What TV aerial?

[Danny]

Well, she's finally persuaded me to get her a decent 12V TV for the boat so she can watch Wimbledon. I'm trying to decide what aerial I need. I have a great little 12V freeview box to be used with this so maybe I need reasonable signal strength? I suspect I need better signal strength for digital terrestrial?

Anyway, should I get an omni-directional thingy and stick it somewhere high up or do I go for a directional array and rig it when I need it. I reckon that most times it's in use we'll be on a pontoon and won't swing.

What about a masthead amplifier? I understand that these are powered via the coax. Can I use one of these from a 12V supply? Anyone have any good/bad experiences I might learn from? - before spending any more money!

 

[gerryl]

Danny,
I've just finished fitting my Seahawk with 2 TV points run from a Glomex and the picture quality is excellent on analogue and freeview.
I brought the glomex from Ebay - £45 instead of the £90+ in the swindleries.
It comes with its own adjustable amp which I've sited in the main saloon.

as I didn't want to rig the aerial permanently, i've used a deck socket, (similar to the VHF aerial types) so that I can plug it in when needed. I then hoist it to the crosstrees on the flag halyard.

so far it has worked well even swinging at anchor in Chi harbour.

as I recall, you're in Southsea so I would imagine you would get excellent results there too.

hope this helps....

 

[ShipsWoofy]

PBO thread just dropped to page two should / may give you some answers.

 

[Danny]

Hi Gerry,
The reception in Southsea is really poor from my berth due to the apartment blocks in line-of-sight to the IOW TV aerial.

I like the idea of an omni-directional aerial that you hoist on a flag halyard.

Is your Glomex omni-directional? I just looked on their website and the only uhf antenna they seem to do now is directional and is steered by servo motor. Looks very expensive!

 

[Talbot]

[ QUOTE ]
Is your Glomex omni-directional? I just looked on their website and the only uhf antenna they seem to do now is directional and is steered by servo motor. Looks very expensive!

[/ QUOTE ]

Dont know where you looked, because Glomex are still showing three different versions of their omni-directional antenna. The cheap version at abt £90 is 26 db. They make a better version with 27.5 db, and a really expensive version with 36db.

 

[Danny]

[ QUOTE ]

Dont know where you looked, because Glomex are still showing three different versions of their omni-directional antenna.

[/ QUOTE ]I looked at http://www.glomex.it/products.asp Must be looking in the wrong place. Will look again. Thanks

 

[Danny]

Thanks DogWatch. Saw that post but thought it was all about PC TV adaptors. I missed the aerial dicussion completely. I'll check out the UFO gadget.

 

[Richard10002]

I'm equally torn over this and, having taken the mast down, (thanks to everyone for their help - went really smoothly!), I have to make a decision.

At first it seemed that Glomex was the one..... then some posts on a caravan site suggested that Status was the thing... in addition, Rowlands marine in Pwlhelli said he had stopped fitting Glomex and was fitting Status.... then there is the thread on here where the Triax gets a good vote.

So it seems like it's a bit of a lottery, and maybe they are all as good as each other... after all, who asks what make of house TV aerial the guy is fitting?

I'm leaning towards the Glomex £160 job at present, but that might change over the next few days.

Cheers

Richard

 

[Richard10002]

As a matter of interest, I'm currently watching TV on my PC with a One-For-All flat aerial hanging from one of the hatch handles inside the boat. Pictures fine on all 5 channels in Glasson Dock, Lancashire.

 

[ShipsWoofy]

yeah, and then a boat goes past and your one for all drops, hits your glass of wine which runs straight over the remote, pours into your lap and to top it all off the book you put down earlier.

Been there, those hatch handles really aren't that good!

I got really fed up of constantly adjusting the position of the one for all and trying to find if those two telescopic antenna ever actually did anything at all?

Hence why I fitted a fixed aerial. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Signed Out]

I've seen the Glomex for £85 somewhere around Ipswich (can't recall which place, but it's not local to you, just saying cheaper is possible), but those SS brackets are way too pricey at £59 I think. Also, noticed the cable in the box is 15m, which I think will be tight on my 35' boat, so I assume it's safe to extend.
Jem.