TV Aerial

[Gafferbill]

I know there are many different types of caravan TV aerial either fitted by the caravan manufacturer or added by an owner.
I have always used a Sky satellite system on my caravan with the dish mounted on a mast or tripod and I was using this system long before the UK terrestrial digital switch over.
I recently purchased a terrestrial system for UK use because of ease of set up and the aerials ability to cope with obstructions.
I have been on pitches where it was not possible to get a signal with a satellite system due to an obstruction.

..........anyway if you use a mast system I would recommend this digital aerial.

The aerial is compact......copes with medium signal areas ......good price......snaps together or apart with no tools needed.

 

[RogerL]

For terrestrial TV reception in a caravan, it's the mast that's most important - height is everything.

I've only been on one site where we couldn't get a good satellite signal - it was my own fault for pitching too close to trees and forgetting that the elevation is very low in Scotland.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Gafferbill

That aerial looks to be rather an overkill. hmy:

 

[RogerL]

The simple "log periodic" aerial that's used in most caravan kits, as well as the Status directional aerials is really only suitable for strong signal areas - the main reason they're popular among caravanners is that they're compact.

The sort used by Gafferbill will get better signals outside the strongest signal areas.

I use Wolfbane DTV signal predictor http://www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe? where you change the type to DX and the mast height to 3 metres and enter a postcode or OS grid reference and it gives the predicted signal level at that point for each of the transmitters within range, the polarity, horizontal or vertical, the compass bearing and the suggested type of aerial needed - anything other than set-top or log periodic will show up the deficiencies in normal caravan aerials.

 

[Gafferbill]

That aerial looks to be rather an overkill. hmy:

.......not really Graham, it is only 62 cms total length and that is good for medium power/gain digital aerial.
Medium power/gain is in itself a caravan compromise as a high power/gain aerial would be at least twice as long and that might be classed as overkill.
This particular aerial has snap together fixings and can be flat packed in a few minutes for easy storage.
My OP was aimed at caravanners who have found their manufacturer fit TV aerial wanting and have resorted to a mast based system.

 

[Dustydog]

Gafferbill

That aerial looks to be rather an overkill. hmy:

But Sir WC our Sir Gafferbill carries scaffold type poles which be mounts on his A frame. I suspect his caravan's own built in aerial doesn't perform as well as ours.

 

[Gafferbill]

.......quite right Alan!

My caravan pre dates the almost universal fitment of Status Aerials......thank goodness
..........so it hasn't got a poorly performing inbuilt system to lugg around unnecessarily

I have had my Sky system working well from anywhere way up in the Arctic circle in Norway to the Mediterranean coast of Spain........sometimes with a 1 meter dish if needed.........hence the scaffold type pole to support those sizes of dish.
The recently purchased digital aerial is another string to my bow!

BTW ..........for scaffold type pole read lightweight aluminium tubing that does not move or blow over regardless of the size of dish

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

On our previous vans, if we couldn't get a signal on the disk aerial, we used an external simple log periodic aerial. It is a Vision Plus, 53 cm overall length and has 7 pairs of elements. It was on a 1m pole fixed on the off-side with clamps between the awning rail and the top window hinge rail. We were lucky, as the only time we couldn't get a signal we were on sites with TV feed on the EHU bollards.

 

[RogerL]

On our previous vans, if we couldn't get a signal on the disk aerial, we used an external simple log periodic aerial. It is a Vision Plus, 53 cm overall length and has 7 pairs of elements. It was on a 1m pole fixed on the off-side with clamps between the awning rail and the top window hinge rail. We were lucky, as the only time we couldn't get a signal we were on sites with TV feed on the EHU bollards.

That sort of log periodic is very similar to that enclosed in the more recent Status directional aerials, which have built-in amplifiers.

Like many things, it depends where your caravanning is done, ie how near to good transmitters and what the intervening terrain is.

 

[Woody3]

We've had this before, but there ain't no such thing as a DIGITAL aerial. All aerials will receive a TV signal whether it is analogue, digital, or chocolate! You don't need to get one that is '4G ready' either - if you do have problems with interference from a 4G signal you would be better off with an external filter (cost less than a tenner.)

What you do need to ensure is that the aerial is wideband so that it will work with any transmitter frequency. As already mentioned a log periodic is much the best. It perhaps has a tad less gain than the multibeam pictured in a previous submission but it is far less sensitive to signals that are not coming from the direction in which it is pointed, i.e. reflections.

 

[RogerL]

We've had this before, but there ain't no such thing as a DIGITAL aerial. All aerials will receive a TV signal whether it is analogue, digital, or chocolate! You don't need to get one that is '4G ready' either - if you do have problems with interference from a 4G signal you would be better off with an external filter (cost less than a tenner.)

What you do need to ensure is that the aerial is wideband so that it will work with any transmitter frequency. As already mentioned a log periodic is much the best. It perhaps has a tad less gain than the multibeam pictured in a previous submission but it is far less sensitive to signals that are not coming from the direction in which it is pointed, i.e. reflections.

You're the first in this thread to mention digital aerial - but agree there's no such thing.

Log periodic isn't "much the best" - it's good at rejecting unwanted signals and good in a strong signal area - but poor in a medium signal area and unsuitable in a weak signal area.

 

[Woody3]

Er, no I'm not. I was responding to entry 392268 which DOES mention a digital aerial.

 

[RogerL]

Er, no I'm not. I was responding to entry 392268 which DOES mention a digital aerial.

Ooops, missed that - sorry!

 

[Gafferbill]

Sorry Woody 3............I thought it would now be OK to use the term Digital TV aerial as I understood that was the only type of terrestrial TV signal available in the UK.

This chocolate TV service ......is it analogue as I have never heard of it before?
If it is then the aerial highlighted in my OP should pick up the analogue signal as you rightly say.