The best way to receive TV signal?

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Matt341

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HI All,

Im a bit unsure what the best way is to receive tv signal now that the digital switchover is nearly finished.

We have an Image digital antenna which is mounted to a pole and strapped to the mast, this has always worked well for years on this boat and our previous boat. We got the usual BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and Channel 4.

Now that this digital switchover has happened we aren't getting ITV or any other stations except for BBC which is patchy and pretty un reliable.

We were then given a dish and freesat box which was mounted on a small pole on the pontoon finger but unfortunately it got damaged over the winter. We never tried it out so I dont know whether it would have got a signal.

I have seen a few boats in the marina with these small camping dishes that Maplins and camping stores seem to sell. They are just clamped to a stanchion.

I thought this would be the ideal solution to the lack of signal situation but the guy in maplins said he could almost guarantee that it would not be suitable due to the slight movement of the boat in the marina and also the rise and fall of the tide.

I really cant decide what to do.

If its of anymore help the tv is an LG 15" flatscreen with a seperate Hitachi freeview box and the aerial feed to the box runs through a mains powered booster, but still we got rubbish signal even though the freeview website say we should be able to receive all stations.

Any suggestions would be great, I have seen these Glomex aerials mounted at the top of the mast but due to the complexity of fitting it I dont feel this would be an option. We have only recently had the mast down and dont plan on having it down again for at least a few years.

Does anyone have experience of these sat dishes onboard???

If it was upto me I wouldnt bother with the TV but SWMBO insists LOL

Thanks everyone
Ian
 
Matt341 said:
HI All,

Im a bit unsure what the best way is to receive tv signal now that the digital switchover is nearly finished.

We have an Image digital antenna which is mounted to a pole and strapped to the mast, this has always worked well for years on this boat and our previous boat. We got the usual BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and Channel 4.

Now that this digital switchover has happened we aren't getting ITV or any other stations except for BBC which is patchy and pretty un reliable.

We were then given a dish and freesat box which was mounted on a small pole on the pontoon finger but unfortunately it got damaged over the winter. We never tried it out so I dont know whether it would have got a signal.

I have seen a few boats in the marina with these small camping dishes that Maplins and camping stores seem to sell. They are just clamped to a stanchion.

I thought this would be the ideal solution to the lack of signal situation but the guy in maplins said he could almost guarantee that it would not be suitable due to the slight movement of the boat in the marina and also the rise and fall of the tide.

I really cant decide what to do.

If its of anymore help the tv is an LG 15" flatscreen with a seperate Hitachi freeview box and the aerial feed to the box runs through a mains powered booster, but still we got rubbish signal even though the freeview website say we should be able to receive all stations.

Any suggestions would be great, I have seen these Glomex aerials mounted at the top of the mast but due to the complexity of fitting it I dont feel this would be an option. We have only recently had the mast down and dont plan on having it down again for at least a few years.

Does anyone have experience of these sat dishes onboard???

If it was upto me I wouldnt bother with the TV but SWMBO insists LOL

Thanks everyone
Ian
Click to expand...
Has your analogue signal been turned off?????????

For Digital you need a digital antenna which you say you have. You need the free vue box and it needs to be one of the more recent ones as the Powers that be moved the goal posts without telling the manufactures . You need to put the Freevue box through its tuning procedure on the boat having set up the antenna correctly and not only pointing the right way but also you may need the elements horizontal and not vertical etc.

Don t forget that the digital frequencies were changed the night of the switchover so if your receiver has been out of use since September it may still be tuned to the old frequency.

Your antenna comes with an earth spike. It might be worth grounding the earth connection to your anode.
 
Thanks for the reply,

Yes the analogue signal has now been switched off.

The freeview box is a few months old. We dont keep the aerial on the deck when not in use, it is stored in the cockpit locker, the transmitter is only located across the estuary so we point the aerial right at it and re tune the freeview box every time.

But still the only station the search picks up is BBC 1 and BBC radio :(

The Motorboat next door has a Status 315 up on a gantry on their flybridge but they only get bbc as well. Which is making me think that the transmitter must only be broadcasting BBC even though they say they are transmitting them all.

All the liveaboards have dishes so im assuming this system must work even though the boat has a certain amount of movement.

Thanks
Ian
 
Matt341 said:
Thanks for the reply,

Yes the analogue signal has now been switched off.

The freeview box is a few months old. We dont keep the aerial on the deck when not in use, it is stored in the cockpit locker, the transmitter is only located across the estuary so we point the aerial right at it and re tune the freeview box every time.

But still the only station the search picks up is BBC 1 and BBC radio :(

Ian
Click to expand...

1. No such thing as a digital aerial.
2. Do you mean you can only get BBC channels, or only BBC 1? BBC 2 is in the same digital transmission as BBC1.

Do you know the transmitter name, or your rough location.
 
Matt341 said:
...All the liveaboards have dishes so im assuming this system must work even though the boat has a certain amount of movement...
Click to expand...

Just ask them? Here's another thread I posted a while ago on same subject, there's some useful info there. It seems to be very much dependent on exactly where you are located. If all else fails Glomex up the mast seems to be last and best option, if that doesn't work then you'd have to move to get reception I think. I suspect I will not be able to get reception in Brighton Marina and don't want to have a Glomex up the mast to have telly. Am anticipating a period of withdrawal followed by doing without...
 
Last edited:
Matt341 said:
Thanks for the reply,

Yes the analogue signal has now been switched off.

The freeview box is a few months old. We dont keep the aerial on the deck when not in use, it is stored in the cockpit locker, the transmitter is only located across the estuary so we point the aerial right at it and re tune the freeview box every time.

But still the only station the search picks up is BBC 1 and BBC radio :(

The Motorboat next door has a Status 315 up on a gantry on their flybridge but they only get bbc as well. Which is making me think that the transmitter must only be broadcasting BBC even though they say they are transmitting them all.

All the liveaboards have dishes so im assuming this system must work even though the boat has a certain amount of movement.

Thanks
Ian
Click to expand...


It seems there is a problem with the transmission. Have you spoken to locals about possible problems. Do they all point their TV ariels in the same direction. Where are you?

You may find there is another transmitter you can use though further away.

We found after switchover that an ITV station and some others were not available however this was all sorted out with a full retune. Usually as another poster has said most of these signals are multiplexed into one channel so it seems odd the Freeview box isn t decoding some . Could be worth trying another box as some certainly were designed to an old original standard which meant they could never tune in all the current Freeview channels. There is a website somewhere dealing with this and naming the suspect boxes and digital TV's.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone,

We are getting about 10 stations in total, BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, Gay Rabbit (?), BBC Radio 1 & a few other radio stations.

However, the signal is very patchy.

Im wondering whether it is the aerial, as mentioned its an Image, it was bought from a camping shop. I brought it home to try on the tv at home, although we have sky we also get a very good Digital signal as the transmitter is only across the estuary. So I connected the Image aerial direct to the tv and we got a pretty rubbish signal, again on BBC stations only. I then found a standard small roof aerial in the garage, connected this to the tv and we got full signal on all stations.

Im hoping that it is the aerial and will be trying this roof aerial on the weekend.

I have checked the freeview website and it states that the main transmitter is Preselli with smaller transmitters feeding off it. It states that Pembroke Dock sub transmitter has now switched and we should be able to receive all stations. When I google mapped the Pembroke dock transmitter it is just across the estuary from the marina in a direct line. The only thing that could be blocking the signal is the large motorboat in front of us ?!

There is still the question though as to why the liveaboards all have dishes, I will speak to some of them on the weekend if we still have no luck with getting a signal.

Thanks again
Ian
 
Sorry I forgot to mention,

The first freeview box we had was an Alba, after a month it stopped working. They changed it for another which also stopped working after a few weeks.

They then agreed to swap for a more expensive receiver which is a Hitachi.

We have received a good signal through this when in other places, just not on our main berth!!!

Thanks again
Ian.
 
Matt341 said:
Sorry I forgot to mention,

The first freeview box we had was an Alba, after a month it stopped working. They changed it for another which also stopped working after a few weeks.

They then agreed to swap for a more expensive receiver which is a Hitachi.

We have received a good signal through this when in other places, just not on our main berth!!!

Thanks again
Ian.
Click to expand...

Given all that's been posted, I would say that your problem is simply not enough signal. Also DVB needs good cable with enough screening from external interferences. It sounds like the Hitachi is a tick receiver that should receive the post November 09 channels. Signal problems normally affect either BBC or ITV channels. As another poster says, you might have to capitulate and use the best aerial possible, as high as possible. It sounds as though the other residents are using dishes due to the locality. Are they on pontoons? (The dishes that is) :)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies,

A few boats have dishes on the pontoons and a few have dishes fixed to stanchions.

I went to B and Q at lunch time to get a few bits for the house and noticed that they sold freeview signal finders. I thought this would be brilliant as at the moment we move the aerial a bit, tune the box, turn it a bit more until we can pick up any stations. Where as this finder means we only need to tune once it is showing a full signal, fingers crossed!!

Thanks again
Ian
 
I do not have a TV on my boat but do use digital Freeview at home most of the time.
Whenever I get a reception problem (and all I am using is the mains booster indoor aerial, with no external aerial connected) I do a retune as a 'first time installation' rather than the 'adding new channels' option. It sometimes takes 2 or 3' first time' re-tunes to get all the channels but it gets there eventually.
My booster aerial is a Philex SLXA freestanding unit, £19.99 at Comet.

ianat182
 
At home we are in range of two different freeview transmitters. If I just do a straightforward auto-tune it finds the weak transmitter first and tunes to that, and we get rubbishy pictures. If, however, I unplug the aerial during the earlier part of the auto-tune process and connect it again later in the proceedings, it only finds the strong signal and all is well.

Could this be happening to you?
 
I'm a bit confused: you wont get Terrestrial digital using a satellite dish. A Satellite dish is just that, and alignment needs to be pretty good to get a signal. As the guy in Maplins pointed out - not really workeable on a boat because it moves. Nor will you get Freeview satellite using an ordinary TV aerial. Terrestrial needs a TV aerial, satellite needs a Dish.

Terrestrial digital aerials - lots of nonsense talked about 'digital' aerials. This is just 'sales talk' Any reasonably sensitive Tv aerial will work, often the original analog one will be fine in a good reception area. Sometimes Digital broadcasts need a more sensitive aerial to get a strong signal. A weak signal on the old system would cause the picture to go a bit speckly or fuzzy, and as the signal fades so the reception got poorer. With digital, either you see it or you dont, and it will not work at all if the signal strength drops beyond a certain point. It just cuts out altogether. Many think the old analog system was better in marginal areas - which is where boats (and caravans) may often find themselves, as you could get useable reception from quite a low signal.

I tried terrestrial, they insisted I needed a 'digital aerial' at considerable cost. The engineers came and spent ages on the roof trying to set it all up. They could not get a signal, and eventually came down saying 'sorry sir, you can not get digital Tv here'. If you take your STB back you will get a refund.

After they had gone, out of curiosity I tried it on the old analog loft aerial (which was in a different position to the chimney the engineers tried to use) - and it worked perfectly! As by then the return papers had been signed, and we had ordered a Satellite receiver with a much wider range of rubbish - er programmes, I didnt bother.
 
oldharry said:
After they had gone, out of curiosity I tried it on the old analog loft aerial (which was in a different position to the chimney the engineers tried to use) - and it worked perfectly! As by then the return papers had been signed, and we had ordered a Satellite receiver with a much wider range of rubbish - er programmes, I didnt bother.
Click to expand...

Makes one lose faith in tradesmen. I was under the impression that Digital signals had been stuck in one place on the UHF band however they appear to be mixed in with the old Band system IE A, b, c, d Band etc all contain digital and at present analogue signals.. Most shops sell only wide band antennas which are a bit of a compromise as they tune from around 480 mhz to about 800mhz . One way to get a better signal is to find what Group (band) area you are in and get the right antenna for that band.

This site does that and I did the search for Neyland Marina which shows what is wanted there ie Group C mounted horizontally. Seems with the right entenna the OP might even get HD Freeview:)

http://www.ukfree.tv/transmitters.php


I have a narrow band antenna here mounted in the loft which works perfectly well .

It might take a web purchase to get a narrow band antenna but in this case good be worth the effort .

Lots more info here about antenna performance.

http://www.aerialsandtv.com/aerials.html#aerialgroups
 
Bilgediver said:
A Yagi for the correct band would be a much better option than that omni loop with pre amp. Just more fiddly finding which way to point it.
Click to expand...
Thats rather the point though, isnt it? The omni loop is supposed to be omni directional, so that you dont have to jump up every three minutes and re-aim it as the boat swings on its mooring.
 
oldharry said:
Thats rather the point though, isnt it? The omni loop is supposed to be omni directional, so that you dont have to jump up every three minutes and re-aim it as the boat swings on its mooring.
Click to expand...


Yep but you do not get somat for nufink....So you can have the advantage of sitting in a strong signal and getting a signal from any direction however put the same loop in a low signal as the OP has then you get nuffink...All a matter of DBs and gain and what have you. The yagi wins hands down and no problem swinging it..
 
Freesat V Freeview

You are not getting Freesat mixed up with Freeview are you ? If your boat is in Swansea you should be pointing your arial at Kilvey hill if on Freeview . My Brothers boat is by the Tower of Doom and he gets all the channels . Freesat , as discussed above , you will have problems on a boat . My boat is to small for a TV .
 
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