the drop out problem.
Where can I take this now ?? Thoughts?
John
I replied from the office; when home I noticed that the aerial easily beams above the nearest house 150 yards away. Any traffic coming down the road is well below the level of the aerial; so this is cannot be the source of my problem.
Roger L:
Yes agreed; but it's not JUST Ch5; it's the radio channels too; as I say, on TV BBC and ITV are perfect; Ch5 is the rogue. On the radio, BBC R1-4 can all succumb to the drop out problem.
Where can I take this now ?? Thoughts?
John
Hi John, I don't have any experience myself with the Omni-directional antenna, i'm purely going from recommendations and advice from other people regarding how rubbish this antenna is unless you are in a very strong reception area. I have found the status 530 great hence my reason to keep it and move onto my next caravan. Hope this helps, I know this thread seems to of took off with various advice since my original message . Cheers! Andrew.
Andrew
Apologies for the temporary diversion
JIS
Have you confirmed that your neighbour has the same problem.
The road could still be the cause if the vehicles caused the signal to drop enough for the reciever to lose it, I would still look out for a large vehicle and watch what the signal indicator does - alternatively wait for the signal to drop and rush out to see if you can see what caused it.
If your neighbour has the same problem and it is not caused by temporary obstructions about the only thing left would be atmospheric changes in which case you should be able to detect changes from say a thundery night to a starlit night, however the vast majority of the power of UHF/VHF is passed in line of sight so you are more than likely in a borderline reception area and will have to wait for full power.
By the way there is a podcast for the gadget show on
http://gadgetshow.five.tv/index.htm
Apologies for the temporary diversion
JIS
Have you confirmed that your neighbour has the same problem.
The road could still be the cause if the vehicles caused the signal to drop enough for the reciever to lose it, I would still look out for a large vehicle and watch what the signal indicator does - alternatively wait for the signal to drop and rush out to see if you can see what caused it.
If your neighbour has the same problem and it is not caused by temporary obstructions about the only thing left would be atmospheric changes in which case you should be able to detect changes from say a thundery night to a starlit night, however the vast majority of the power of UHF/VHF is passed in line of sight so you are more than likely in a borderline reception area and will have to wait for full power.
By the way there is a podcast for the gadget show on
http://gadgetshow.five.tv/index.htm
Yes Apologies Andrew for sabotaging the original thread. Hope you got what you needed.
Garry; to be hinest it really can't be a vehicle; we get so very few down our (cul de sac) road and they are round the ned and way out of 'view' of the aerial within a second or so.
I am just wondering whether any other electrical interference could possibly do it. A microwave over perhaps (1-2 mins interference; almost always during the Gadget show on C5 between 7:15 and 8pm). But if so, whose - not ours certainly. What other interference would still allow 68% signal strength and yet zap the quality ????
Garry; if you have any other thoughts, plase email me on john.stephen@10glebelands.com as I feel I am hogging the thread and Mr Mod may get miffed !
John
Garry; to be hinest it really can't be a vehicle; we get so very few down our (cul de sac) road and they are round the ned and way out of 'view' of the aerial within a second or so.
I am just wondering whether any other electrical interference could possibly do it. A microwave over perhaps (1-2 mins interference; almost always during the Gadget show on C5 between 7:15 and 8pm). But if so, whose - not ours certainly. What other interference would still allow 68% signal strength and yet zap the quality ????
Garry; if you have any other thoughts, plase email me on john.stephen@10glebelands.com as I feel I am hogging the thread and Mr Mod may get miffed !
John
Hi John,
The problem of acceptable signal strength and yet poor signal quality can probably be laid at the door of multi-path distortion.
Multi-path means more than one signal route to the aerial - like the signal being reflected from a metal object (car or van roof) or a tall building.
And it doesn't necessarily need to be in-front of the aerial - back reflection of the signal can be an issue with directional aerials that don't have a good ground plane behind the receiving elements - a household aerial has a set of "vertical" aerial elements at the back of the aerial - caravan directional aerials often don't - and work backwards almost as well as forwards.
The signal strength will stay high (but could be reduced) but the information in the signal is overlaid by a time-shifted version (from the different propagation route) of the signal - and now you have two competing, similar strength images - so the quality drops to zero.
Turning the aerial slightly may fix the issue - sure the main signal will reduce, but it cuts the multi-path signal faster.
As a final rider, if you have a signal amplifier in-between the aerial and the TV, then the signal strength could always be high - it's been boosted by the amplifier to a fairly consistent level - but the quality can be crap - you've amplified the noise by the same amount - and amplified any multi-path distortion.
Robert
The problem of acceptable signal strength and yet poor signal quality can probably be laid at the door of multi-path distortion.
Multi-path means more than one signal route to the aerial - like the signal being reflected from a metal object (car or van roof) or a tall building.
And it doesn't necessarily need to be in-front of the aerial - back reflection of the signal can be an issue with directional aerials that don't have a good ground plane behind the receiving elements - a household aerial has a set of "vertical" aerial elements at the back of the aerial - caravan directional aerials often don't - and work backwards almost as well as forwards.
The signal strength will stay high (but could be reduced) but the information in the signal is overlaid by a time-shifted version (from the different propagation route) of the signal - and now you have two competing, similar strength images - so the quality drops to zero.
Turning the aerial slightly may fix the issue - sure the main signal will reduce, but it cuts the multi-path signal faster.
As a final rider, if you have a signal amplifier in-between the aerial and the TV, then the signal strength could always be high - it's been boosted by the amplifier to a fairly consistent level - but the quality can be crap - you've amplified the noise by the same amount - and amplified any multi-path distortion.
Robert
Thank you Robert; I shall mutter 'multi-path distortion' to my aerial engineer when he comes to replace the aerial with a new (high gain) aerial next week!
I am not aware of how we could be receiving any reflected signals as we have no tall buildings etc anywhere near us; however....
A new aerial properly setup, with decent co-ax has got to be the best place to start; after all my current setup is about 20 years old...
Point taken regarding the aerial amplifier! Thanks very much for this.
John
I am not aware of how we could be receiving any reflected signals as we have no tall buildings etc anywhere near us; however....
A new aerial properly setup, with decent co-ax has got to be the best place to start; after all my current setup is about 20 years old...
Point taken regarding the aerial amplifier! Thanks very much for this.
John
John,
When you see this problem of vanishing signal quality - do you live near an airport?
Aircraft make great reflectors of TV signals - before we upgraded our house TV aerial to a more directional model - we could see when an aircraft was flying close-by
Robert
When you see this problem of vanishing signal quality - do you live near an airport?
Aircraft make great reflectors of TV signals - before we upgraded our house TV aerial to a more directional model - we could see when an aircraft was flying close-by
Robert
Robert :
Well no, we are nowhere near an airport; HOWEVER, when Gatwick is busy, we get planes stacking / using this area as a flight path. Sometimes the planes are noisy (in comparison to the normal peace of and quiet of this rural area) but surely the planes are a few thousand feet high - even when 'coming in' towards Gatwick which is some 22 miles away (as the crow flies)?
But Robert; we are only talking about Freeview C5 and the radio channels; this is surely a frequency issue? (Happy to take this awat from the PC forum : john.stephen@10glebelands.com )
Thanks; John
Well no, we are nowhere near an airport; HOWEVER, when Gatwick is busy, we get planes stacking / using this area as a flight path. Sometimes the planes are noisy (in comparison to the normal peace of and quiet of this rural area) but surely the planes are a few thousand feet high - even when 'coming in' towards Gatwick which is some 22 miles away (as the crow flies)?
But Robert; we are only talking about Freeview C5 and the radio channels; this is surely a frequency issue? (Happy to take this awat from the PC forum : john.stephen@10glebelands.com )
Thanks; John
I agree with what Rob has said, I would have thought, however if there wer a problem with reflected or duplicated signals this might affect everything and would also be visible as "ghosting" on the analogue channels.
I was under the impression you had replaced the aerial and co-ax.
I will e-mail John so we can continue off forum if necessary.
I was under the impression you had replaced the aerial and co-ax.
I will e-mail John so we can continue off forum if necessary.
I now have a new aerial; a 52 element high gain 'digital;' aerial. The first thing to be said is that, I am no longer using the signal amplifier at all. The aerial installers reckoned that it would provide too much signal and that it wasn't required. So now I have 58%-62% signal strength and 100% quality. This is across both BBC, ITV and C5 frequencies. So far (and it's only been 24 hours), the signal quality has remained rock solid. Let's hope it continues.
Thanks for your valuable help; especially Garry and John G. Now; the next project (next month) is replacing the silly (useless) Status Omni with a directional aerial !
John
Thanks for your valuable help; especially Garry and John G. Now; the next project (next month) is replacing the silly (useless) Status Omni with a directional aerial !
John
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