Portable digital TV roof aerial, any good?
Hi, we have a satellite system but I was looking online and I saw a digital TV roof aerial, its £25, its 5 inches tall & has a magnetic base to attach to the top of caravan, but has anyone tried one? It has really good reviews. Would be a lot easier than my satellite system to set up.
Thanks
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It would help to know the aerial you are referring to, probably no better than the one on your caravan unless its a very old van.A magnetic base will be useless on a caravan as the roof will be either plastic or alloy.
A lot of club sites provide an aerial outlet on the pitch bollard.
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I assume you don't also have a roof mounted aerial? I don't know the portable one you are referring to but being magnetic might not be any good as most caravans have either alloy or fibreglass roofs? One I am happen to suggest is the Avtex STH 3000 which has a suction base so can be stuck on the side of the van. They are easier if you have an Avtex TV as its powered through the aerial connection. With a non Avtex TV it requires a 12v supply. We got it as a back up to our then automatic satellite dish.
David
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If it works in a similar manner to the whip aerial on our MH it should provide reasonable reception. If it’s sold specifically for caravans it’s more likely to be a suction mount. The one on our van is boosted by an electrical charge fed along the aerial cable by the TV. So it does require a TV such as an Avtex that is capable of this. So worth checking it has this feature and your TV can supply the current. If it’s not boosted in anyway, then I would doubt it would be very good in all but very strong signal areas. We find ours provides a similar quality signal to the directional status aerial we had on our last van. Based on using it on the same sites.
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Its on amazon, its called portable digital roof aerial magnetic mount for caravan, motorhome, boat, car, freeview and dab antenna. Its priced at 24.99 and has good reviews. I have a satellite system but thought this might be easier ?? Getting back into all this after a few years away, its changed so much.
Will be going to CL sites
Thanks all
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Is this the one?
If so, you need to check if your caravan roof is definitely magnetic, and I doubt it. It is an omni directional aerial while uni directional are generally more successful at picking up signals.
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Tbh, I doubt you'd find it a success even if you could put it on the caravan roof and that's your first potential obstacle to overcome.
Don’t be swayed by reviews as they’re rarely what they seem.
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But if you are in a particularly strong signal area it will give excellent performance but so will that coat hanger. If not, like many of us wanting to get away to remote places, it will fail miserably. Look at directional options which can switch polarity along with a booster unit. Other options are free standing sat dish systems or possibly internet tv if the signal coverage is okay but that’s iffy too!
Oh, and by the way, the coat hanger will have some directional capability!
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If you mean VisionPlus, yes, they are good. Again, rotatable uni directional is better than fixed omni directional.
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A tad better, I suggest that free standing SAT dish ‘cos at least that free standing one gives some positional advantage over the roof mounted ones. Mine has a 25m metre cable, in fact the same one I use for the bollards. That gives me a possible 25m radius of possible line of site from the van. The rest is choosing that right pitch! Sometimes, just sometimes my aerial works mind!😁
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I haven't set up my sat system for ages, I checked the HD receiver still works so its just getting the dish right! I have downloaded a sat finder app, so hopefully I'm halfway there
I used this system in Holland but for the love of me I can't remember how we set it up. I'm sure it will come back to me. I was hoping g for an easy option
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Well my husband said we'll buy one and see,so we went to a little cl for the weekend and tried the antenna, it was amazing, I stuck it on the roof of my car and put the lead through a window, plugged it into TV, located plug and play on my TV and tuned it in. Was fantastic picture, at night I said to my husband to bring the aerial in and it worked inside. I was so impressed. I know it may not be as good on other sites but for £25 I'm well impressed
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Yes, they do work in particularly strong signal areas giving a false impression that they may be effective everywhere. However, many will struggle where this is not the case. Unfortunately in the countryside areas we visit they have less than desirable signals broadcast to them so I have my portable SAT system with me just in case.
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As pointed out VHF & UHF signals are line of sight and as you are aware pass through the atmosphere hence you get satellite tv and Nasa can contact their space crafts, lower frequencies bounce of the ionosphere (skip) remember listening to radio Luxemburg on the MW were the signal would fade in and out due to atmospheric conditions.
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As pointed out VHF & UHF signals are line of sight
They work better if there is line of sight but you can receive some signal even when they are not. The lower the frequency the better the chances.
Where I live, I have no line of sight to the main TV transmitter but with the right equipment, hi gain aerial and a low noise mast head pre amp I can get an excellent signal.
peedee
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It’s not just distance that influences the reception, topology of land, how powerful the transmitter is, whether it is horizontal or vertically polarity and, then, the ‘quality’ of the equipment receiving the signal all have a part to play.
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Just come back from Norfolk, stayed in a really rural cl. Again, it worked fine. So easy to set up and in my case well worth a try. If it doesn't work somewhere then it will be the satellite system but no need to try and set it up whilst this works, takes minutes. I'm very pleased with it.
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Nice dog
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Yeah I understand it could be, but I'll try it first as much easier than setting up the sat system. For £25 I think its well worth it, so when it does work it has saved me loads of time, when or if it doesn't I've got the sat to fall back on. Its up and running in minutes and is small so doesn't take up room. Just thought it might help someone
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I also use a small aerial, the Avtex sucker on the window/side of van type with my Avtex TV and have had success on all sites visited. Before I leave home I look on here to find the local transmitters and there footprints and make a note of them:- https://ukfree.tv/maps/freeview
Zoom in on your area and click the transmitter icon. The footprint appears in green.
Colin
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