Anyway to check a tv ariel?

[GoCoeGo]

Having just got round to looking at the tv situation, it seems it may well be gubbed!
Does anyone know if any checks. E.g continuity, are worth doing on the incoming antenna line? Will it even meter out? We mostly use a firestick so it's not too much of an issue. But it will bother me.

I have a vision plus amplifier which is powered. And a status 350 antenna. I'm confident that the cable is good at least.

Lastly, I am trying it next to my house. In somewhat of a suburban cul-de-sac. Now despite it being omnidirectional, could it just be because it's too low? (I would still expect to see channels if that was the case-just not view them)

 

[Vansflyer]

In a word, no. If you have a spectrum analyser / signal strength meter you can see if the aerial is working or not. Best thing you can do is look up your local transmitter and what channels are being transmitted on which frequencies. Eg: BBC 1, 2 etc is put put on channel 55 on UHF band. Go to your van TV and access manual tuning, does channel 55 show any signal strength / quality. If house TV shows 80% strength and van aerial says 0% your van has an issue...hope that helps.

 

[daveandsan]

I have exactly the same setup and to be honest it isn’t ideal. If I park up alongside our house I get nothing.

 

[Gellyneck]

Are all 3 outputs the same issue?
Is the aerial powered and, if so, is power reaching it?
Is there a power feed from the tv that's been turned off?

 

[meanders]

Agree with the above. However, I suspect two things are at play here?
1. The local transmitter may be broadcasting in Vertical polarisation. Despite the claim that it works for both horizontal and vertical transmissions, it's clearly not tall enough to have a vertical pole, let alone a dipole, so simple physics tells you that it's only ever going to work in good signal areas where the signal is vertical.
If horizontal, its still a compromise with this type of antenna. Transmissions are on groups A through E. The receiving dipole on a group A aerial is about 17cm whereas a group E is less than 10cm.
Transmitter details by location can be found at https://www.freeview.co.uk/corporate/detailed-transmitter-information. The V or H on the right hand columns show the polarisation.
2. It's unclear from Google, but I suspect the antenna also needs 'phantom power' over the cable from the amplifier. Bell out the cable going to the antenna. Screen to core should be about 1kohm when disconnected from the amp. Then test the output on the amplifier, you are looking for DC volts between screen and core is somewhere between 5.5 and 15V, although possibly also 48V.

Short and long of it though is that digital terrestrial TV really needs an aerial of the right group mounted to match the transmitter and pointing at it.

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[daveandsan]

I have exactly the same setup and to be honest it isn’t ideal. If I park up alongside our house I get nothing.

Just another thought, is your amplifier turned up to max and are you using 75 ohm coax cable?

 

[pappajohn]

House aerials are all directional for a reason.
Ditch the useless piece of junk and fit a proper directional aerial.

 

[LostInSpace]

House aerials are all directional for a reason.

Agreed.

A TV signal finder should help. I have only used a satellite version, but the results should help.

 

[daveandsan]

Agreed.

A TV signal finder should help. I have only used a satellite version, but the results should help.

The status 350 antenna is omni directional so a signal finder won’t be of any use.

 

[meanders]

Just another thought, is your amplifier turned up to max and are you using 75 ohm coax cable?

Assuming that there are not yards and yards of cable coiled between amp and the external antenna, it will not matter if it's 50, 75, 80, 160 or 300 ohm cable. Indeed it's not going to make much difference if it's twin and earth except it would be more likely to pick up interference and would be a nightmare to terminate. Cable impedance only become an issue ove long lengths, and is the national impedance on an infinitely long straight run.

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