23rd Nov 2020, 11:28 am | #741 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
I searched out Wireless World listings for 1952 on the Web. Belling & Lee ran a regular series of adverts in WW. The search came up with the following:
https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Wir...ld-1952-10.pdf On WW page no. 390 there is a photo of some aerials - and yes a B&L 3 element aerial there does not have a bracket and is a plain dipole. So the mystery persists. |
23rd Nov 2020, 5:19 pm | #742 | |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
Quote:
Yes, I'm just about to post something about the Hungerford relay! |
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23rd Nov 2020, 5:29 pm | #743 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
I was in the Hungerford area again today and took this photo of an antenna that's probably quite a rarity.
Hungerford and the Kennet valley west from Newbury was a bit of a problem-area for VHF TV reception: too far south for Sutton Coldfield/Lichfield, too far West for the London transmitters to reach it reliably and many parts were too much in-the-valley for Rowridge to make it 'over the hill'. So there was a small low-power relay set up just outside Hungerford, to serve the town and surrounding villages [Lambourn, Ramsbury, Axford, Froxfield, Bedwyn). It was horizontally-polarised, like almost all low-power relays. BI on channel 3; there was also a BIII relay near Marlborough on channel-7. I think this rather unusual antenna must have been for these relays. Horizontal dipole with a sort-of 'delta feed' for BI, and folded dipole for BIII. Anyone else seen one like it? |
23rd Nov 2020, 5:31 pm | #744 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
This one's in Marlborough. Pointing south-south-east I guess it's for Rowridge, since it's much too far West for a reliable signal from London, even with a 3-element antenna.
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23rd Nov 2020, 7:44 pm | #745 | |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
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24th Nov 2020, 11:26 am | #746 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
Re post no. 744:
That looks like an Antiference 4 element FM aerial (model FM244T) to me... But vertical polarization mounting is unusual for an aerial of that era. |
24th Nov 2020, 9:01 pm | #747 | |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
Quote:
Sorry if this is a bit of a wander from the topic.
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25th Nov 2020, 11:39 am | #748 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
Re post no. 745:
Akuram1, since you have been fortunate to have your hands on a 3 el B&L can you travel back down memory lane and answer a question about them please? Did B&L have a special way of connecting the 75 Ohm downlead coax to their aerial as the impedance of a plain dipoled 3 el would have been well below 75 Ohms? |
25th Nov 2020, 12:28 pm | #749 | |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
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25th Nov 2020, 1:28 pm | #750 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
Thanks akuram1 for the info. I guess that B&L may have used a short length of different impedance coax to act as a quarter wave transformer in order to get the downlead to match to the dipole.
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14th Dec 2020, 2:34 pm | #751 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
This BIII antenna - with its coax flapping sadly in the wind - is in central Swindon. It points almost due-West, which confuses me as to what it would receive - both Wenvoe and St.Hilary are too far away!
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17th Dec 2020, 2:58 am | #752 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
If those aerials in Swindon are pointing west it’s most likely to be St Hilary and Wenvoe. It is quite surprising when you drive past Swindon on the M4 or go to Royal Wootten Bassett the VHF/FM signal from Wenvoe is very strong indicating that the VHF 405 line signals from St Hilary and Wenvoe did cover parts of Swindon. I think Swindon has always been considered as part of the BBC West and HTV West television regions back in the 405 line days.
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18th Dec 2020, 5:35 pm | #753 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
Yes I think you're right suggesting that they're for St.Hillary/Wenvoe.
I used to live in Leigh (little hamlet just to the north-west of Swindon) and we had 2 UHF TV antennas pointing 180 degrees apart. One was for "West" ITV/BBC, the other pointed at Membury for the 'Central/Midlands' content] Today I spotted another BIII antenna in 'Old Town' Swindon but didn't have my camera with me. Watch this space. |
29th Dec 2020, 10:37 am | #754 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
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29th Dec 2020, 10:41 am | #755 | |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
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29th Dec 2020, 11:45 am | #756 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
Plenty of folks used coat hangers ,till they ruined the aerial socket!
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31st Dec 2020, 3:17 pm | #757 | |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
Quote:
[Swindon originally fell into a sort-of RF-hole because it was too far south for good Sutton-Coldfield/Lichfield Midlands Region, too far West for the London stations, too far East for BBC/ITV West, and too far North for the transmitters covering the South Coast] |
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31st Dec 2020, 7:10 pm | #758 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
I remember seeing some BBC information about the Swindon band 1 relay, it was on Ch3, horizontal polarisation.. Not the ideal channel as Rowridge was also on 3 and they did say some Co channel interference might be encountered.
They'd have been better off using Ch6 on band3.. Dont think it came on till very late in the 405 era, 1968 or even '69. |
1st Jan 2021, 4:31 pm | #759 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
Swindon was on Channel B3, Horiz, 200 Watts, carrying the BBC West region.
Channel 6 as a potential alternative channel may have had interference from Sandy Heath (Horiz) and Ridge Hill (Vert). Channel 6 's allocation had been used by Cambridge Radio-Astronomy until the mid 1960s. |
1st Jan 2021, 4:35 pm | #760 |
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Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.
I used a coat hanger on an old 405 line portable when i lived in Chipping Norton back in the day ,good picture but as you say ,bent the aerial socket until the connection snapped.
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Oh I've had that for years dear!! |