I live in a small steep valley in a very hilly area (Innisfail, Queensland,
Australia) with a nearby ridge just preventing 'line-of-sight' to the TV
broadcast tower (Mt. Bellenden Ker, pictu
http://www.gu.edu.au/ins/collections...tml/16-17.html ). To make
matters worse, there is a wall of trees in the way, and the electricity
powerlines run both line-of-site (to the house) and sideways on (along the
street).

Amazingly, I can get 2 VHF and 3 UHF channels on rabbit ears, but the
channel with the cricket on (604-610 MHz) is so snowy I can't really see the
ball, which is very frustrating. The only thing I have going for me (I
think) is that the back yard is so steep that I can see over the house from
30 metres away.

Is it worthwhile trying to run some twin cable up the hill to a dipole
strung between 2 trees?
Would it be: 75-300 ohm balun + any length of ribbon + 232 mm dipole?
Is there a simple way to fine tune the arrangement at the TV end once its
up?

Or can I use the garden fence mesh ( see
http://home.austarnet.com.au/davekimble/gardenfence.jpg ) by tapping into it
at 2 well-chosen points? It seems a pity to waste all that wire.

I am a novice (you guessed) so please talk slowly.

Dave

the problem with tv signals are the reflections bouncing all over the place.
This is why a dipole doesnt work too well, because they recieve equally well
all the scattered signals, which gives the snow and ghosting, the signals are
out of phase. What you need is a beam antenna, the typical tv antenna with many
elements shaped like an arrowhead. This selects the strongest signal from only
one direction, eliminating (hopefully), the snow and ghosting. A signal
amplifier mounted directly at the antenna will also help with the losses of a
long twinlead run. The antennas are typically designed with a 300 ohm
impedance, jthus 300 ohm twinlead is the match. If your tv reciever or vcr or
whatever you have in the house has a direct connection for twinlead, then just
hook up to the two screws. If it is designed for a coax cable, you will need
the little gismo that has the two screws on one end and a cable connect on the
other. This little guy is theadaptor that is the impedance transformer from
twinlead to 75ohm cable.
Good luck
your results may vary.
Don't look at the laserbeam with your remaining eye.

"ComputerDoctor" wrote in message
...
I live in a small steep valley in a very hilly area (Innisfail,
Queensland,
Australia) with a nearby ridge just preventing 'line-of-sight' to the TV
broadcast tower (Mt. Bellenden Ker, pictu
http://www.gu.edu.au/ins/collections...tml/16-17.html ). To make
matters worse, there is a wall of trees in the way, and the electricity
powerlines run both line-of-site (to the house) and sideways on (along the
street).

Amazingly, I can get 2 VHF and 3 UHF channels on rabbit ears, but the
channel with the cricket on (604-610 MHz) is so snowy I can't really see
the
ball, which is very frustrating. The only thing I have going for me (I
think) is that the back yard is so steep that I can see over the house
from
30 metres away.

Is it worthwhile trying to run some twin cable up the hill to a dipole
strung between 2 trees?
Would it be: 75-300 ohm balun + any length of ribbon + 232 mm dipole?
Is there a simple way to fine tune the arrangement at the TV end once its
up?

Or can I use the garden fence mesh ( see
http://home.austarnet.com.au/davekimble/gardenfence.jpg ) by tapping into
it
at 2 well-chosen points? It seems a pity to waste all that wire.

I am a novice (you guessed) so please talk slowly.


You might find this site interesting:

http://www.oldtvguides.com/DXPhotos/

"Ken Finney" wrote in message
...

"ComputerDoctor" wrote in message
...
I live in a small steep valley in a very hilly area (Innisfail,
Queensland,
Australia) with a nearby ridge just preventing 'line-of-sight' to the TV
broadcast tower (Mt. Bellenden Ker, pictu

You might find this site interesting:

http://www.oldtvguides.com/DXPhotos/

Thanks for that, Ken (and others).
I particularly liked the photo of the 80' guyed tower with the hot air
balloon in the background.
Now there's a thought.... :-)

As WFH said, its not so much a case of "weak signal" as too many reflected
signals.
Just for the moment I have used a 4 metre coax extension cable + balun and
moved the rabbit ears across the room, pointed them in the 'wrong'
direction, and if I sit in the opposite corner and the dog keeps still, it
is definitely an improvement.
India are 3 for 427 on the second day :-(

ComputerDoctor wrote:


As WFH said, its not so much a case of "weak signal" as too many reflected
signals.

Well, since Australia uses COFDM for digital TV, assuming that
station
is available in digital, just get a digital STB and you are in
business.

That's the Euro-DVB party line.

It's a lie. You still need signal!

That said, get a big Yagi as high as you can get, an
antenna mounted preamp, and see what you get analog. If it's
reasonably good S/N but somewhat ghosty, check up on their
digital and if they are on, go digital.

At least in the US digital TV is simply amazing ....
I'm getting reliable reception from a station with a path
loss of 183 dB (for a dipole receiving antenna of course),
using a big antenna and GaAsFet preamp.

Doug McDonald