Apologies, I missed off 'within UK'.
Compass reference ?
- Thread starter foxhole
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Ok what exacltly is the Maidenhead locator code for and how is it used. (many of us already know where a different type of maidenhead is located..........)
It's the same as OS NGR but offset by something like 500m
If you want to know the direction to point your internal antenna, why not just look at the pointing direction of any external antennae on the buildings around you ?
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That is assuming the first installer didnt get it wrong and point the aerial to the wrong tx ( happened on a new build estate apparently, and it wasnt until an installer who used a signal strength meter did an install that lots of people realised why tv reception was carp!!)
that is just stupidity or more correctly incompetent.
I have seen that as well in a street ... where the aerials where pointing away from crystal palace - BUT CP was the main transmitter - so i set mine up with a compass and having a TV plugged in
I did write "buildings"
I have seen this near me, where one building has the antenna pointing in the reverse direction.
Howener, this is a relatively strong signal area, less than 20 km from the transmitters, which can be seen on the mountain top almost directly East, so it is possible that the (rear) signal is "satisfactory" at that location, at least for one TV !
(While I have no direct experience of this, I have seen "write-ups" of situations where a high building [or hill] blocks the direct signal and a better signal can be found reflected from another high building in the opposite direction !)
I use an amplified splitter to provide 8 outlets in various rooms in this house.
However, when I installed a similar number of outlets (also using an amplified splitter) at a friends house, which is only about 10 km from these transmitters, the (digital) signal was then too strong and overloaded the tuner inputs.
(With half the distance the signal would be four times stronger (12.5 dB) - for the same antenna configuration.)
Hence, the amplified splitter was unnecessary/damaging and was replaced with passive splitters, working on the raw antenna signal.
That is more than a 9 dB loss at each outlet but it still provides a strong signal.
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That's a lot of formatting
The best tool IMHO is that provided by the UK TV spectrum planners... i.e. the Professional view of the Freeview predictor. Only they have access to the full antenna radiation patterns and interference prediction tools used in producing the numbers there... https://www.freeview.co.uk/corporate/detailed-transmitter-information Rural postcodes need a house name or number to be more accurate. Compass bearings is one of the headline features, along with distance to the transmitter(s).
IIRC Wolfbane, particularly states that the tool assumes onmi transmit. It also hasn't been updated for the 700MHz clearance frequencies (and is likely missing some new relays for DSO and 800/700 MHz clearance knock ons).
Never trust caravanners aerials... the users frequently have no idea what they are doing.
Nearby homes are usually a bit better.
You can find apps for mobiles that have a database of transmitter sites and aid pointing... unfortunately they often assume omni transmit -- so you can be directed to a mast or tower on a nearby hillside that is actually firing into the next valley.
IIRC Wolfbane, particularly states that the tool assumes onmi transmit. It also hasn't been updated for the 700MHz clearance frequencies (and is likely missing some new relays for DSO and 800/700 MHz clearance knock ons).
Never trust caravanners aerials... the users frequently have no idea what they are doing.
Nearby homes are usually a bit better.You can find apps for mobiles that have a database of transmitter sites and aid pointing... unfortunately they often assume omni transmit -- so you can be directed to a mast or tower on a nearby hillside that is actually firing into the next valley.
Yep. I had line of sight to BBH tx and looked along the boom to point the aerial. At roughly 120° to that line was a 2.5W fill-in mast only 450m away with directional aerials pointing down into the valley. I truly expected to get that mast on a piece of wet string but absolutely nothing.The best tool IMHO is that provided by the UK TV spectrum planners... i.e. the Professional view of the Freeview predictor. Only they have access to the full antenna radiation patterns and interference prediction tools used in producing the numbers there... https://www.freeview.co.uk/corporate/detailed-transmitter-information Rural postcodes need a house name or number to be more accurate. Compass bearings is one of the headline features, along with distance to the transmitter(s).
IIRC Wolfbane, particularly states that the tool assumes onmi transmit. It also hasn't been updated for the 700MHz clearance frequencies (and is likely missing some new relays for DSO and 800/700 MHz clearance knock ons).
Never trust caravanners aerials... the users frequently have no idea what they are doing.
You can find apps for mobiles that have a database of transmitter sites and aid pointing... unfortunately they often assume omni transmit -- so you can be directed to a mast or tower on a nearby hillside that is actually firing into the next valley.
About 50m along the road my scanner showed a rock cracking signal which disappeared like a switch was thrown as I walked.
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