# TV aerial for £6.95



## peedee

I have always consider leisure TV aerials to be overpriced so I set about fitting my own. I had already fitted an external aerial point for use on sites offering TV reception services, it was therefore a logical step to improve the reception from the Status flying saucer omni directional aerial and booster by fitting a suitable commercial aerial to the van. I didn't want anything too fiddly to erect and it had to be easily stored somewhere when not in use. 

The attached pics show my quick fit kit, comprising a three section 3 metre Jockey wheel mast which I purchased at one of the shows many years ago and was lying idle in my garage. Today they cost about £15. The bottom section of the three piece mast will be bolted to the ladder using two "U" bolts, the other two sections just slot into this and each other. The Antiference wide band aerial, which I bought from a TV repair shop for £6.95, is suitable for both analogue and digital reception and is fixed permanently to a piece of 200mm x 22mm copper pipe which fits snugly into the top section of the mast and is held in place with a bolt fixed with a butterfly nut. The reflectors push fit into the end of the aerial and are easily removed to make a flatter package for storage. The 3.5m piece of scrap coax down lead I had, plugs into the external TV point on the side of the van.

The downside, I need to know in which direction to point the aerial but, get it right and it out performs the flying saucer! Mind you it doesn't take much
to do that.

peedee


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## Grizzly

peedee said:


> The downside, I need to know in which direction to point the aerial peedee


Our golden rule is to make sure it points in the opposite direction and the other polarisation from that of the site manager. Twice now we've been at sites where reception is, we're told, dreadful but when we've adjusted the aerial is it excellent. Surprising how many people don't realise that the polarisation of the aerial as well as the direction it points can make a critical difference.

G


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## 96088

Can you explain 'polarisation' to those of us who don't realise it.

I never even considered putting a telly in our van until I booked a ferry that coincides with the world cup. Now I need to know everything about aerials 8O 

As for Peedee's excellent design, I may adapt it slightly by using a telescopic floor mop that we have.


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## peedee

Most TV transmissions are horizontally polarised. In simple terms you need to have your aerial and its elements mounted horizontally as in my picture. 
Some transmission, mostly from repeater stations are vertically polarised, ie for best reception you need to have the aerial and elements mounted vertically. I think all the digital transmissions are horizontally polarised.
With the Status 315 Omni Flying saucer it doesn't matter it is designed to receive either but with the Staus 530 you should adjust it accordingly.

If you want to know about a particular transmission have a look at this site

http://tx.mb21.co.uk/

peedee


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## RobinHood

Peedees picture shows his aerial oriented for horizontal polarisation (the 'bars' on the front arm of the aerial are horizontal). For vertical polarisation, the aerial woud be rotated through 90 degrees in the vertical plane, and the bars on the front arm would be vertical).

TV transmitters (at least in the UK) transmit either horizontally or vertically polarised signals. In general, but not exclusively, main transmitters are horizontally polarised, and repeaters (local, lower powered transmitters) are vertically polarised.

Getting the best signal does not simply depend on pointing the aerial in the right direction, but also setting it into the correct plane.

The little point on the top of the status omni-directional aerial is supposed to help it cope with vertically polarised signals.

If you want to check, just look at the plane (not direction) of TV aerials as you go through different locations.


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## spykal

peedee said:


> The downside, I need to know in which direction to point the aerial but, get it right and it out performs the flying saucer! Mind you it doesn't take much
> to do that.
> 
> peedee


Hi Peedee

Good aerial setup and I like the price too :wink:

I too use a simple, small and very efficient aerial (Grade VP 530/14 UHF Antenna  cost me £16.00 )..mine is mounted on a three section very lightweight aluminium pole (ex paintpad handle) fixed to the van using large suction cups and is positioned near the driver cab door. All I need to do is reach out of the cab window and rotate the aerial to get the best picture. It seems to withstand normal winds but I do lower it one section in gales :wink: It is much smaller than it looks in my pictures and fits easily into one of the tiny front overhead cupboards in my van. It is 12" wide at the widest and just 20" long.










If you have a laptop in the van and it has Autoroute you can go to the download section and there I have put an Autoroute pushpin .axe file that when loaded shows all the TV transmitter positions in the UK. (and whether they are Main (Horiz) or Repeater stations (Vert))

Autoroute Pushpin set for TV stations

Mike


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## spykal

Hi
I forgot to say that if you use the autoroute TV station file a compass comes in handy....unless Ray Mears has trained you :lol: 

Mike


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## DABurleigh

And you couldn't rely on the clouds lifting, even if he had ;-)


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## spykal

Hi DAB

:lol: I was think more of "moss on the sides of trees" sort of stuff :lol: 

mike


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## peedee

Unfortunately I don't have a laptop and have not had the pleasure of meeting Ray Mears, maybe that is why I have used the Omni for so long? Now if you had a set of TV stations for TomTom or MemoryMap OS maps that would be different. Guess I will have to rely on the mark one eye ball and look at 
the aerials on the houses!

peedee


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## spykal

peedee said:


> Now if you had a set of TV stations for TomTom or MemoryMap OS maps that would be different.
> peedee


Ill do my best over the next day or so to do both for you......I will have to separate out the various catogories and rebuild the files. I also use TomTom and Memory Map on my Mio so it will be an interesting task and I am sure there are others with TomTom who could use it....just need time....why does it fly so fast now?

Mike


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## peedee

Thanks Mike I am sure there will be more than just me who will appreciate it.


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## spykal

Hi Peedee

The TomTom TV POI file is now in the download section.

Mike


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## peedee

Thanks Mike, not in a position to download it at the moment in a library but will do so when I get back to my own PC.

peedee


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## 92859

Greetings,

I like the idea of suckers for mounting your aerial Skypal! where did you get them? I think I may use this idea to save permanently marking the exterior of the van.

Peter


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## spykal

Humber-Traveller said:


> Greetings,
> 
> I like the idea of suckers for mounting your aerial Skypal! where did you get them? I think I may use this idea to save permanently marking the exterior of the van.
> 
> Peter


Hi

I bought them from Lidl!! Once I had sorted out the mounting and found it worked I bought a few more of them the next time they came around on offer....this is because they do occasionally break ( they come up every so often at Lidl).

My aerial and tube is very lightweight ..So I am worried that the aerial you are going to be using, the Skytronic TV aerial, would be far too heavy for these suckers.

But I have toyed with buying a Draper Glass Lifter to use as a suction mount for my aerial.

Here is a link to the Draper web sites that list all the products. the product you are looking for is :










Link to Pdf file showing the Draper Glass Lifter <<<,click

Link to the "G" page of the draper catalog <<<<,click

I have not tried this yet but maybe you could have a go :lol: You would need to work out a way of attaching the aerial pole to the center handle...as I said it is only an idea in my head at the moment ...so may not work out.

All this assumes that you have a hard solid shiny flat surface some where handy to stick the suckers :roll: (my van is made of Glassfibre)

Mike


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## peedee

peedee said:


> The attached pics show my quick fit kit, comprising a three section 3 metre Jockey wheel mast which I purchased at one of the shows many years ago and was lying idle in my garage. Today they cost about £15. The bottom section of the three piece mast will be bolted to the ladder using two "U" bolts, the other two sections just slot into this and each other. The Antiference wide band aerial, which I bought from a TV repair shop for £6.95, is suitable for both analogue and digital reception and is fixed permanently to a piece of 200mm x 22mm copper pipe which fits snugly into the top section of the mast and is held in place with a bolt fixed with a butterfly nut. The reflectors push fit into the end of the aerial and are easily removed to make a flatter package for storage. The 3.5m piece of scrap coax down lead I had, plugs into the external TV point on the side of the van.
> 
> peedee


I have recently removed the 200mm x 22mm piece of copper pipe to make a more compact package for storage. I now use two "U" bolts to fix the yagi aeiral direct to the top section of the mast. I only use this set up when the Status flying saucer fails to give me a decent picture or the on site feeds only give analogue reception and I want digital channels.

peedee


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## vicdicdoc

I need a new aerial on the van, we seem to have problems getting a decent picture whilst others around us get good reception.
The old one I had laying in the back of my shed needed some of the bits straightening & whilst I was mucking around I covered it with a fibreglass cover . . then couldn't resist painting it :? 
When I fit a new one I think I'll leave well alone & not try to be 'artistic'


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