I have now set up my UHF aerial a 43 element one. I can tune in Prime and Maori TV but the reception is pretty shoddy, pretty snowy and a little ghosting. I have plugged it into my TV Card to test DVB-T and it scans in just the Kordia Mux and says fully strength around 75% quality but it does not pick up any other channels. This is the cable from the splitter, i plugged the cable straight from the aerial into the tv and prime reception was noticably better, alot less snow but still ghosting.
As i bought the aerial from dse i can easily enought go and swap it for a bigger 91 element one for only an extra $20. Will this fix the problem or am i not going to notice much difference. I can see i may need a amplifier as when the signal is split it is noticably worse. But i havent changed it to the F connector splitter yet ( still a saddle clamp one).
I have tried aiming the aerial in lots of different directions but it is currently getting best reception from roughly sky tower direction i'd guess. The DVB-T thing could be due to media portal not having sky tower frequencies in it only Waiatarua. But even the ones it recieved (Korida Mux) did have the occasional break up and pixelation suggesting low signal.
What is my best option?
1. Bigger aerial 2. Masthead / Splitter Amplifier 3 Both
I have also just discovered that remuera and sky tower transmit on a vertical polarity. Does this mean that i need to turn my uhf aerial around so the arms point vertically instead of horizontally?
Hi, yes Sky Tower and Remurewa are Vertical elements are up and down, Waitarua and PineHill are Horizontal, ie the elements are horizontal, flat, if you have it wrong then you can loose around 20dB (100x) power.
Sounds like its definetly worth giving it a go with the elements the other way around. I have noticed that the neighbours don't seem to have them that way around though. Although at least half are using the big 91 element aerials and they are all further up the hill than me.
I have tried changing the direction of the elements to vertical and aiming the antenna in all directions while checking picture quality and it seems a bit worse than it was when horizontal, pretty much not watchable on Maori TV, Trackside and Prime. When they were horizontal it must have been recieving signal from Waiatarua and this was marginally better picture but still not good enough to lock in all DVB-T Channels.
With it vertical couldnt get a lock on any DVB-T channels, This suggests Waiatarua is a better option from my location but still not good enough for a good picture, and only good enough to get Kordia channels on DVB-T and a bit choppy still.
What are my options now? I am thinking getting a bigger aerial is my best bet but maybe even buying a masthead extension might help and raising it above the VHF aerial? (VHF aerial is a good 2m off the top of the roof, could be difficult getting it up there) Even then perhaps i might need an amplifier as well.
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