This could be a daft question: Does it matter if the freeview aerial is mounted outside or in the loft space? cheers Baz
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 Barry, YES, simply because the digital signal will not be strong enough to go through your loft to give you best picture performance, not a daft Question at all. Cheers ...Carl.
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How much of a difference do you think it would make? I guess it depends on the strength of the Freeview signal in your area, which will be boosted once terrestrial services are switched off.
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 When I helped my mate out (who lives in an area where they are NOT allowed cables ouside!) I found that I had to point the loft aerial in a different direction to the actual signal to get good reception! It must bouce around a little or something im not entirely sure, but obviously it would be best on the roof 
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| Edited: 17/08/08 18:33 |
 This could be a daft question: Does it matter if the freeview aerial is mounted outside or in the loft space?
A slightly daft question, yes. A bit like asking, "could I eat an entire cake?" A fairy cake? A wedding cake? It all depends upon how good a signal you have in your area that determines whether the signal remaining after loosing the benifit of outdoor mounting is adequate or not. Likewise, different roofing structures make it impossible to generalize. Antenna height is very significant - that is the sum of your property above sea level plus the building height. Most Freeview receivers are equipped with a useful signal strength/quality indicator. A high quality signal at the receiver is more important than high strength. Take a look at UK digital TV reception predictor. That will give you an idea whether a loft mounted antenna has a chance. If your signal is marginal, don't forget that downlead losses can be significant.
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| Edited: 17/08/08 20:21 |
I have in fact mounted it on the roof , but how do you determine the exact direction to point it. 
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A map and compass.
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Unless you have some sort of meter to read the signal (Which you really dont need) I've done it the following way. Check your street to see which way theaerials are pointing (As a start point) Have the tv iswitched to normal analogue. Move the aerial until it looks as clean as possible (Check channels 1 to 5). Set the aerial in that position and freeview should be as strong as you can get it
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And Pluto? Your now showing me your TRUE colours..........
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And Pluto? Your now showing me your TRUE colours..........
Yes, the first route to true colours is to get the antenna pointing the right direction.
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| Edited: 18/08/08 15:42 |
Thanks Rik , stns. 1-4 are good, 5 ok, I am still on analouge at the moment so digital should be great
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No problems Barry. Youd better get your box though mate, time is a running out  I highly recommend ebay if your after a decent one, and PARTICULARLY if you want one with a hard drive for recording. Give us a nudge if you want any help
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Incedentally. I believe 5 is hard to recieve on analogue as they invested a LOT more into their digital knowing analogue was going to die a death. So 5 tends to be one of the best freeview channels in terms of quality!
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The aerial feeds a 6 way splitter in the loft (3 tv's up and running at present). The main TV will be intergrated freeview when we buy one, all the others analouge. So yes Rik I will probably get one decent box and a couple of cheapies . It's the cheap boxes that puzzle me the shops are full of them but reviews are scarce.
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Well if you can, try and have 2 co-ax cables coming off the aerial. One to the splitter and the other to your mains box (This will provide the cleanest DIRECT signal you can get) In terms of the cheapies thers not THAT much difference in them. Just make sure it has an RGB scart (Not just composite), and secondary scart if you want to be able to record on them. The only other thing is the quality of the sound that comes out of the phonos, but as you say 'cheapie' im guessing they wont be used anyway
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| Edited: 19/08/08 09:56 |
How do you get 2 co-ax from the aerial ? Surely it would mean a 2 way splitter
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Well I havnt seen your ACTUAL aerial so im not sure if it can be done but it should be possible to have 2 co - ax cables together and the 2 earths together (Might need a little bit of soldering to hold them in place perhaps but make sure the COPPER touches the aerial) Maybe post a pic of it if your unsure?
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My aerial http://www.tvaerials.com/product.aspx?productid=33. The co-ax cable connects via a F CONNECTOR into a sealed unit (amplifier?
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Ah Sorry, if its a sealed unit then theres nothing you can do ~ sorry
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 I'm not even going to comment on this, as the lack of comprehension is monumental. The discussion appears to be about two separate issues and neither seems to know what the other is talking about. Now to Rik, to suggest that one should feed two seperte downleads from one aerial is patently a misunderstanding of RF principles, impedance matching, VSWR and everything else in the book. Whilst I appreciate that you want to offer advice and help out here, but please lets make that help come from a knowledgeable background, rather than the, it worked for me, scenario. It could have worked for you simply because your cables were some particular length, but if one were only 8" different it would not have worked so well or even at all, please don't give advice simply on your personal experience without understanding the theory first. Exactly as Baz P said the best way is with a 2 way splitter, that at least manages the impedance and removes the individual cable length problems, OK it does involve a 3dB loss but that is a consequence of splitting the signal, however it is done. Everything in electronics is theory based, none of it is magic or voodoo, and your personal experience does not change that theory, much as you would like it to, cables come to mind here. John...
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