ATV`s Choice Of Aerials for digital TV

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Appendix

ATV`s Choice Of Aerials (And Why We Chose Them.....)

The subjects on this page are listed in the following order :

ATV`s Choice of TV Aerials & The Great Wideband Debate (incl Benchmarked aerials)

Our Aerial Recommendations

Aerial Dimensions (and aerial box dimensions)

Major Transmitters (and which aerials they require)

(Also see ATV`s choice of FM / DAB aerials)

Our preferred model of Yagi18 Aerial, which is available in A, B, C/D, K and E groups.

These antennas have significantly better build quality than any X Beam aerial I`ve seen.

For loft mounted installs we`d recommend the XB10A or XB10B over the Yagi18A or Yagi18B.

DM Log Periodic Aerial

The perfect aerial for reasonable signal areas. The strong construction of this 26 element aerial and its relatively compact size also make it well suited for use in boats and caravans as well as no houses. Only available in wideband.

We recommend our grouped Yagi18 (or if you have to go wideband, our DY14WB) for poor areas of reception. Despite being significantly smaller (wind loading wise) than most “high gain” wideband aerials, the group A will blow away any wideband antenna, and the group B outperform the vast majority of them. The version we stock has the best performance of all the Yagi18s on the market, it has a "balun", a cradle and a tilting clamp for poles up to 2”.

Last, but by no means least, these Yagi18s are one of the sturdiest aerials on the market. Many people replace Bacofoil aerials with these and are amazed at the difference in build quality, and you will be too....... I`ve always liked them, they`re one of my favourites.

For gain figures see test results. For dimensions see table.

See Aerial Reports for the Yagi 18A, Yagi 18B, Yagi 18C/D, Yagi 18K and Yagi 18E.

Yagi18 Approx wind loading (at 80mph) = 75 / 80N (greater if vertically polarised)

Examples of the major transmitters which can utilise a grouped Yagi18 are listed below.

Incredible as it may seem these aerials are actually Bench Marked.....

But it`s not just the fact it`s a “Bacofoil” aerial, it`s bleedin` gold for God`s sake !

Who would want one of these on their house ?

Answers on a post card to :

A.T.V,

“1970s TV Competition Reminiscences”,

419 Langsett Rd,

Sheffield,

S6 2LL

We didn`t like having to send in postcards did we ?

Ohh no.

What we really wanted to do was pay through the nose to waste our time phoning up premium rate phone lines instead ! Yes Siree Boss Hogg !

Anyway, back to Benchmarked aerials. But, and it`s a significant but, just because an

aerial is not benchmarked does not mean that it is in any way inferior. Quite apart from the fact that there are four different levels of Benchmarking (so you have to be specific about what you mean) most grouped variants of the same model of aerial are not Benchmarked whilst the wideband version is Benchmarked ! Bearing in mind that at over its designed for frequencies the grouped model will perform better than the wideband (sometimes by a large margin) this seems somewhat bizarre. With a bit of background information the explanation is not hard to comprehend. It costs the aerial manufacturers up to one thousand pounds to

put an aerial through the Benchmarking process so they will only do this for products which they will sell a fair number of and/or make a fair bit of money on. When you realise that widebands outsell grouped aerials by a large margin (most aerial suppliers - to the public - and all DIY shops only sell widebands) it all becomes clear.

In short, a version (usually the wideband) of all our recommended aerials is Benchmarked.

But, as far as I`m concerned, it`s irrelevant. I`ve done my own tests thanks.

See “the wrong aerial for Crystal Palace” (or any A group transmitter)

Back to the top

Our Aerial Recommendations

We sometimes get people asking to buy “the best aerial you stock, regardless of cost”. Unfortunately, contrary to what others may tell you (particularly if they`re trying to sell you an expensive antenna.....), there is no such thing as a “best aerial”. It all depends on the signal strength in your area and (if you`re in a poor spot) which transmitter you are on.

Basically I have made a decision to only stock the best aerial of each type that anyone might require, and days of testing (by my good self) ensures I can say this with a certain amount of authority. Therefore the simple answer is that all of our aerials are the best ! Any aerial (or indeed any product) we stock will be a top notch product, because, to put it simply, if it wasn`t we wouldn`t stock it. Incidentally, unlike most suppliers, we endeavour to provide spares for aerials purchased from us.

The Log Periodics are amongst our cheaper aerials but if you live in a strong or medium signal area they are the best aerials to use, “better” than an XB22WB ! Similarly if you live in a marginal area but can utilise a grouped antenna, a grouped Yagi18 is more suitable than the aforementioned 22 bay wideband X Beam, despite being much cheaper.......

After much experimentation and research we have settled on seven types of aerial.

DM Log P eriodic Wid eband (For good signal areas)

Log 40 Log Periodic Wideband (For medium to medium/poor signal areas)

Yagi18 A / B / CD / K / E or XB10 A / B / K (For poor signal areas)

DY14 Wideband (For poor signal areas)

XB16 A / B / K / E (For the most marginal signal areas)

XB22 Wideband (For the most marginal signal areas)

See our advice for which aerial to use with which transmitter.

ATV`s Choice Of Aerials & The Great Wideband Debate

Whether to use a wideband or not is a source of much debate. The CAI and the BBC recommend the installation of wideband aerials. For most installs, i.e. those in strong or medium signal strength areas (90% of homes, or more ? ), we agree with them and advise the installation of one or other of the Log Periodics, which are wideband anyway. If your transmitter is a wideband we would (obviously) also advise fitting a wideband even if you live in a marginal signal area.

So far so good.

However if you live in a poor reception area and your transmitter is grouped, many of those in the aerial industry, diverge quite markedly from this blanket wideband advice. As shown on the Aerials page (amongst others) a grouped antenna will give you significantly more signal, and even the BBC agree with this, see middle of page 2 on the linked PDF. In fact a little further down the same page they advise the fitment of a “high gain” aerial for areas of low signal strength. But, if you are on an A group transmitter, there is no such thing as a high gain wideband aerial ! Reading this customer aerial report (and the others) is very educational on this point. To a lesser extent this high gain wideband inferiority also applies to B group transmitters and K group transmitters.

So what is the explanation for this inconsistency ?

Well, being a cynic I think it`s yet another example of the modern trend to “pass the buck”.It`s easy for “the powers that be” to recommend widebands because they cover themselves if (and it is an if...) they ever decide to start transmitting out of band in the future. But it isn`t them who have to put up with a potentially weaker signal. It isn`t them who have to try and explain to a customer that they should put up with a poor picture with the excuse that “your signal should improve at DSO, by the way, how do you want to pay, cash or cheque ?”.

The customers usual answer ?

I think you can guess.

Maybe we should invite the BBC or CAI down to make excuses to the customer for us.

What do you think their answer to our request would be ?

I think you can guess.

Haven`t I just said that ?

You see, wideband aerials in a marginal signal area ? It isn`t that simple......

The post DSO frequencies have now been released by Ofcom so you can check for yourself whether you may end up needing a wideband in the foreseeable future, though we have added the information to our site where relevant. Even the advent of HDTV in 2010 did not require any more widebands than before. There is the possibility of some additional local TV channels via the the "interleaved spectrum", plus a chance of 2 or 3 more MUXES being transmitted between CHs 31 and 37. But the great majority of people will pick up all these on an aerial of the original group for the relevant transmitter. Whatever the truth of the matter I`d have thought that people should be more bothered about getting a reliable digital signal now, and for what`s definitely planned, rather than risking a less reliable signal for what may, or may not, happen at some time in the future.

Finally, we are often asked whether our recommended aerials are “CAI Benchmarked”. The simple answer is that some are and some aren`t. Why ? Well, as with wideband aerials, this is not a simple question..... We agree that any attempt to encourage the manufacture and sale of better quality aerials is a good thing. Most Benchmarked aerials are of good quality, though structural durability is not taken into account in the scheme. In fact it has to be said that a few of them are “Bacofoil” aerials, no names no packdrill.....

Oh go on then, SLX/Labgear/Philex/Maxview.

We are more than willing to give advice to those actually purchasing from us.

Could those only seeking information please just find the answer somewhere on this site,

or ring an aerial installer local to them, or call the reception advice phone numbers.

DY14WB

If you have to go wideband and you live in a poorreception area we recommend our DY14WB. The DY14 Wideband is a “Double Yagi” type aerial and is well made, in fact These antennas also have significantly better build quality than any X Beam aerial I`ve seen. The aerial has a "balun", a cradle and a tilting clamp for poles up to 2”.

Size for size the DY14WB is aerial is the best wideband I`ve ever come across, in fact its performance is even reasonable in the A and B groups, though obviously a decent group A aerial (or our XB16 group B) will have more gain in the relevant groups frequencies.

The DY14 is a good choice for someone needing to fit a high gain wideband aerial in the loft because it`s only 5 ft long, which is pretty compact for an aerial with this amount of gain.

For gain figures see test results. For dimensions see table.

See Aerial Reports on the DY14WB

Approx wind loading (at 80mph) = 90N (greater if vertically polarised)

Due to wind loading considerations if fitting to a 10ft pole we advise using the 2” variety.

DY14 Wideband up at our test site.

(note how the cradles are fitted perpendicularly to the dipoles/directors)

If you are unsure of the transmitter you will use, but you are sure you need

a “high gain” aerial (most people don`t need one....) then this is the antenna

I`d go for.

XB10 up at our test site.

Note Emley Moor in the background.

The XB10 A / B / K is an alternative to the equivalent Yagi18 for poor areas of reception.

Although the XB10s have marginally more gain we normally recommend the grouped Yagi18s for outside installs because of their exceptional build quality. However, if you`re using the aerial in a loft it`s often a good idea to go for an XB10 because their smaller size enables more flexibility over where to install them within the roof space, furthermore they can also be end mounted (though we recommend cradle mounting the aerial for external installs). For an X Beam type these aerials are pretty strongly constructed and come with a cradle and tilting clamp for poles up to 2”.

For gain figures see test results. For dimensions see table.

XB10 Approx wind loading (at 80mph) = 95N (greater if vertically polarised)

Due to wind loading considerations if fitting to a 10ft pole we advise using the 2” variety.

Examples of the major transmitters which can utilise an XB10A / B / K are listed below.