About to replace a status aerial

Hi, my Symbol came with an old status omnidirectional aerial fitted. It's rubbish doesn't seem to pick up any stations. I've been looking at the roof mounted direction aerials but before I potentially waste money I'd appreciate any advice.

Has your Status Omni got a signal booster? Mine has, and with the gain turned up the aerial has no problems picking up channels in the UK.
Al.

bikeralw wrote:Has your Status Omni got a signal booster? Mine has, and with the gain turned up the aerial has no problems picking up channels in the UK.
Al.

Yes it's has but still no signal,maybe it's just old like me!

Hi , only my experience but my father had a Omni status on his Duetto ,was frustrated with lack of performance , took it apart and found a piece of wire and nothing else!! My own experience  was we had a Status 530 fitted to our Pilote  and it was good, the Teleco fitted to our Nuevo is just as good , I think the main thing I would advise is to get a good signal meter ,it does make a lot of difference. Best of luck and happy viewing!   Regards  Paul

Before replacing anything I would check all the connections. I had the same problem but found that a cheap connector had failed, I replaced it and bingo everything worked. Perhaps you could test it in an area of good reception.
Rich..

Hi Tony,

We bought our '98 Topaz back in May and have one of these. Couldn't get any channels but turns out it's an analogue aerial! I called status and their digital aerials are a direct replacement that can fit in the existing mount. That said Maplin had a portable freesat satellite system for around the same price recently which might be an alternative. We haven't used our van enough yet to decide which way to go.

Nige

Hi

NigelNomad wrote:We bought our '98 Topaz back in May and have one of these. Couldn't get any channels but turns out it's an analogue aerial! I called status and their digital aerials are a direct replacement that can fit in the existing mount.

Ah that old Chestnut. Whoever told you that is plain wrong. Hopefully just ill-informed and not trying to con you!   There is no such thing as a digital or analogue aerial, just an aerial. Don’t be fooled into spending money.

Here is an article on the BBC website from the switch over days, it’s old but still very relevant.

Quote from article:

“Five installers told the mystery shopper they would need a "digital aerial" to receive digital TV, when in fact there is no such thing.”

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NigelNomad wrote:That said Maplin had a portable freesat satellite system for around the same price recently which might be an alternative. We haven't used our van enough yet to decide which way to go.

I have a ”satellite suitcase”, bought from Maplin about seven years ago. It’s a little fiddly to set up but once you get used to it you can do it in less than five minutes. It was cheap but has always worked (in the UK at least) providing that you can get a clear view of the south-east sky.

Of course if it’s raining you’re going to get wet   but If you want convenience you need to spend a lot more. One caveat, in the north of Scotland or in parts of Europe you may need a bigger dish bit the rest of the kit should still work.

Brod

Interesting, I didn't realise that Brod, I thought there was a difference between analogue and digital aerials. Guess I'd better check my connections! I won't bother buying the newer status 'digital' aerial then:)

So I'm  back home so I thought I'd check all the connections,still no channels. Fitted everything back but connected straight from the aerial to the tv and voila 130 channels!
Maybe it's because I'm in an area with a strong signal or did I read somewhere that Avtek TVs Have a built in amplifier?

brodco wrote:Hi

NigelNomad wrote:We bought our '98 Topaz back in May and have one of these. Couldn't get any channels but turns out it's an analogue aerial! I called status and their digital aerials are a direct replacement that can fit in the existing mount.

Ah that old Chestnut. Whoever told you that is plain wrong. Hopefully just ill-informed and not trying to con you!   There is no such thing as a digital or analogue aerial, just an aerial. Don’t be fooled into spending money.

Here is an article on the BBC website from the switch over days, it’s old but still very relevant.

Quote from article:

“Five installers told the mystery shopper they would need a "digital aerial" to receive digital TV, when in fact there is no such thing.”

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LOL yes you are absolutely right yet thousands (possibly millions!) of folk have fallen for it hook line and sinker!

I remember when digital days were approaching and i kept seeing these weird aerials going up. Neighbour had one. I asked the fitter what they were for and with a smirk he told me, "they are the new aerials for digital mate"......"oh i didn't know we needed to replace the aerial" i replied, "you don't mate, the type you have (Yagi) will still receive and is a better design as there's less wind resistance so will last longer. It's all b*ll*cks but at £150 a pop we are creaming in a fortune replacing perfectly good aerials!!"

Wroxham29 wrote:So I'm  back home so I thought I'd check all the connections,still no channels. Fitted everything back but connected straight from the aerial to the tv and voila 130 channels!
Maybe it's because I'm in an area with a strong signal or did I read somewhere that Avtek TVs Have a built in amplifier?

If you have an Avtex tv, get one of these [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I've used mine in many European countries as well as UK. Often i find i can just leave it inside the van near a window but there is a good length of cable and sucker mount enabling outdoor fixture. Worth checking ebay as now and then a used one comes up for sale.

Thanks for setting me straight on the aerials Brod. Just found the coax braid wasn't too good. Replaced the extension coax with a spare from the loft and I now have digital tv and radio:)

NigelNomad wrote:Thanks for setting me straight on the aerials Brod. Just found the coax braid wasn't too good. Replaced the extension coax with a spare from the loft and I now have digital tv and radio:)

Hope you used 'digital' coax???????? 

PB

Hi

peugeotboxer wrote:Hope you used 'digital' coax????????  

Oh Gawd!  I can just see some marketing department reading you post and ……………

Must get one of these to get rid of the stress of it all:

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Or perhaps a set of these:

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Brod

peugeotboxer wrote:

NigelNomad wrote:Thanks for setting me straight on the aerials Brod. Just found the coax braid wasn't too good. Replaced the extension coax with a spare from the loft and I now have digital tv and radio:)

Hope you used 'digital' coax???????? 

PB

And don't forget the essential 'gold' plated HDMI plugs. Audio Quest flog "high speed" ones at a mere 59 quid a pop.....bargain!!!    

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Hi

Bulletguy wrote:And don't forget the essential 'gold' plated HDMI plugs. Audio Quest flog "high speed" ones at a mere 59 quid a pop.....bargain!!!  

Yep more marketing hype designed to part us with as much money as possible.

I think this is a case of taking a grain of truth and blowing it out of all proportion. There are some cases where plating connector contacts with a thin layer of gold is beneficial to avoid the effects of corrosion, particularly when the currents are very small or the cable is intended for use in corrosive environments.

Even then the amounts of gold are so small that the increase in cost is very modest although possibly significant to a manufacturer making a million items.
Cheap or expensive as long as both cables conform to the HDMI spec you won’t tell which is which.

Here’s another good one taken from the AudioQuest website:

"All audio cables are directional. The correct direction is determined by listening to every batch of metal conductors used in every AudioQuest audio cable."

Even if you believe that’s true (some people will) it wouldn’t have any effect on data transmission and for analogue signals because the audio signal is AC the cable is by definition the wrong way round 50% of the time.      

Brod