Tv aerial direction
Hi All
Recently new to Motor Homing and am at a loss as to how when on site apart from looking at every one else's aerial direction is there a fool proof really cool way to get the right direction first time every time ( trees and buildings excepted of course )
Thanks in advance Ian
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Thanks that's great that hadn't crossed my mind at all
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Before we visit a campsite I check on the Freeview transmitter website and make a note which compass direction I need to point my aerial. https://ukfree.tv/maps/freeview
This has worked every time as you can often find two masts within range in case your first choice is not perfect.
Colin
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Don't forget to check is it's vertical or horizontal as this can lead to a weaker signal as stated there are several phone apps that give you a list of local transmitters plus their signal strength, compass direction and polarisation and of course a compass
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I just use a signal finder.This plugs into the aerial outlet fascia plate,with the aerial lead,and a series of lights illuminate to the strength of the signal,when rotating the aerial pole.
Got mine from Maplins so it goes to show how old it is.Available on line from Amazon ect.
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FreePoint2 is an Android app that has all caravan club sites in is database. Find it on Google Play.
My TV amplifier has a signal strength meter, you might be able to replace your amp with a different model such as this
https://visionplus.co.uk/product/digital-tv-amplifier-with-signal-finder-vp5/
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I have just installed one of those and whilst I have managed to get a signal on the TV I have yet to have the light change from anything but Red!!! I have had to revert to seeing where others point theirs or I use the App on my phone.
David
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I have FreePoint on my phone. I found this to be the best of a poor bunch when it came to an app. I also have a compass to assist. I also have an amplifier like the one linked above (this came standard with the van). I find the app is very hit and miss and often (usually) have to supplement this by looking at other aerials on the site. But this can be a bit of a joke as every aerial seems to be pointing in a different direction. Some are vertical some horizontal and directed at almost every point of the compass. Of course, an added problem is that, nowadays, many don't have an aerial, relying instead on more sophisticated viewing options in the form of satellite, which, speaking personally, I have never thought worthy of the outlay.
In all my years of motor homing, for me, getting a TV signal remains by far and away the single most frustrating and difficult part of setting up. Aside from the advent of phone apps, it is one area where not much has changed. There has been the odd occasion where I have given up after a couple of goes at getting a decent signal. I did so recently at Poolsbrook where I could not get a watchable signal at all - though others clearly had. I rely a lot on DVDs anyway, and keep abreast of current events on the radio or on the net. As I motorhome on my own, some televisual entertainment is important to me. I am not one of those that pooh-poohs watching TV when away in my van. If I can get good reception, I will make use of it.
Anyway, apologies as this is not much help to the OP. I find FreePoint sometimes gives me the answer so you could try that. I tried other apps, but they were worse.
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we were on a small CL a few years ago & my amplifier, like DK linked to, just showed red which ever way it was pointed. As there was next to no phone or 4G signal I resigned myself to no telly either. Then talking to a neighbour the next day, he said he'd got most stations on his telly. So after pointing my aerial in the general direction of his (that sounds rude!🙄) I got most stations too. Sometimes aerial direction, as GrayJ says, is hit & miss.
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I have the POIs for all the main transmitters and the repeater stations loaded into my digital Memory Maps and on the rare occacsions I bother with terrestial TV I get a bearing from the maps. I can also get a pretty good idea of what reception will be like from the distance away and the path profile. Of course another way of watching live TV is to use the internet which I do on one particular CS which has no TV reception either satellite or terrestial but has a useable mobile data signal.
The majority of main transmitters, if not all, are horizontally polarised and repeaters are vertically polarised
peedee
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Ian, you don't say how old your motorhome is or what make but my 2015 Lunar caravan has a built in aerial amplifier which has an indicator light in it. You turn the aerial until the light goes to green, or at worst amber,. The aerial should then be pointing the right way. I believe this is an item that is readily available to buy and easy to install.
One thing that the caravan booster won't tell me, though, is whether the nearest transmitter aerial is a booster or main transmitter. If it is a booster, (sometimes found in hilly areas with deep valleys), then the aerial on your MH needs to be turned to vertical. I acquired a list several years ago that gave all the transmitter locations across the UK and their orientation. It was quite useful at the time I got it but I rarely need to use this these days as I think the transmitters have got better. I guess the list has been updated in the years since I acquired it.
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David. Very odd. I have had two in recent vans and both have worked fine.
The light changes colour depending on the signal strength and in response to the amplifier strength attenuator dial.
Do you think that yours is faulty? Could you try it on a different ariel set up?
Simon
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When you clever lot, including the OP (!), have decided which are the best, most successful signal finders then will you please go to my beloved Altnahara & erect a post with an arrow on it pointing the way, please, please, pretty please.
Grumpy
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Hard luck ABM, there just isn't a viable terrestial TV signal at this site. You will need satellite TV because there probaly isn't a mobile signal either but you knew that. The nearest transmitter, a repeater is 14 miles away but it is not line of sight and in any case its output probably only serves the local community around Ben Tongue where it is located
peedee
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I think I am going to try Fozzie's idea of checking the signal on the Avtex. So find the the channels via the aerial and then check the signal strength.
I have been half thinking of going down the route of a small satellite system as a backup, especially as the Avtex has a built in satellite receiver.
David
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The location of the transmitter is irrelevant to me. I have 'Harry Potter's wand' on the roof angled back at about 70 degrees. Any directional adjustment would involve driving in circles. I'm on my fifth stop on this trip and only one has had a viable TV signal.
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Just be grateful you dont have the Avtex Stick aerial. It is useless in most areas despite the rubbish Avtex came out with when people tried to use it and found it was as useful as a chocolate fire guard.
Now use satellite instead
I know where Id like to stick their rubbish 'aerial' ....
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Trini,
I'm guessing you do not mean the Avtex suction coat hanger type aerial I use with ny Avtex TV.
Perhaps I'm lucky, last year we used ours up on the Northumberland coast across to Stirling, and through various locations in Wales, Somerset, Dorset and Devon without a problem. All I did was check and make a note of the transmitter locations and on arrival sucker the thing to the window pointing in that direction.
No apps, no flashing lights. If the signal is there it gets it first time.
I do appreciate if a signal is not there then a dish is the way to go. We used a Snipe 2 when abroad, an excellent bit of kit that punches above it's size, but I've just sold it as it was lying unused.
Colin
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We use an Avtex tv and it still has trouble finding stations. A couple of weeks agon we were near Kings Lynn were it 'found' some 16 tv channles all of which were heavily pixellated at various times of the day and it never picked up and BBC stations at all.
We tried it with the fitted booster and without .No change.
We have at times added in another booster finding that can help. We changed the fitted booster buying one from Avtex finding when it arrived it was identical in everyway to the different make already in the van.
Even tried it feeding directly from the aerial to the tv without any improvementand similar performance around many sites.
Not surprising this type of aerial has a short life soon to be replaced with ones fit for purpose
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I found this Ofcom web site which shows the coverage of the UK Freeview transmitters and you will see that alas there is no blanket coverage due to the terrain
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Oh dear , Trini, I'm so glad it's a Thursday and not a Sunday 