Hillsborough
Sheffield
S6 2LL
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XB10 & XB16 Aerial Reports
Mr Caunt Ladder Hill transmitter
We live in High Peak and the aerial has to point through trees (and a hill) to the transmitter
so thanks to your guidance. I have avoided the default choice, of a wideband antenna, and installed an A group which gives a good picture.
D Sharrocks Rowridge Transmitter
The aerial is in the loft of a bungalow and it`s on Rowridge. We`re very pleased with the aerial, there`s a big improvement on the old one, but we still get very slight break up when heavy road traffic is passing.
S Wilson Darvel Transmitter
As per your request a short note regarding the above aerial. I am in the south west
of Scotland on the Clyde Coast receiving signals from Darvel, which is an A group
transmitter. Specifically I live in Saltcoats and in a difficult area of that town
masked from the transmitter by rising ground between it and my house. To compound
things I wanted to fit the aerial in the loft but I do have a two storey house. Anyway
I was using a high gain wide band aerial bought from Maplin but after some research
and increasing frustration with drop outs I bought the XB10A from yourself and have
just finished fitting it. I also recabled with satellite quality cable at the same
time. Reception is so much better -
S Odart Rowridge Transmitter
My dear old mum was paying a fortune for basic cable so we wanted to get her on Freeview. She’s 26 miles from Rowridge and behind a hill. The predictor sites all said it wouldn’t work and the signal has always been crappy. So, against all odds I decided to go for it and max out on the installation. So we brought the XB16A and everything to install it, cables, lashing kits, poles, connectors, amps etc. Fantastic aerial, top quality but what a monster ! You don’t really believe how big it is until it’s been assembled. Perfect signal ! In fact it’s so good we’ve now got it distributed around 6 points in the house. No problems at all and me dear old mum loves it. The real clincher was your web site. Gave me all the information I needed to do a very professional installation right first time. Spent a little extra on the best quality goods and the results have been well worth it. I’ve forwarded your web site onto a couple of friends who are also looking to do a similar installation. Many thanks.
G Head Crystal Palace
Aerial (XB16A) and bits arrived safely yesterday, thank
you. Got it up yesterday (the aerial, obviously) and pointed it at Crystal Palace
with my compass. Works much better than the old one but terrestrial still a bit grainy,
possibly due to a tree the size of a battleship just across the road. However digital
Freeview is so good that we receive programs that they haven't even broadcast yet.
Thanks for the service and the info via your web site.
C Conroy Crystal Palace Transmitter
Hello. I've recently purchased an XB16A from you and it would appear to have solved all my problems. I live at the bottom of a valley with Crystal Palace as my transmitter. Reception has always been very poor. Now on Freeview everything comes thru crystal clear. Analogue not so good but then I've not really played about with the new aerial. I've tried many wideband aerials (Maplin etc) in the past and spent a fortune with poor results. I found your site very informative & helpful. I've even in the past knocked up some A group Yagis and even some corner reflectors for neighbours (one mesh and one out of sheet). They're all OK but I'm the lowest house in the valley so in the end I gave up and bought one from you. As I say very, very pleased.
M Dickey Caradon Hill Transmitter
Had an 18 element Log Periodic* with a built in amp before, pointing through loads of trees though. This gave high 40s to mid 50s on the digital signal quality with regular picture break up. Swapping to an XB16A (with a Mast Head amp) improved things dramatically. We now have mid 80s on signal strength and far less picture break.up, the analogue still isn`t much good though. The aerial is absolutely brilliant and money well spent !
* Again we learn that although Log Periodics should be used wherever possible they`re not absolutely universal.
And, furthermore, a small aerial with an amp does not equate to a big aerial.....
Mr Goedhart Crystal Palace Transmitter
I`d been sold a Telves DAT 75 (this is a "Tri Boom aerial") for Crystal Palace, which I now realise the supplier should never have recommended. We`re only about 10 miles from the transmitter but we`ve large buildings in the way so the signal was poor on both analogue
and digital. Once we swapped to the XB16A things improved considerably. The analogue is better than it was though it is still far from perfect, however the digital is more or less fine now. We can watch TV again !
Mr Cheeseman Caradon Hill Transmitter
Our old aerial was actually an A group, but a small one. Swapping to the XB16A works better, the digital`s rock steady now, whereas before it was annoyingly intermittent.
Mr Douglas Crystal Palace Transmitter
This aerial report is equally relevant to all A group transmitters (e.g. Rowridge).
I had a Bacofoil XB10WB on Crystal Palace and the picture was appalling on both analogue
and digital, even with an amplifier. I got an aerial installer out who messed around for a
couple of hours, changed the amp (made no difference...), realigned the aerial, chatted to
his girlfriend on the phone for 15 minutes etc etc. Finally he stated he couldn`t do anything and just moved the wideband aerial round onto Bluebell Hill. It was better but still not acceptable. He never tried changing the aerial and he didn`t even have an A group on the
van (he works down near Crystal Palace and he didn`t have an A group with him,
absolutely incredible... Justin ATV), but he still charged me a nice wedge into the bargain.
When I fitted the XB16A I couldn`t believe the difference. The digital is (almost) perfect and
the analogue is good on all channels apart from C5 (which is possibly due to restricted
power in this direction), though even that is quite watchable. Incredibly this improvement is
without an amplifier on the XB16A !
This report graphically reminds us that a lower gain aerial with an amplifier,
does not equate to a high gain aerial....... (Also see Amplifier Basics)
It is to be expected that swapping from a wideband aerial (any wideband aerial....) to a high gain A group [especially an XB16A ! ] will give a significant, or very significant, improvement. However Mr Douglas is quite lucky because it is rather less common to get an appalling (analogue) picture improved to a good one.
D Patrick Emley Moor & Bilsdale Transmitters
I finally got around to installing the two XB16B/Ks (on Emley and Bilsdale) yesterday
and am very satisfied with the results! We have a Topfield Freeview hard disk recorder
and this shows bar graphs for signal strength and signal quality. With our old aerial
the strength on most channels would be less than half with variable signal quality.
This was with a masthead amplifier and a distribution amplifier. I have done away
with the masthead amp and now, on most channels we have perfect signal quality on
both transmitters/aerials and much improved signal strength -
D Moule Hannington Transmitter
Overall our key problem is being in a slight dip and the housing estate being surrounded by lots
of tall trees. The house was built about 10 years ago and we had an aerial fitted at that time,
it had to go on a 10ft pole on the chimney. The installer said it was the strongest gain available
at the time. Then in April this year we lost CH50 (MUX1) completely, I guess it was the trees coming into leaf combined with high pressure. A few weeks later when it rained we got CH50
back but very blocky. So either the trees had grown more, or the transmitter`s power had reduced, but they claimed it was the same output power. So in May we had the old aerial replaced.
The installer recommended a "Televes DAT45" (this is a "Tri Boom aerial"), and this was the one that I had replaced last Friday with the XB16B.
The DAT 45 is a wideband but was still slightly better than the old aerial though it wasn`t able to give as good reception as the XB16B. So the advice on your website, about poor reception areas
going with a narrow band B group for higher gain, and the review of the XB16B, clinched it.
So, 10 year old aerial = BBC stations gone, and half the others also = 0 out of 10.
DAT45 = BBC stations back again, but half the others were still absent = 3 out of 10.
XB16B = All stations back again, but with one CH poor and one CH very poor = 7 out of 10.
P Bonner Bilsdale Transmitter
The transmitter is Bilsdale which is about 36 miles away. The old aerial was a basic A group, about 2 feet long, 10 element. It was installed about 14 years ago about 5.8 meters from the ground. The picture was excellent, except for channel 5, which was a bit grainy. The new aerial (XB10K), is also about 5.8 meters from the ground. With the XB10K the analogue picture is excellent, except for channel 5, which if you look closely is still slightly grainy. Digital signal strengths are now all 95 to 100%. Your gain curves comparing the XB10K to the contract 10A look about right, I couldn`t get MUX6 (on CH42) at all with the old A group aerial. I didn`t like the quality of the wing nuts, as they were made of pressed metal and the threads looked a bit poor, so used BZP M6 nylon locknuts and washers.
Note that post DSO MUXES 4, 5 and 6 will be out of the A group, not just MUX 6 as at present.
D Cochran Craigkelly Transmitter
We`re on Craiogkelly and have trees in the way, but by putting the aerial in the loft I was able to align it between a gap in them. We were able to use the XB16K in the loft because we`ve got a big loft ! In addition we used a 4 way Mast Head amp to split it up there and
I`m pleased to say it all works absolutely perfectly.
Mr Collins Heathfield Transmitter
We had a Contract 18 aerial on the chimney, but facing through a tree, the signal was poor.
Unfortunately our house is ESE of Heathfield transmitter, and this may contribute to our
low received signal.
The XB16E was fitted on a gable and made a huge difference, though to be fair it has a better view through the trees and we`ve also added a Mast Head amp. On the other hand
the XB is now mounted lower down than the Contract aerial was.
We`re on Angus transmitter and had a Log Periodic* aerial. Unfortunately it didn`t receive all the available channels and suffered from digital break up. The XB16E works better, giving more channels and less breakup.
* Again we learn that although Log Periodics should be used wherever possible, they`re
not absolutely universal.
D Patrick Emley Moor & Bilsdale Transmitters
I finally got around to installing the two XB16B/Ks (on Emley and Bilsdale) yesterday
and am very satisfied with the results! We have a Topfield Freeview hard disk recorder
and this shows bar graphs for signal strength and signal quality. With our old aerial
the strength on most channels would be less than half with variable signal quality.
This was with a masthead amplifier and a distribution amplifier. I have done away
with the masthead amp and now, on most channels we have perfect signal quality on
both transmitters/aerials and much improved signal strength -
A loft Installation of the XB16K was required, it`s a very old property in a conservation zone – no external aerials permitted.
The original aerial
was a ‘Maxview’ Contract 18WB aerial positioned at point A gave reasonable analogue reception
but very poor digital reception, picking up only half of the available channels
with frequent ‘drop outs’.
Loft space in property very small with very restricted height but reasonable length,
with the Wrekin transmitter site line
very close to the line
of the roof.
Tried XB16K in position B first, on the theory that the site line of the aerial would
include less of the gable end wall of the neighbours (semi-
The signal quality actually proved to be worse than the original contract aerial
set-
due to the two (plastic) water tanks and copper pipe work in the middle of the loft space, or whatever the neighbour had in his loft ?
When the XB16K was moved into position A and signal strength and quality improved dramatically. Sixty Two digital channels/4 MUX’s became available, with only channels 53 and 57 (MUX’s 5 and 6) not currently available due to a deliberate ‘Null’ zone sent towards Bridgnorth to protect the analogue transmissions on channels 53 and 57 from the Brierley Hill transmitter.
This result was also using the original, rubbish ‘low loss’ coax cable put in when the property
was refurbished in the 80’s. This is due for replacement with decent grade cable as soon as the weather permits ! I expect the ‘missing’ MUX’s to correct when the Wrekin DSO happens in
August 2011 and the ‘Null’ is removed.
Overall, not the easiest of installations but absolutely worthwhile in terms of the final result.
The quality of the aerial and connectors etc. supplied by ATV is excellent and only fully
appreciated when side by side with the inferior article removed from my loft.
The quality of information on the ATV website is superb and order handling, exchanging aerials and dealing with ATV over the phone has been completely painless.
I shall be recommending you in the future.
A valuable lesson in the importance of aerial positioning, especially in a loft !
If you`ve found this site informative and, hopefully, interesting as well,
please help us increase the number of people reading it.
aerialsandtv.com
Mr Sharrock Hannington Transmitter
I live in a poor reception area for both Hannington and Crystal Palace, though most houses
around here are on Hannington which we`re about 20 miles away from (SSW).
My previous aerial was a Contract 18 (probably a B group) and it gave poor pictures on analogue, though the digital wasn`t too bad.
I decided to go for an XB16B because I wanted to be sure I`d given myself the best
chance of a good signal, and it`d still work reasonably well on Crystal Palace if
Hannington wasn`t any better than with the old aerial.
The XB16 gave a much better analogue picture than the Contract 18 and the digital is
perfect, it hardly ever freezes or glitches. I was impressed, it was (even) better than I
thought it`d be. On the other hand it`s a big aerial and I`ll now have to upgrade my pole
and mounting brackets !
A Palmer Crystal Palace Transmitter
Thank you for your prompt delivery of the two aerials that I ordered at the end of
July. The aerials have now been installed and I can report that they are working
well. The original aerial, one for Crystal Palace was a '48 element' Vision
V10-
The signal levels (measured with a spectrum analyser on the
vision carriers) with the XB10A were increased by between 3 and 6dB, average 5dB.
As you can see there has been a marked improvement in the Crystal Palace signals,
as was to be expected with a proper Group A aerial and a small height increase. I
can now receive all 6 digital multiplexes from Crystal Palace whereas previously
I could only receive 4 of them. I have to use Crystal Palace for DTT because
Hannington doesn't provide much DTT signal Eastwards in my direction as it would
interfere with some of the channels used by the relay at Guildford. The build quality
of both aerials was good and the bracketry etc looked like it will stand the test
of time.
Also see the aerial report for the DY14WB (on Hannington) at the same site.
M Nichols Rowridge Transmitter
Firstly, congratulations on such an excellent
website with so much information.
Following changes at Rowridge earlier in the year
I found that reception on Freeview channel 37 was terrible giving a signal strength
of 2 out of 10 but most days no signal at all.
Although I had a group A aerial it
was of unknown age. Channels other than 37 were generally good giving signal strengths
of anything from 5 to 10 out of 10. (The Freeview site says my postcode cannot receive
Freeview at this time ! ) Using the guide on your website I ordered the XB10A. Arrived
within 48 hours and easy to set up. Build quality is very good. Installed in the
loft and now get excellent reception on all channels. 9 or 10 out of 10 signal quality
on all including channel 37. Thank you
S Hart Idle Transmitter
I am living in the Bingley ( in the Aire Valley ) area
equidistant between Idle and Keighley transmitters which are slaved from Emley. I
purchased and installed the XB16K as recommended by yourselves. It is directed toward
Idle and is receiving all terrestrial / digital signals perfectly, although I did
change the cable at the same time and the old stuff wasn`t in particularly good condition.
Previously I couldn't get analogue BBC 1 or 2 ( very weak) or CH5, also the digital
channels were very patchy in bad or cloudy weather (and that was with an amplifier
too). So all is OK . The only question I would raise it whether one clamp is sufficient
to secure such a long aerial. It`ll be fine, provided the nuts are done up sufficiently
firmly !
A Cook Rowridge Transmitter
The XB10A aerial arrived yesterday lunch time and I installed it yesterday evening in more
or less the same position in the loft as the Tri-
you that it works fine and I can now receive all Freeview channels with very clear and stable
pictures. Assuming it will retune satisfactorily on 30 September 2009 it seems the problem
has been sorted out. Many thanks for the excellent service and informative website.
A Spry Caradon Hill Transmitter
First of all, thank you for your very efficient ordering service.
I live in Tavistock,
Devon. We have always had to receive our signal from the Tavistock relay transmitter
with an external aerial (type unknown) with a masthead amplifier. Under analogue,
the reception was rubbish. We could not pick up a signal at all from Caradon. After
digital switchover (still with a masthead amp) our TV told us that signal strength
was about 70% and signal quality 100%. The channels were limited. So I bought an
XB10A from you for mounting in the loft. I found out that the aerial needed to point
at 259 degs from north for Caradon. Our roofline runs at about 230 degs to north.
I wasn't very hopeful that it would work. The roof has huge timber trusses that get
in the way. The aerial is too big to fit in the apex of the roof so I mounted it
about 4 feet above the joists as close to the roof slates (asbestos?) as possible.
But it works ! The TV says about 60% signal strength and 90% quality. Even with
no amplifier there`s no break up yet ! All the channels! Just one query, please.
I mounted it on the L shaped bar with the long length running horizontally to the
cradle (which is vertical). Would it be better if the L bar was vertical ? Thanks
again.
Just so long as the cradle is mounted perpendicular to the aerials elements the polarisation of the mounting pole/arm should not make much of a difference.
K Halai Crystal Palace Transmitter
We had a Log40 in the loft and it worked pretty well for everything, apart from MUX2 on the
Sony digital TV. Interestingly MUX2 was fine through a cheap digibox ! All the analogue channels were also OK.
Having spent all that money on the Sony we wanted it to work right so I tried replacing the
Log40 with an XB10A in the loft and it cured the problem. No breaking up on ITV now !
K Thompson Rowridge Transmitter
I`ve used an XB10A aerial twice, fitted in the loft and split 4 ways with no problems
at all. Digital sigs 55 dbµV + at each outlet, though this is a strong signal area.
I
have found the XB to be smaller than the yagis I`ve been replacing and therefore
it`s easier to install. I like the XB10A`s build quality, although an F dipole connection
would make life alot easier. Maybe there´s a reason for saddle and clamp being used
still?
I`m not entirely convinced about F connections onto Yagi type aerials. They`re
usually only waterproofed by a rubber boot which could become brittle and/or fall
off (though Logs don`t suffer from this because they`ve got a cover over the whole
F connector terminal area). Thus if any aerial we want to stock is available in
"saddle and clamp" and F conn, we`d stock the saddle and clamp. Unfortunately some
models of aerial are only available with an F connector fitting. Obviously the pros
and cons of weatherproofing don`t apply to an aerial fitted in a loft.
K Codd Rowridge Transmitter
Thank you for the aerial you sold us. The first class service, dispatch and delivery along with your most excellent and informative website. Its information is virtually an encyclopedia, well formatted and logically placed. being easily researched with well placed links and explanation sections. The XB10A aerial assembled easily as per the instruction sheet and was fitted in the shortest possible time. Appears to be well manufactured and well designed for assembly. Using the aerial to receive the signal for our digi (freeview) boxes it is a far superior signal now than with our old wideband aerial. The 16G pole I bought from you is also far superior than the one I have just replaced, following the description on your website I realise was probably a loft aerial bracket. The performance for both analogue and digital is ACE despite the signal we receive being transmitted from 40Km (25miles) away.
Mr King Midhurst Transmitter
Our original aerial was a small Yagi on Midhurst which gave intermittent freezing on the picture and sound muting, which is a very annoying side effect of the digital system if you have a poor signal. The XB16E has improved the situation considerably, though we did change the cable as well as the aerial.
P Fairclough Winter Hill Transmitter
The trees in the way of our signal, plus being in a bit of a valley, mean we were suffering
complete drop out of some channels even though we had a fairly large XB10WB type
antenna. Fitting the XB16E improved things significantly and we no longer lose any channels. We do still get a bit of freezing but it`s better than it was. It was most definitely worth changing the aerial.
Interestingly even though Winter Hill has switched over and increased the power we still
get problems with the ITV channels, though the BBC programmes are better.
A Hood Moel Y Parc Transmitter
Moel Y Parc is only 11 miles from our house, we can actually see it and it was always the
case that we could have picked up the analogue signals on a coat hanger. Unfortunately
the digital signals required an external aerial, particularly MUXES 5 & 6 which were on low
power. Due to the channel allocation pre DSO a wideband aerial was required and I used a
DMX05WB mounted on the chimney. This did OK for all MUXES except 5 & 6 which
suffered picture breakup in poor weather (this is very bad luck as it is is very unusual to
have this kind of problem if you can actually see the transmitter).
After DSO, with the increased power, all MUXES were received OK with the outdoor
DMX05WB although in really bad weather MUXES 4 & 5 did just start to break up as they
are on reduced power (it`s still 2.5kW ! ) till Sutton Coldfield switches over in 2011.
For various reasons I really wanted the aerial in the loft and after much reading of you very
informative website I decided to try an XB10B (Moel has now reverted to a B group) indoors.
I was a bit limited to where I could site the aerial so ended up mounting it high up in the
apex, luckily Moel is at right angles to the house so I could align onto the transmitter
straight through the slates. I am very pleased with the results considering the negative
effects mounting aerials in the loft has on reception. Despite the indoor mounting and using
a two way splitter, the average % signal strength has actually increased slightly from 90.6
to 91.2, though some are slightly up and some slightly down.
May I say how impressed I was with the build quality of the new aerial, superior products
compared with some of the tin foil aerials about. Many thanks for all the information which
helped me no end and without which I would have been lost.
M Cowton Bilsdale Transmitter
Just a short note to say thanks for providing such an excellent web-