Which Antenna - Sydney

[fatslob2007]

hey guys,
im in south west sydney/fairfield area. Im in the market to buy a new tv antenna. Im not fussy on the price...anything up to $200 is ok. (and i dont care about the size of it too...the bigger the better girls tell me).

Now i have been looking at hills and matchmaster antenna, however im stumped as to which one i should get.
I want somethign that will give me good reception an all channels including digital tv and ill be connecting it to atleast 2-3 outlets.
i already have rg6 cable purchased.
i also called middys and they sell Jonsa antennas. are they any good.?

Can someone help me out? or atleast point me what i should be looking for when buying one of these antennas.

[gordon_s1942]

single story or multiple, easy access and clear of obsticles towards the Towers.
There at least 5 well known and quality brands available and although the cheapies look the same, the metal used in the elements can be flimsy and the plastics wont last long in the sun and some tend to corrode in where you connect the co-ax cable.
Your too far in for salt air corrosion but your in a fairly heavy industrialised part of Sydney so there will be airborne corrosion never the less.
Just think of standing on your roof for the next 10 years in direct temps of 50+C in summer to those gale force winds and of course it never rains in Sydney, it just bloody Pours.
Just look at what is commonly used around you but being in Sydney unlike the country you cant go knocking on doors to see how their reception is so you just have to take pot luck there.
The only thing I would try is to cross price the brands at different dealers.
MTV is the best to advise on this but I think you still need to buy a combined VHF/UHF antenna for Sydney coverage unlike the country where its mainly UHF now.

[mtv]

fatslob2007,

As gordon_s1942 had mentioned, Fairfield can have issues with impulse noise interference from industrial areas and terrain in your area is quite variable.

The bigger the better (in physical size) is about the worst antenna you can use, as the biggest antenna elements are usually for channels below channel 6, which are prone to picking up the interference.

You should ONLY install antennas for digital which is designed for VHF channels 6-12 and UHF channels 34 & 35 (for SBS & D44) You can use a VHF/UHF Band 3 & 4 combination antenna, ot better still, separate band 3 & 4
antennas with a diplexer.

The exact antenna to recommend is difficult to suggest, as it depends on what the signals are like at your location, which can only be determined by a site-test with digital-signal measuring equipment.

This test will also locate the best location to mount the antenna, as even a few centimetres in any direction (incl up/down) can make a huge difference to reception reliability.

A couple of good-performing combi antennas are Fracarro LP34F and Hills SMX24B4+

All coax should be RG6 Quadshield and F connectors used with fully-shielded F splitter and F/PAL outlet plates.

All flyleads should also be RG6 Quadshield.

If you are lucky and have a clear view towards the main noth shore transmitters, then a DIY installation should be fine. If not, I'd recommend having a pro installer do the job as Fairfield can be very problematic in some spots.

Hope this helps.

[fatslob2007]

thanks for your reply. i just dont understand why it has to be so difficult with a simple tv antenna.
my parents who live in wetherill park have a 25 year old antenna, which still receives excellent reception both digital and analog, so i just find it amazing why its so difficult. their antenna is split into 2 parts, the top smaller part and the bottom bigger part.
also these fracarro antenna's where can i pick one of those up from?
i also have a 2 story home.
also clipsal antenna's, are they any good?
so basically i should be looking at antenna's which have a good or better gain value for band 3 right?

[mtv]

That's the nature of digital.... basically perfect, or nothing!

There are many old antennas that still work fine on digital, even though they aren't designed for optimal performance.

Digital reception is like real estate.. it's all about Location, Location, Location!

Signals that are too strong can also have the same result as signals that are too low or have too many bit-errors... No reception..

Like I said, chances are you'll be fine, but without accurate signal measurements, it's impossible to predict with any certainty.

Fracarro antennas are available from in Chipping Norton.

The Hills Spectramax SMX24B4+ has more UHF gain than the Fracarro, however they are totally different designs and the Fracarro is a log-periodic design which has a very flat gain across all channels and usually has low BER, which is essential for higher signal quality.

Remember not to use any antenna for digital, that is designed to receive bands 1 & 2. eg: ABC ch 2 analogue and FM radio. Not only do such antennas pick up impulse noise interference, they will pick up very strong out-of-band signals which can cause signal overload in the digital tuner.

You need an antenna designed for bands 3 & 4 only.

The Fracarro LP34F has a VHF band 3 gain of 9dB and band 4UHF 10db

The Spectramax SMX24B4+ has a VHF band 3 gain of 7-9dB and band 4UHF 12-17db.

Clipsal antennas, I don't know the specs of, but they do have a log periodic similar to the Fracarro, but make sure it's not designed to receive any channel below channel 6.