crinklystarfish Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Now we are properly into digital terrestrial TV broadcasts has anyone got any experience of the effectiveness of omni-directional aerials please? I've traditionally used Grade directional products (Status 500 series) and have been happy with them but they are not a viable / desirable option on my current 'van. I'm not that bothered about TV but sometimes will spend half an hour watching the news if it happens to be on. Because I'm just a casual watcher I don't want the faff of external post / tripod mounted stuff, and aren't even a bit interested in satellite broadcasts. I'm tempted to try one of the Status 300 series omni-directional jobbies; anyone use one - or similar - to good effect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 We had one on our previous van..and we didn't find it of much use to be honest.... We ended up getting a small square,easy to transport,aerial thing from Maplins,which we just mounted on a pole,clamped to the rear bike rack..which worked better Similar to this: http://www.maplin.co.uk/outdoor-digital-aerial-46230 (..but certainly not "the same",as I wouldn't have paid 40 quid for it!? :-S ) Our current van came with a Status directional set-up,which works very well...but I'm not sure whether pay the sort of money they ask or drill a ruddy great hole through the roof to have one fitted though.... ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebeaches Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 These Avtex aerials appear to get quite good reviews everywhere - have been thinking of getting one myself. They are amplified and therefore need a 12-volt power source, but understand use very little juice. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Avtex-STH1000-Suction-Mounted-Caravan/dp/B0044XE9IS/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1330523629&sr=1-1-catcorr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 They only work with Avtex TV sets as that is what feeds the supply to the aerial via a special setting on the TV. Having said that they do seem to work fairly well. We have a directional aerial which we used to set using s signal strength meter in analogue areas. Oddly in arears that have gone digital for technical reasons they tend to give the same reading no matter what direction they are pointed in. Without going into details this is due to the nature of digital signals. It's not a problem as we simply point them in the same direction as the wardens are using and it works fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everhopeful Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I had an omni for a while, and found it a bit lacking when the signal was anything below good. So, if you only go to sites near to civilisation with a good signal, then ok. But, if you use remote sites then don't expect too much. Personally I wouldn't bother with the small, amplified internal jobs as they will require a fairly good signal to work. Digital reception is a different beast to analogue. Analogue will often work, if badly, in a poor area. Digital needs the signal to be above a threshold before it will work at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Had an omni on a hire van couple of years back, only time we got signal was when we left digital area and got an analogue signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 We have a Status omni-directional ariel, as said previously even with the amplfier on, if you are not in a good signal area you either get a signal that keeps breaking up or no signal at all. We got a Maplin Satelite system and use that if we are stopping more than one nightl It is excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whiskers Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 I have an omni directional that was supplied by Wildax, it isn't a Status. It was absolutely useless on analogue but works well on digital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crinklystarfish Posted March 1, 2012 Author Share Posted March 1, 2012 Thanks to all for contributions so far, there are certainly some option there that I hadn't previously considered, I'd become a little 'Status blinkered' it's fair to say. Any more ideas welcome, it will be a couple of weeks before I make a purchase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Hi Crinkly, Our MH came fitted with a Status 315 Omni and as we didn't take a TV with us I removed it and replaced it with a blanking panel. Now we have bought a TV as the OH wants to watch the Olympics when we are 'up north' in the summer rather than even attempt to refit the Staus I have bought a Labgear High-Gain aerial from Screwfix for £20 Link and plan to mount it on a pole from the bike rack when needed. At least with a decent aerial I should be able to get good reception. And I already have an aerial signal finder to help set it up. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 We have a status 315 fitted and of 40 plus sites visited last year we were only unable to get digital on one site, Cromer in Norfolk which had no digital signal at time. We struggled on the built in entertainment system inmour AutoTrail but had no problems when using the Avtex set in the bedroom. We were considering having a sat system fitted but don't think we will bother now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Omni-directional aerials will recieve signals from all directions, that is direct from the transmitter and also the same transmission reflected off the local hill or gas holder. Consequently some signals from the same transmitter take slightly longer to reach your aerial than others. With Analogue this causes ghosting. With digital when bad enough the decoder will no longer work and you will have no picture. So, for a boat at sea you can get away with an ombi-directional antenna if the signal is strong enough (not many hills at sea) but for a motorhome a directional antenna is far better. It has a better signal to noise ratio and significantly more signal gain. But you do need to point it at the transmitter. C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickt Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Last year there were problems with the signal in Norfolk and Suffolk. They moved the transmitting bands about and about July this year they will be doing that again and also turning the transmitting power up . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Just been talking to s friend who supples and fits arial for a living. He tells me that a directional arial is very much preferable. He also said that on sites where analogue worked there should be no problem with digital as when an area is changed over the signals are boosted and become stronger than the old analogue signals. There may in some cases be a problem with the signal being too strong with some TV sets and on occasion this has been the problem when people have complained of poor signals. He has variable atenuators he fits when this happens. The signal in our area is now at full strength and having moved my arial into the loft space at my suggestion he is now doing a good trade offering to move massive external arials into the loft space and replacing them with high efficiency smaller ones. High winds we had a few weeks ago that blew a few down have helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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