Best TV aerial

donm

donm

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 Jul 2005
Messages
736
Location
Bristol Channel
Visit site
I am going to try a TV on the boat (for the first time) and am confused by the array of aerials available - and the prices. They range from a traditional looking wire contraption, to what looks like an upside down slipper with two prongs, to a flying saucer! Non directional, omni directional - means the same thing?
Also, where is the best place to site it as I am not keen on permanent fixing to the mast so I was thinking of the pulpit by a clamp as and when I need it?

Confused of Barry.
 
Ours is a Glomex and it is mounted at the masthead. It has a line amplifier and I'm sure it cost the previous owner a chunk of change. These are quite popular.

It performs mediocre in our area. You have to fiddle with the amplifier gain and you still get some harmonics and lines in the picture. I can't compare to others, however, which are probably even worse, and besides I haven't had over-the-air TV at home in decades. So maybe it performs well; I couldn't really say.
 
Unless you have a strong signal, I would be tempted to use a bent coat hanger until the digital switchover settles down. In my usual cruising area there's a marginal analogue signal and no digital, with the switchover due in a few weeks.

Alisdair
 
Brighton marina, where reception is particularly bad due to the cliffs, people seem to get on OK with an ordinary outdoor aerial hoisted part way up the mast or on a pole. And/or they have a wee satellite dish. Like you I don't want to put something permanently on top of the mast, doing fine without TV at the moment, in the winter might try a cheap ordinary aerial. I did try an indoor plug-in amplified aerial here with no joy. If you are putting something up the mast, I'd have thought a glomex omni directional. You could clamp an ordinary outdoor aerial or stick it on a broom handle if it needs to go a bit higher, or hoist it up the bit of rope you hoist your courtesy flag up with a couple of extra bits of string attached to the end so you can point it the right way...
 
Last edited:
T'interweb

Hi,

We are about to set off on our first longer cruise (two weeks - I know). With two kids I had planned to get a tv set up but never quite got round to it - always something more important to be done. Kind of lost a bit of hope that it would actually work after reading about options here as well.

As an alternative, I am going to take the laptop and see how we fare with that. Have a 3 broadband dongle so it really depends on signal strength where we are going. Having checked it out it seems that most of the programmes we (ie the kids) would want to watch are on iplayer and equivelants anyway.

I'll let you know how I get on when I return.

Cheers
 
On our previous boat I experimented with various alternatives including coat hangery looking things, and ones with a long telescopic thing as well. We tried them on the chart table, on the coach roof, and on the pushpit. Generally, they were all disappointing.

On the new boat we went for an amplified Glomex at the top of the mast. We now get perfect reception, both on analogue and digital most of the time. The only exception to this is when we have been in areas with rubbish digital reception anyway, such as the west country.

I guess it depends on where plan to use the tv. On the simple aerials we found that moving them around makes a huge difference, so they were useless at anchor. Interestingly though, even the omni directional ones are not perfect in this respect. Trying to watch grand prix a few weeks back in an area of week signal, the picture was fading in and out as we swung around with wind and tide. The aerial is at the top of the mast and not masked in any way so perhaps they are not perfect.
 
Glomex on a pole at the pushpit works OK for me. The aerial is about 5' off the deck. A fixed aerial is much less hassle than a temporary one

I would also advise you to get a digi box (or a tele with it built in) as digital generally gets a perfect picture (or no picture at all); there is no interference (ghosting, fading etc) and you soon won't be able to get analogue in some areas.

Another advantage is that digital works well in France, whereas analogue doesn't work at all (unless you have a multi standard receiver).
 
Your choice of aerial and quality of reception depends upon your circumstances.

If you'll be using the TV whilst on a swinging moooring, you'll have to go for an omnidirectional aerial.

If you'll only be using it when in a marina or when moored, your best bet would be a directional aerial - e.g. Status.

Both types have pro's and cons.

Omni - weaker gain than a directional, no matter how good it claims to be, but no adjusting to get it pointing in the right direction. Remember that signal amplifiers also amplify any interference. The quality of the signal won't be as good as from a directional aerial.

Directional - more efficient, i.e. more gain (stronger signal to TV) but you will have to adjust the direction not only when you move to another location, but sometimes between channels. Some channels are transmitted from one direction, some another. If you channel hop a lot, that can be a pain!

Satellite receivers - as for directional (Freesat). Unless you want to pay £3k+ for fully sorted tracking (which is what they always seem to review in the boating mags and say that, surprise surprise, it's great. I should b***y well think so for 3 grand!!)
Internet viewing - getting better all the time but as far as I know it's still not yet as good as standard terrestrial.

The main thing to remember, regardless of whether you choose omni or directional, is the higher the aerial the better. That's usually the main problem with poor signals because you're always at sea level...
 
ptucker said:
Hi,

We are about to set off on our first longer cruise (two weeks - I know). With two kids I had planned to get a tv set up but never quite got round to it - always something more important to be done. Kind of lost a bit of hope that it would actually work after reading about options here as well.

As an alternative, I am going to take the laptop and see how we fare with that. Have a 3 broadband dongle so it really depends on signal strength where we are going. Having checked it out it seems that most of the programmes we (ie the kids) would want to watch are on iplayer and equivelants anyway.

I'll let you know how I get on when I return.

Cheers
Click to expand...

iPlayer et al should work fine with your 3 dongle, at least most of the time but it does eat into your allowance to the tune of about 300MB/hour. They do have a new deal which gives 15GB/month on 18 month contract...
 
djbreeze said:
iPlayer et al should work fine with your 3 dongle, at least most of the time but it does eat into your allowance to the tune of about 300MB/hour. They do have a new deal which gives 15GB/month on 18 month contract...
Click to expand...

Really? I tried it and thought it should be renamed "dogPlayer" because it ran like one. A lot of iplayer stuff struggles at anything less than 2gig broadband?

Anyone done 3g Iplayer for real? Where? How?
 
I purchased a Glomex V9125 tv aerial and mounted it 6" above my mizzen mast ,so in reasonably clear air apart from a little rigging from main mast and was very disapointed with it so much so i thought it must have been faulty and replaced it , the second one hardly much better . I find useing a std set top alloy aerial for a tenner works just as well.
 
SolentBoy said:
Really? I tried it and thought it should be renamed "dogPlayer" because it ran like one. A lot of iplayer stuff struggles at anything less than 2gig broadband?

Anyone done 3g Iplayer for real? Where? How?
Click to expand...

Just watched 10 mins of East enders using Vodaphone PAYG 3G sim in my net book, acceptable picture and sound (shame about the prog).

Dover, signal reported very good,1576 Kbps but it has worked when signal reported poor.
 
ptucker said:
Hi,

We are about to set off on our first longer cruise (two weeks - I know). With two kids I had planned to get a tv set up but never quite got round to it - always something more important to be done. Kind of lost a bit of hope that it would actually work after reading about options here as well.

As an alternative, I am going to take the laptop and see how we fare with that. Have a 3 broadband dongle so it really depends on signal strength where we are going. Having checked it out it seems that most of the programmes we (ie the kids) would want to watch are on iplayer and equivelants anyway.

I'll let you know how I get on when I return.

Cheers
Click to expand...

That'll drain your sim card out unbeleivably and will not be cost effective.
On 1GB of data you can download five four minute videos. approx.
You'll need a lot of top ups to keep the kids amused. Or if you're on contract you'll arrive home to a rather unexpected bill.

Steve.

There is a status or omni max available, but I can do an amplified version TV/FM much cheaper.
PM me if you want details.

Steve
 
SolentBoy said:
Really? I tried it and thought it should be renamed "dogPlayer" because it ran like one. A lot of iplayer stuff struggles at anything less than 2gig broadband?

Anyone done 3g Iplayer for real? Where? How?
Click to expand...

I have a 3 dongle and use the iPlayer quite regularly, usually with no problems & am in Brighton Marina...
 
steverow said:
That'll drain your sim card out unbeleivably and will not be cost effective.
On 1GB of data you can download five four minute videos. approx.
You'll need a lot of top ups to keep the kids amused. Or if you're on contract you'll arrive home to a rather unexpected bill.

Steve.

There is a status or omni max available, but I can do an amplified version TV/FM much cheaper.
PM me if you want details.

Steve
Click to expand...

No, I've already said the iPlayer uses about 300MB/hour. 3 have a deal for 15GB/month for £15/month. To avoid unexpected bills you can tell them to switch it off when you've used up your allowance...
 
donmerrifield said:
I am going to try a TV on the boat (for the first time) and am confused by the array of aerials available - and the prices. They range from a traditional looking wire contraption, to what looks like an upside down slipper with two prongs, to a flying saucer! Non directional, omni directional - means the same thing?
Also, where is the best place to site it as I am not keen on permanent fixing to the mast so I was thinking of the pulpit by a clamp as and when I need it?

Confused of Barry.
Click to expand...

Paying extra for TV using iplayer and such is a real no brainer, especially when you get it for free.

I and a few others on here have had brilliant reception using the British made TRIAX UFO aerial. I chose it over the Glomex as it is much smaller, neater and lighter. It has two outputs from the amplifier that you fit inside the boat, so you can run 2 televisions (that'll get the purists apoplectic) or connect to your FM radio (my DaB radio uses the headphone cord as an aerial so I don't know from personal experience how successful DaB is on the triax, though I don't doubt that it will work).

and, it's British.


clicky

It is omni and works exceptionally well in my harbour which is is notorious for having a bad signal, I get most of the main freeview channels, when I retune the TV at another harbour I am getting more channels than at home. It will also pick up analogue of course.

Not fitting a proper aerial until the digital switch over takes place does not make sense, I can't understand the logic of that advice given to you earlier.

and, it's British.

***usual disclaimers apply.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top