Freeview, aerials and new TV's

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Proinsias

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My mum just bought a 32" flatscreen thingie and a 19" one for the kitchen.

So, freeview all round with good quality telllies.

Currently she has an aerial in the loft, I would say the picture is ok, not great, but then I have cable.

The one aerial in the loft fed one telly. Now there are two. What's to be done?

My dad seems to think it is a bad idea to plug two tv's into one aerial, I'm thinking it might be better to have one good aerial on the roof than two in the loft.

According to Wolfbane she needs a hi-gain aerial but this doesn't mean much to me.

Advice?

*edit* maybe using the loft aerial for the wee telly and a shiny new roof aerial for the big telly?
 
Without an oversized aerial for the situation and a proper low-loss splitter I wouldn't divide an aerial...

Your idea of following Wolfbane advice for sizing at least one of the aerials is reasonable. You may find that the aerials can be had (from CPC for example for about £12-15 each -- at which you may decide to get two...)
 
Another solution would be to get a signal amplifier preferably with a couple of outputs, one for each TV, better rather than trying to amplify a signal that's already split.

I've had a SLX amp for years not this one specifically but something like this will do the job.

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Remember though that aerial amps are almost always used incorrectly - they're supposed to be used to overcome unavoidable cable losses in long runs or extensive distribution systems - not a substitute for a proper signal level in the first place.

Last place you should ever have an aerial amp is behind the telly (after the cable with the low signal has had interference added - you amplify the noise too) - should always be as near the source (ie. aerial) as it's practical to be.

I'd still go for the extra aerial - it's passive (so no power parts to go wrong, or to eat electricity - might seem cheap now, it won't be in 5 years time) and if it's inside the roof you'll never need to buy another - unless your dad trips over it getting the Christmas tree down).
 
Yes if you use an amplifier it will amplify any distortion as well as the signal you want. Even inside any given area there will be bad sppts and good spots. I can see my nearest transmitter across the water but my signal is rubbish because it is reflected and distorted by the hills. If it is easy to drop another cable I would use a separate aerial for the same reason HM said, if it is a pain then you could try splitting and see how it looks but two aerials is the preferred option.
 
If you're running new downleads - make sure they're made of double copper-screened cable (what they sell as "satellite" cable) it gives considerably better impulse interference protection than the old brown low-loss stuff (at least it was low loss in 1958). The black is generally believed to be more durable for some unfathomable reason - but that could be a lower consideration if it's being tacked across a white wall of course.
 
Cheers guys.

I think another loft aerial with a decent cable is where we'll end up. I've seen some gable end type aerials that would be handy for the little telly as it would be fixed right above the outside wall that the telly will be stuck to, but it seems a little pointless to have the wee kitchen telly linked up to a large outdoor aerial and the big telly feeding off the wee loft aerial.
 
Unless you need to put it outside, I wouldn't - that way it'll last forever... (for what it's worth I'm in an Extra High Gain area according to Wolfbane - I get signals from two transmitters from the same aerial (it has a massive lobe on the rear left and rear right which is perfect for the other antenna) from inside the roofspace.
 
I'd read that the only upside of a loft aerial is that it will last longer than one outside - if it's in anyway analogous to a mobile signal then mine is awful in the loft but fantastic if I stick my head out of the loft window.

We'll probably go for the loft option but I can't shake the idea that the signal is going to be much better without a roof surrounding the aerial.

The general logic was roof = best, roof in the way = worse, wall in the way = worse again, loads of walls = the worst.
 
For sure it cuts the signal strength, but you overcome that with a bigger aerial... if you can't get a big enough aerial in the roofspace (I had to construct mine in situ because it wouldn't go through the hatch) then you have no choice but an external mount (on a steel pole though alloy ones have a tendency to bend under high wind - couple around here are still folded around the chimney from earlier in the winter)
 
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