On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:13:33 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
Ta, I'll pop along to my nearest and see what they have. That'll be a
project for when it is a bit warmer.

Can't guarantee all branches have them - or at that price, of course.

No problem - got it.

d
--
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

In article , Dave Plowman (News)
scribeth thus
In article ,
tony sayer wrote:
In article , Dave Plowman (News)
scribeth thus
Just come back from my local B&Q by Wandsworth Bridge, and notice they
have DAB aerials in their 'one pound' section.

It's an external mount folded dipole type with F-type connector on the
aerial. Complete with wall mounting and 10m cable.

Not the highest quality I'm sure but maybe the best value anywhere?


Quite in keeping with what is UK DAB;!....

Nothing if not predictable. ;-)

Indeed...
--
Tony Sayer

Don Pearce wrote:

That should do nicely. I know DAB is supposed to use mulitpath signals
actively, but I did some simulations ages ago, and you still get much
better performance by choosing the nearest transmitter and aiming a
directional antenna at it.

As an aside. I've always used my vertical Band II (aka FM band) dipole for
DAB, it works very well, pulling in distant muxes from miles away. I lashed up
a properly cut dipole for DAB (225 MHz), and stuck it nearby. It was no better
(or worse) than the Band II.

Of course the Band II dipole is half wave within its band, but full wave(ish)
in the DAB band.

I split the feed passively between my FM tuner in the living room, and DAB
'Midi' system in the kitchen.


--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

Don Pearce wrote:

That should do nicely. I know DAB is supposed to use mulitpath signals
actively, but I did some simulations ages ago, and you still get much
better performance by choosing the nearest transmitter and aiming a
directional antenna at it.

As an aside. I've always used my vertical Band II (aka FM band) dipole for
DAB, it works very well, pulling in distant muxes from miles away. I lashed up
a properly cut dipole for DAB (225 MHz), and stuck it nearby. It was no better
(or worse) than the Band II.

Of course the Band II dipole is half wave within its band, but full wave(ish)
in the DAB band.

I split the feed passively between my FM tuner in the living room, and DAB
'Midi' system in the kitchen.


--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

In article , Pete Smith wrote:
I'm off to B&Q to see if my local one has any. *I got a good deal last year*
on the MegaBoost TV aerial with preamp and PSU. *£10 clearance and nearly*
£50 in Argos. *They're made by Philips.

I've just bought an internet radio in Comet for £39, less than you might spend
on an aerial for a DAB radio, and it doesn't need an aerial at all! Well, not
an external one at any rate. Presumably it has something built in that enables
it to pick up my wireless network anywhere in the house. I can either use it
as a little standalone bedside radio with its own loudspeaker, or listen in
stereo on headphones, or plug it into the hi-fi. Sound quality is variable,
but the best stations are a lot better than DAB, and there are *thousands* of
them!

Disappointingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, the British stations tend to be
among the worst for sound quality and reliability of connection, while the
best ones I've discovered (so far) are all foreign.

Rod.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Not the highest quality I'm sure but maybe the best value anywhere?

Dunno.

Maplin have an "external DAB active aerial" for sale at the moment for
£30. It looked neat and claimed 23dB gain so it would have been
appropriate for my location where a 7dB gain array provides good
reception.

The sales assistant said to me "You know this doesn't qualify for our 14
day money back warranty?"

"Oh, why is that?"

"Well, basically they don't work."

In article ,
Mark Carver wrote:
Don Pearce wrote:

That should do nicely. I know DAB is supposed to use mulitpath signals
actively, but I did some simulations ages ago, and you still get much
better performance by choosing the nearest transmitter and aiming a
directional antenna at it.

As an aside. I've always used my vertical Band II (aka FM band) dipole
for DAB, it works very well, pulling in distant muxes from miles away.
I lashed up a properly cut dipole for DAB (225 MHz), and stuck it
nearby. It was no better (or worse) than the Band II.

I know that theory - but had no success with it. My 4 element band III
works fine for FM when horizontal but is dreadful on DAB - and I'm in a
strong signal area. Swing it vertical and the DAB is fine - but FM noisy.
It's feeding a DA which feeds four tuners. The aerial is easy to get at as
it's accessible from my roof terrace and has clear line of sight to the CP
and Croydon transmitters - both of which are close to the same 'line'.
Removing the DA and plugging in the aerial direct makes no difference.

Of course the Band II dipole is half wave within its band, but full
wave(ish) in the DAB band.

Yes. Yet in my case a simple omni DAB aerial diplexed into the horizontal
FM one works fine - although I'd love to know why the vertical aerial
doesn't for FM.

I split the feed passively between my FM tuner in the living room, and
DAB 'Midi' system in the kitchen.

I have a second FM aerial mounted at the top of the house - horizontal -
which feeds just the one combined FM and DAB tuner. That works well on
both.

--
*A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Steve Firth wrote:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Not the highest quality I'm sure but maybe the best value anywhere?

Dunno.

Maplin have an "external DAB active aerial" for sale at the moment for
£30. It looked neat and claimed 23dB gain so it would have been
appropriate for my location where a 7dB gain array provides good
reception.

The sales assistant said to me "You know this doesn't qualify for our 14
day money back warranty?"

"Oh, why is that?"

"Well, basically they don't work."

Heh heh. That's what I quite like about Maplin - they do have some
characters working for them. Even some pretty knowledgeable ones -
although you can't guarantee it.

I must admit to paying out serious money for an active DAB aerial for the
car - which transformed the reception. It's now much better than FM
around London.

--
*If a thing is worth doing, wouldn't it have been done already?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Graham" wrote in message
...
You have reminded me that I still have a band III eight element aerial in
the garage. Designed for Croydon ch 9 use. I'll have to have a play with
that sometime.

The elements will be quite a bit too long. DAB equates to channel 12 more or
less.

Bill

"Mark Carver" wrote in message
...
As an aside. I've always used my vertical Band II (aka FM band) dipole for
DAB, it works very well, pulling in distant muxes from miles away. I
lashed up a properly cut dipole for DAB (225 MHz), and stuck it nearby. It
was no better (or worse) than the Band II.

In a normal reception area we always use a vertical FM dipole only for
radio, adding it to the system via a 80 to 250MHz filter. There's no problem
with DAB signal strength because the aerial is up on the roof as opposed to
in someone's house (which DAB is designed for) and because the limiting
factor is almost always co-channel signals. If DAB reception is poor (which
normally means the location is officially unserved) we use one of the
European BIII aerial meant for TV. This is because UK DAB aerials cover
channels 5 up and so they are wideband, and have gain of sweet **** all.

Bill