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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc. |
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1st Aug 2016, 11:58 am | #21 | ||
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Gloucestershire, UK.
Posts: 720
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Re: "Contractor" UHF TV aerials
Quote:
Quote:
Yes, impulse interference is a significant issue, which is why the screen and balun is important. |
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1st Aug 2016, 4:00 pm | #22 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 13,454
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Re: "Contractor" UHF TV aerials
My old antenna, probably no balun and crap coax, digital reception's ok
https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=111523 (Scroll to Post#9) EDIT: Second thoughts, probably has a balun (folded dipole) It's probably full of water as I type. Lawrence. Last edited by ms660; 1st Aug 2016 at 4:07 pm. |
2nd Aug 2016, 12:48 pm | #23 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 2,495
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Re: "Contractor" UHF TV aerials
Re the downleads,
Yes, Scimitar, I agree with your point. Having used cheaper cable for quite a few years at home for experiments I moved on to fully screened units, RG57 cable (I know it is lossy but as I always had pre-amps ahead of it I was prepared to accept the losses) and using F-type connectors for a better impedance match compared to Belling & Lee plug/sockets. Incidently, did you ever deal with any of the Channel 5 blocker filters? The short connecting cable supplied acted as a good aerial. No wonder I read of advice to 'throw it away'! |
2nd Aug 2016, 2:19 pm | #24 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Gloucestershire, UK.
Posts: 720
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Re: "Contractor" UHF TV aerials
Yes we were involved in the C5 Retune fiasco. We just did things our own way and sorted the issue without recourse to them. I had a newspaper article written about the business around that time, in an attempt to educate the public.
One of the issues with lossy cable is tilt. A standard pre-amp can't overcome that of course. |
2nd Aug 2016, 8:00 pm | #25 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 9,433
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Re: "Contractor" UHF TV aerials
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3rd Aug 2016, 1:43 am | #26 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 1966-1976 Coverack in Cornwall and Helston Cornwall. 1976-present Bristol/Bath area.
Posts: 2,967
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Re: "Contractor" UHF TV aerials
I have a roof mounted group c/d 13 element contract aerial which was probably fitted nearly 40 years ago when the house was new. It still works well giving good reception on all the available Mendip Freeview channels including the two HD muxes on the lower group A channels. So if it physically holds up it should continue to give good results after they clear the 700Mhz of TV channels in a few years time.
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Simon BVWS member |
3rd Aug 2016, 11:13 am | #27 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 2,495
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Re: "Contractor" UHF TV aerials
Re lossy cable.
I agree tilt can be a problem if you are wanting really wide-band performance. In my case I was only using a frequency span represented approximately by a TV Group. Finding a good low-noise pre-amp which has good high level handling characteristics (for strong out-of-channel signals) I found to be more of an issue! Actually I need to correct my earlier post no. 23 where I said I used RG57 cable. I looked again this morning and I actually use both RG 59 /U and URM 70. They may be lossy but they are flexible and RF tight. Whilst I could have used satellite Al foil cable I feel it is not designed for frequent flexing - rather such cables are more appropriate for a fit-once-and-forget satellite dish installation. I still use my collection of non-specified coaxes (both VHF era and earlier UHF era) for less demanding uses, so I'm not hung up on any particular one. |
4th Aug 2016, 8:32 am | #28 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,007
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Re: "Contractor" UHF TV aerials
I'm told that this was one of the reasons for the failure of ONDigital/ITV-digital: unlike when you got Sky (or BSB), with ONDigital you didn't have any obvious new aerial with which to advertise the fact!
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