Poor Dtv Reception

[bfi2906]

I've had a Strong SD tuner on a CRT TV for a while, and it's always been hit and miss in terms of reception. That hasn't mattered, as it was a 2nd TV, and the main TV(CRT) is connected to Foxtel Cable. My family gave me a HD Plasma, with built tuners (SD & HD I believe), so it's become an issue if I want to get HD FTA.

What I'm wondering is, given that I live in an area that's awkward for DTV reception, is the amount of content in HD on FTA worth the cost and effort to try to get a reliable signal? I recognise this is going to be a matter of opinion, but I'm interested in people's views.

Many thanks.

[mtv]

bfi2906,

As you already have 'hit & miss' SD reception, I would certainly say it's worth it to improve your digital reception overall. Not only for HD, but for reliable SD reception as well.

If you require advice on doing that, you will need to provide more info, on your location, what channels you are receiving, type of antenna/mounting, splitters etc.

This would be best posted in the geographic forum for your area.

[bfi2906]

MTV - Thanks for your reply.

I had a look at the geographic section, but it didn't seem to get much traffic - thus I posted here.

I live in St Ives in NSW - rather hilly - thus poor reception (we're on the "wrong" side of a hill - in a shadow). The antenna setup is pretty basic, at the end of a 12-15 ft mast. The line is split twice. We get sbs, 9, 7, 2 (sometimes), and no 10. Even the channels we get tend to break up, depending on the weather conditions (wind is particularly bad).

[digitalj]

MTV - Thanks for your reply.

I had a look at the geographic section, but it didn't seem to get much traffic - thus I posted here.

I live in St Ives in NSW - rather hilly - thus poor reception (we're on the "wrong" side of a hill - in a shadow). The antenna setup is pretty basic, at the end of a 12-15 ft mast. The line is split twice. We get sbs, 9, 7, 2 (sometimes), and no 10. Even the channels we get tend to break up, depending on the weather conditions (wind is particularly bad).

the fact you only get ABC sometimes and no TEN suggests you have an old VHF antenna, you need to get this VHF antenna replaced with one specifically designed for DTV in Sydney, i.e. ch 6-12, the old antennas are typically designed for Ch 2, 7-10 as they are the ones that were in use, the reason your channels are breaking up, could potentially be due to impulse interference being received by the Band 1 part of the VHF antenna, but no one knows without any tests, you may also need to change your antenna type.

[bfi2906]

OK. Yhanks for that. I won't pretend to understand more than the basic concepts you are talking about, but it sounds like I'll have to get some basics sorted out. Final questions -- I'm sure there's a wide spread, but roughly what's that likely to cost? And, are there companies or providers that are generally well regarded to do this, in terms of knowing their "stuff", while being a reasonable cost (not necessarily cheapest).

Cheers and thanks for your guidance.

[digitalj]

send a PM to mtv and charlsec, they both know what they are doing.

[mtv]

Although St Ives is only around 9km from the main transmitters, being behind a hill can (as you have discovered) be a difficult area for reception.

I had almost the same scenario a few weeks ago at Turramurra, where the house was well below road level.

Theory would suggest a tall mast would have been required, however I was able to locate a position on the roof using only a 3 metre mast with a Fracarro LP34HV antenna, pointing through a gap in the trees, which provided reliable reception.

The critical issue is locating that 'sweet spot' which provided sufficient signal strength and a low error ratio. This can only be done with a site test, using a digital field strength meter.

It's difficult to 'guesstimate' cost, without knowing what exactly is required. (eg: type of antenna, mounting method, ease of access to roof, if cabling needs to be replaced etc etc).