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Old 21st Oct 2022, 12:24 pm   #901
colourking
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Just one rod still remaining (as of Sept 2022) of a horizontal Band I on this elaborate installation in StradballyCounty Laois in the midlands of Ireland - obviously to receive BBC on the old '405' service from Divis (Belfast) approx 120 miles away . I do not know if it was for one house, or maybe there once was a mini-cable TV service of a number of nearby houses connected

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.0141...7i16384!8i8192

streetview allows a 2009 view also with a bit more of it remaining visible!

This tower obviously found other uses, a low power local radio FM filler, the transmit dipole is just below the Band I TV remnants, whilst the receive yagi is further down (most FM radio transmitters in ROI are vertical-only polarisation, unlike the UK with usually mixed polarisation).

The chimney supporting aerials to the right has a couple of more recently defunct TV aerials - MMDS ('wireless cable' approx 2.5-2.7 GHz ) at the top and a horizontal VHF III LP aerial which would have been aimed at Kippure for RTE, defunct since analogue switchoff in 2012

Last edited by colourking; 21st Oct 2022 at 12:38 pm.
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Old 21st Oct 2022, 1:16 pm   #902
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

The SE was first with ITV from Croydon started in autumn 1955, spent many long evenings fitting band 3 converters just prior to the start. The test card had G9AED on it, the significance of this I only realised when I got my ham radio license about 30 years later.

The power from Croydon was quite low, the signal was Ok with a high gain aerial and as BBC was coming from Alexandra Palace it was of a similar level which was OK until Crystal Palace started transmitting, we could see it from where we lived and as the early sets had two aerial inputs it wasn't a problem as you could just attenuate Ch1, but the newer ones only had one input which meant that BBC was completely overloaded which was a problem until some bright spark brought out a tuneable attenuator, a tuneable low pass filter.

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Old 21st Oct 2022, 5:19 pm   #903
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

That Vertical Low Band Yagi (Post #887) was probably for a trigger set to a community repeater.

The community repeater would sit on the local hill and be used by Plumbers, TV repair men that sort of thing who need a large coverage area but generate too little traffic to warrant a PMR setup of their own. They all used the same RF frequency but audio gates driven by subaudible tones (CTCSS) prevented overhearing and accidental TX if the system was already in use by others.

The office usually had the trigger set. That one is not a pretty installation...

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Old 21st Oct 2022, 7:08 pm   #904
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter.N. View Post
The SE was first with ITV from Croydon started in autumn 1955, spent many long evenings fitting band 3 converters just prior to the start. The test card had G9AED on it, the significance of this I only realised when I got my ham radio license about 30 years later.

The power from Croydon was quite low, the signal was Ok with a high gain aerial and as BBC was coming from Alexandra Palace it was of a similar level which was OK until Crystal Palace started transmitting, we could see it from where we lived and as the early sets had two aerial inputs it wasn't a problem as you could just attenuate Ch1, but the newer ones only had one input which meant that BBC was completely overloaded which was a problem until some bright spark brought out a tuneable attenuator, a tuneable low pass filter.

Peter
The mast height was increased in 1962 and the aerial system modified to give more power in a northwesterly direction(so I've read). Signal strength was never very good in the deeper southeast, Dover Ch10 being much the better signal.
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Old 22nd Oct 2022, 8:45 am   #905
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

We could get both where we lived in 63 when we got married and moved to rural Kent, I preferred Southern.

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Old 2nd Nov 2022, 4:19 pm   #906
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Here are a couple, spotted last month on the high street (leading down to the bridge over the Thames) in Wallingford, Oxon.

There are a couple more nearby but they're set back from the road so not easy to photograph.
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Old 3rd Nov 2022, 1:16 pm   #907
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Looking at the length of the remaining band1 element I would say it's for ch1 from Crystal Palace and the band 3 aerials are for Croydon on ch9.
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Old 3rd Nov 2022, 2:44 pm   #908
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Yes, they are all aimed due East down the Thames Valley to the London transmitters


Sometime in the 60s, Membury also came on stream meaning that your Band III antenna could be much smaller. Only problem being that Membury was a relay of the Midlands ITV service from Lichfield so you got news about places like Derby or Ellesmere, none of which was popular with viewers in the South of the country.
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Old 22nd Jan 2023, 2:10 pm   #909
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

I had to go over to Benson, Oxfordshire, this morning and while there took the following two photos of old 405-line antennas; both are on houses in a late-1960s-build estate, and point down the Thames Valley to the London transmitters.
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Old 22nd Jan 2023, 10:55 pm   #910
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

There's what appears to be a BI, BIII and BIV installation in Dorchester on Trinity street, looks in surprisingly good condition though one of the BIII yagi's is missing the folded dipole (looking on streetview it went missing between May 2015 and Aug 2016).

Aerials seem to be pointing in the correct direction for Rowridge and Chillerton Down (IoW), plus the vertical polarisation is correct.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.71...7i13312!8i6656
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Old 23rd Jan 2023, 11:48 am   #911
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Band 111 aerial pointing towards Arfon transmitter (I think) in Talybont, Ceredigion.
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Old 24th Jan 2023, 9:23 pm   #912
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

There is a very good one in Wilmington on the A30 in Devon, it's a 3 el band 1 vertical looks to be perfect (at 30 mph) I will take a picture of it when I remember. Almost opposite the pub I seem to recall.

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Old 7th Mar 2023, 7:12 pm   #913
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Not sure if this is one. Or was it VHF radio?

Spotted in Holywell, Oxford.
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Old 8th Mar 2023, 10:53 am   #914
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nickthedentist View Post
Not sure if this is one. Or was it VHF radio?

Spotted in Holywell, Oxford.
?

Lawrence.
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Old 9th Mar 2023, 2:15 pm   #915
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Sorry, the 4G signal in the chapel at NC isn’t great. Trying again…

Situated in the centre of Oxford and pointing approximately SE
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Old 9th Mar 2023, 4:43 pm   #916
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nickthedentist View Post
Sorry, the 4G signal in the chapel at NC isn’t great. Trying again…

Situated in the centre of Oxford and pointing approximately SE
Looking at the bricks as a rough guide I would guess a Band 1 TV antenna.

Lawrence.
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Old 9th Mar 2023, 5:38 pm   #917
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nickthedentist View Post
Sorry, the 4G signal in the chapel at NC isn’t great. Trying again…

Situated in the centre of Oxford and pointing approximately SE
Looks like a Belling- Lee three element band 1 from about 1953 era to me.
They were very well made and took ages to assemble.
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Old 9th Mar 2023, 6:20 pm   #918
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

That’s brilliant guys, thanks!

More about the house…. http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/holywell/north/030.html
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Old 9th Mar 2023, 7:02 pm   #919
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Holywell Street [and Mansfield/South Parks] seems to have quite a few remanent BI/III antennas.


[I used to spend a lot of time in that area, the Edamame Japanese Noodle-bar on Holywell Street was our traditional lunchtime venue]
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Old 10th Mar 2023, 10:06 am   #920
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Nice picture. My guess is that band 1 aerial pointing southeast from Oxford is probably for ch1 from Crystal Palace.
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