UHF in Heathcote Valley, Christchurch

After being told by other installers that it would not be possible to get UHF reception and i would have to buy a satellite receiver, i am now watching ALL channels in high definition on terrestrial UHF in Heathcote Valley.

Thanks to Canterbury Aerials for the signal check and aerial recommendations, Multimedia Group for the mounting hardware and Bill McMurray for advice on the forum.

For anyone in a fringe reception area i recommend you get in touch with a technician and get a signal check before settling for standard definition satellite reception. Money spent on a good aerial feels a lot better than spent on a satellite receiver.

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Permalink Reply by james on January 3, 2014 at 10:22

Hi I live quite near you and am wondering what model aerial you chose for your place please?

Thanks James

Permalink Reply by AM on January 3, 2014 at 11:21

Hi James,

It took a combination of things to achieve this and TV1 and 2 are fare more difficult to capture than the others which is why it took so much effort. It was a bit of trial and error, but I'm an electronics technician by trade, so after some research I had some idea i could pull this off. Here are the details.

Due to being in the shadow of the hills, the signal from sugarloaf is very weak. By overlaying the freeview coverage map on google maps I could see we were on the very edge, noting that the coverage map is by no means definitive.

I use a high gain aerial and a mastehaed amplifier, both mounted up a tall pole. It's all mounted on the sugarloaf side of the house as recommended by the Canterbury Aerials technician as this prevents reflections off my roof confusing the main signal.

The tech recommended the Triax model UNIX 52 aerial but I actually got the Hills 43 version (QXF43D) from Mitre10 simply because they were open, nearby, and i could return it easily if it didn't work. I would prefer the UNIX52 as it has higher gain. (http://www.triaxnz.co.nz/unix52-100.htm)

I'm using the Kingray MDA-20H masthead amplifier as it has the lowest distortion figure of 1.6dB. (http://www.tradetech.co.nz/shop/Outdoor+Aerials+%26+Accessories/Mas...)

It's all mounted about 3/4 of the way up a 2m pole. For some reason this is better reception than right at the top.

The trick is to start with the best aerial. Then mount it as high as possible for the best chance of capturing a good signal. Then amplify if necessary (if signal is too weak, or if you want to run multiple TV's). There are higher gain amplifiers, but they have higher distortion also. How bad the picture is as a result of this higher distortion I'm not sure.

With the splitter placed for best signal to the DVR/main TV, I now get as good as 38% quality on 1 and 2 and consistent 100% quality on all other channels.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

Permalink Reply by james on January 3, 2014 at 11:28

Hi, thankyou very much for such a wonderful detailed reply! I will look into that setup for my place. I appreciate you taking the time to write such a great reply to my query.

Kind regards, James

AM said:

Hi James,

It took a combination of things to achieve this and TV1 and 2 are fare more difficult to capture than the others which is why it took so much effort. It was a bit of trial and error, but I'm an electronics technician by trade, so after some research I had some idea i could pull this off. Here are the details.

Due to being in the shadow of the hills, the signal from sugarloaf is very weak. By overlaying the freeview coverage map on google maps I could see we were on the very edge, noting that the coverage map is by no means definitive.

I use a high gain aerial and a mastehaed amplifier, both mounted up a tall pole. It's all mounted on the sugarloaf side of the house as recommended by the Canterbury Aerials technician as this prevents reflections off my roof confusing the main signal.

The tech recommended the Triax model UNIX 52 aerial but I actually got the Hills 43 version (QXF43D) from Mitre10 simply because they were open, nearby, and i could return it easily if it didn't work. I would prefer the UNIX52 as it has higher gain. (http://www.triaxnz.co.nz/unix52-100.htm)

I'm using the Kingray MDA-20H masthead amplifier as it has the lowest distortion figure of 1.6dB. (http://www.tradetech.co.nz/shop/Outdoor+Aerials+%26+Accessories/Mas...)

It's all mounted about 3/4 of the way up a 2m pole. For some reason this is better reception than right at the top.

The trick is to start with the best aerial. Then mount it as high as possible for the best chance of capturing a good signal. Then amplify if necessary (if signal is too weak, or if you want to run multiple TV's). There are higher gain amplifiers, but they have higher distortion also. How bad the picture is as a result of this higher distortion I'm not sure.

With the splitter placed for best signal to the DVR/main TV, I now get as good as 38% quality on 1 and 2 and consistent 100% quality on all other channels.

Hope this helps, and good luck.