267 replies to this topic

[mtv]

JJ13, on Oct 11 2010, 09:53 AM, said:

I'm that customer! Getting every channel on the six outlets without issue. Have had neighbors tell me they have had all sorts of problems but Chris got it all working in no time flat and with no ridiculous mast sitting up high above the roof, the antenna is less than 1 meter above the roof line.

A good example of finding the 'sweet-spot' to mount the 'correct' antenna.

Higher isn't always the best.

This can only be done using a digital meter/spectrum analyser.. in the hands of a competent operator.  

[yeah]

Hi I know some people who are considering moving to Woy Woy or surrounding suburb in NSW...wondering about Digital FTA reception in Woy Woy and surrounding areas supposing you have a good aerial...

Are there any digital FTA channels the area does not get, and any extra regional ones?

Are there any analogue FTA channels the area does not get, and any extra regional ones?

For digital FTA in that area is there a considered best possible antenna to use? For analogue FTA and digital FTA, and Foxtel satelite signal to the Woy Woy area, does the signal for all 3 come from Gosford or somewhere else?

With Foxtel, is it a satelite area only, meaning virtually no Foxtel cable addresses anywhere there?

With Foxtel satelite in Woy Woy and surrounding areas, are there any reception problems of any channels? I was told if its a cloudy day the satelite signal will be lost totally? Is this true, and can this disruption be an extended one, going for a long time?

Are 7,9,10,7two,GO,SBS1,SBS2 and One SD/HD available on Foxtel satelite in the area? Are there any Foxtel cable channels not currently available on Foxtel satelite in an area like Woy Woy? If so, is there any chance in the near future satelite will get all the channels that cable Foxtel does? If Foxtel satelite gets less channels than Foxtel cable does then you would think satelite should be slightly cheaper but apparantly its the same price.

In terms of Foxtel satelite, what is the furthest point north of Sydney considered to still be a Foxtel satelite/cable Sydney area as opposed to Foxtel satelite/cable Central Coast? Also is there a difference between Foxtel satelite areas of Central Coast/Gosford and the area of Newcastle in terms of reception strength, or channels available, or does it depend on things like how high or low the house is, wether there are mountains around etc - are these factors important for both FTA Digital reception, and Foxtel satelite?

Also, does anyone know the furthest point north of Sydney where the FTA signal basically becomes a Central Coast reception area rather than a Sydney reception area?

If anyone can help with any of my questions it would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[debruis]

yeah, on Oct 11 2010, 08:19 PM, said:

Hi I know some people who are considering moving to Woy Woy or surrounding suburb in NSW...wondering about Digital FTA reception in Woy Woy and surrounding areas supposing you have a good aerial...

Are there any digital FTA channels the area does not get, and any extra regional ones?

Are there any analogue FTA channels the area does not get, and any extra regional ones?

For digital FTA in that area is there a considered best possible antenna to use? For analogue FTA and digital FTA, and Foxtel satelite signal to the Woy Woy area, does the signal for all 3 come from Gosford or somewhere else?

With Foxtel, is it a satelite area only, meaning virtually no Foxtel cable addresses anywhere there?

With Foxtel satelite in Woy Woy and surrounding areas, are there any reception problems of any channels? I was told if its a cloudy day the satelite signal will be lost totally? Is this true, and can this disruption be an extended one, going for a long time?

Are 7,9,10,7two,GO,SBS1,SBS2 and One SD/HD available on Foxtel satelite in the area? Are there any Foxtel cable channels not currently available on Foxtel satelite in an area like Woy Woy? If so, is there any chance in the near future satelite will get all the channels that cable Foxtel does? If Foxtel satelite gets less channels than Foxtel cable does then you would think satelite should be slightly cheaper but apparantly its the same price.

In terms of Foxtel satelite, what is the furthest point north of Sydney considered to still be a Foxtel satelite/cable Sydney area as opposed to Foxtel satelite/cable Central Coast? Also is there a difference between Foxtel satelite areas of Central Coast/Gosford and the area of Newcastle in terms of reception strength, or channels available, or does it depend on things like how high or low the house is, wether there are mountains around etc - are these factors important for both FTA Digital reception, and Foxtel satelite?

Also, does anyone know the furthest point north of Sydney where the FTA signal basically becomes a Central Coast reception area rather than a Sydney reception area?

If anyone can help with any of my questions it would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Woy Woy has all FTA channels both Sydney and Central Coast. Some areas you would be able to receive reliable signal from 3 towers.
Anyway south of Ettalong you will struggle to receive the Central Coast Channel and only receive the Sydney Channels.
The Sydney tower will transmit reliable digital signal to Kariong (that as far north as I have installed an antenna where signals are being received from Sydney)
Generally the Central Coast has an excellent reception coverage for FTA TV.

[yeah]

thank you for your response

any idea if Woy Woy is actually part of the Sydney market for FTA, or is it regarded as a separate market including the entire Central Coast of NSW as the map on wikipedia seems to say that Sydney market includes the Central Coast so its a bit confusing - and also wether it is regarded as a Sydney metro area for Foxtel satelite purposes or is it a regional Foxtel area?

I have just seen that GO is available on the eastern seaboard for Foxtel satelite, do you know if this includes Gosford and Woy Woy?

It appears all FTA SD channels are available on Foxtel satelite in Sydney except One - is this the same for an area like Woy Woy?

anyone know if One SD will soon be on Foxtel satelite like it is on cable?

cheers

[mtv]

yeah, on Oct 11 2010, 08:37 PM, said:

thank you for your response

any idea if Woy Woy is actually part of the Sydney market for FTA, or is it regarded as a separate market including the entire Central Coast of NSW as the map on wikipedia seems to say that Sydney market includes the Central Coast so its a bit confusing - and also wether it is regarded as a Sydney metro area for Foxtel satelite purposes or is it a regional Foxtel area?

I have just seen that GO is available on the eastern seaboard for Foxtel satelite, do you know if this includes Gosford and Woy Woy?

It appears all FTA SD channels are available on Foxtel satelite in Sydney except One - is this the same for an area like Woy Woy?

anyone know if One SD will soon be on Foxtel satelite like it is on cable?

cheers

Woy Woy is part of the Sydney FTA coverage area.

Foxtel doesn't have any regional areas, other than WA. All regional areas in other parts of Australia are serviced by Austar.

Woy Woy is in a Foxtel area.

Foxtel channels which are available via satellite in Sydney, should be available in Woy Woy.

[alanh]

Yeah,
The ACMA controls licence areas. The Central Coast is covered by the Sydney and Newcastle licence areas. The three transmitter sites of The Entrance, Gosford and Bouddi contain Sydney and Newcastle translators on each site.

Note that some of the Newcastle stations also have separate feeds to the Wyong, Gosford and Bouddi transmitters. This may include a separate news bulletin and advertising.

It is not Foxtel's responsibility to provide FTA programming to people who are paying for satellite costs for pay TV.

Remember that both Wyong and Bouddi require UHF phased array mounted with the longest side horizontal. The Gosford transmitter is very low powered and require a wideband UHF Yagi-Uda array, often requires a high gain.

AanH

[yeah]

Col and Alanh thanks very much for the information you have given me

Its really appreciated

So it appears all the Sydney version SD FTA channels are available in Woy Woy and surrounding area via an SD FTA box with a quality aerial - or via Foxtel satelite - except for One SD - and GO sounds like it is on Foxtel satelite as you say that Woy Woy is part of the Foxtel area(of Sydney) and so if Sydney get GO on Foxtel satelite then so should Woy Woy.

I have virtually no knowledge of aerials...Would the Gosford transmitter feed the Woy Woy area for FTA or do all 3 transmitters feed the area, and Alanh when you say,"The Gosford transmitter is very low powered and require a wideband UHF Yagi-Uda array, often requires a high gain." Does that mean for analogue and SD/HD FTA signal you would have to buy that exact aerial or your reception would be terrible? Please forgive my lack of knowledge...if this is what you meant, then to get a powerful aerial of that type, how much would it be, obviously I would need a pro to install it...also how many different wall outlets could you output from the aerial to the house?

Do you think One will ever be on Foxtel satelite? It seems unusual that they are the only FTA SD channel not on Foxtel satelite

Are all Foxtel cable and satelite channel numbers identical or are some different?

Thanks again

Edited by yeah, 12 October 2010 - 01:46 AM.

[mtv]

As per my previous post, Woy Woy will get whatever channels Sydney Foxtel get.

If in doubt, contact Foxtel and ask them.

For FTA terrestrial, it would be advisable to consult a pro antenna installer and have them check signals at your location.

Depending on signal test results, the installer can then make recommendations on which transmission site will be the most reliable at your location and what antenna, etc would be required.

You can have an many outlets as you wish. Additional signal-distribution amplification may be required, depending on the number of outlets and the signal available from the antenna.

Discuss this with the installer.

For FTA terrestrial, you should use an HD tuner as you'll miss out on the HD channels if you only use an SD tuner.

As for ONE on Foxtel, this is up to Channel TEN, so you need to discuss that with them, as it's their choice whether to pay to include it on Foxtel or not. At the momement, they have chosen not to.

[yeah]

thanks very much for taking the time to respond Col

all the best

[Wyoming-CoulterRd]

debruis, on Oct 6 2010, 07:34 PM, said:

Hi Mark,

           I did an installation at Wyoming last week. A hill was between the house and the Gosford Transmitter. The customer as far as I know as I havent had to go back is receiving digital Prime,NBN,ABC,SBS,Seven, Nine & Ten on 6 outlets. If you would like me to do a site survey I will be back up the Central Coast late next week. Email me if this suits you

Email sent.

[hughbow]

I am at Kanwal at the top of Craigie Avenue Kanwal and our antenna it pointing at the "Wyong/Forresters Beach" transmitter. We have an antenna and booster installed and have had generally good reception up untill a couple of months ago.

ABC has steadily become more unreliable and had finaly become untuneable. I understand that there can be issues with the signal from different towners overlapping and cancelling each other out. Is that what is happening to me?

I am getting all other chanels ok for 99% of the time I just cant get 2,22,23,24.

Do I have any options or do I just resort to watching ABC on IView. I am tempted to try pointing my antenna to Sugarloaf but have been told that that will not solve the problem of having too much ABC signal crossover.

[jetskier]

Hello,
You are on the money with your ABC reception, ABC Sugarloaf and Forreseters beach are in a Single Frequency Network, and the main problem there is that Sugarloaf is way more powerful than Forresters. So where you live requires an antenna with excellent front to back ratio above all other parameters. A Wisi is the only recommendation from me. Forresters is vertical Polarity.
So start with making sure you have the correct antenna. The next thing is you don't want your feeder picking up stray signals if you've sucsessfully rejected the unwanted signal at the antenna, so quad RG6 is all I would recommended in your situation.
Re-aiming the antenna at Sugarloaf may fix the problem but you will loose the Sydney commercial channels. And you still need an antenna with good directivity anyway.
After 2014 channel re-stack, I have a feeling the SFN topography will change, if you can wait that long!

[debruis]

hughbow, on Nov 20 2010, 10:25 PM, said:

I am at Kanwal at the top of Craigie Avenue Kanwal and our antenna it pointing at the "Wyong/Forresters Beach" transmitter. We have an antenna and booster installed and have had generally good reception up untill a couple of months ago.

ABC has steadily become more unreliable and had finaly become untuneable. I understand that there can be issues with the signal from different towners overlapping and cancelling each other out. Is that what is happening to me?

I am getting all other chanels ok for 99% of the time I just cant get 2,22,23,24.

Do I have any options or do I just resort to watching ABC on IView. I am tempted to try pointing my antenna to Sugarloaf but have been told that that will not solve the problem of having too much ABC signal crossover.

You probably need to find antenna sweetspot on roof where there is minimum interference being received from Gosford or Mt Sugarloaf if that is the problem. This would mean relocating antenna
It could also be a high signal problem as you are close to the tower at Forresters where you are located or the mast head amplifier has not been set at the optimum level for the reception of all 5 channels. Slightest adjustment up or down on amp can be all the difference between good and bad reception.
Also could be cabling,wallplate and flylead from wallplate to TV/STB. Very hard to tell without analyzing signal with meter.

You could check the following yourself/do yourself
Fly lead (should be RG6)
Wallplate (check behind for Ftype connection)
M/H amplifier if you have access try turning gain up and down
Manual tune of UHF 37 (ABC)

Let me know if you need any help

[POWER AV]

A very simple fix and you could do it yourself, just get a wisi and point towards Sugar loaf

[hughbow]

POWER AV, on Nov 21 2010, 11:20 PM, said:

A very simple fix and you could do it yourself, just get a wisi and point towards Sugar loaf

A quick question regarding the above ( I have a wisi antenna already)

1.  Can I just go up on the roof and turn the antenna north and see what happens ?

2.   If I do, how accuratly does it have to be pointed? Can I just point my antenna North and hope for the best?

Edited by hughbow, 01 December 2010 - 06:50 AM.

[POWER AV]

hughbow, on Dec 1 2010, 07:48 AM, said:

A quick question regarding the above ( I have a wisi antenna already)

1.  Can I just go up on the roof and turn the antenna north and see what happens ?

2.   If I do, how accuratly does it have to be pointed? Can I just point my antenna North and hope for the best?

Yes you can give it a shot, nothing to lose.
In your area there should already be antennas pointing to Sugarloaf just aim in same direction, if doesn't work then call an installer with a meter.

Edited by POWER AV, 01 December 2010 - 09:41 AM.

[alanh]

PowerAV,
You should have also told him to rotate the antenna to make its longest side vertical for Sugarloaf. This is because Sugarloaf is horizontally polarised and WoyWoy is vertically polarised.

AlanH

[POWER AV]

alanh, on Dec 2 2010, 01:55 AM, said:

PowerAV,
You should have also told him to rotate the antenna to make its longest side vertical for Sugarloaf. This is because Sugarloaf is horizontally polarised and WoyWoy is vertically polarised.

AlanH

Yep that's right, I just take it for granted that you should do that. This is a very profitable area for installers as 9/10 all you have to do to fix reception issues is turn antenna towards sugarloaf and rotate antenna to a vertical position. Any able body person with a spanner can do this as long as antenna is not too high of course.

[hughbow]

POWER AV, on Dec 2 2010, 08:33 AM, said:

Yep that's right, I just take it for granted that you should do that. This is a very profitable area for installers as 9/10 all you have to do to fix reception issues is turn antenna towards sugarloaf and rotate antenna to a vertical position. Any able body person with a spanner can do this as long as antenna is not too high of course.

Ok so i point the antenna just a bit east of north = (google maps) and also rotate the Wisi so the long side is verticle.

I had a look at the fittings and it seems straight forward - if the weather is ok Ill be up the latter on saturday. Ill report back to let you all know how I went.

[hughbow]

hughbow, on Dec 2 2010, 07:25 PM, said:

Ok so i point the antenna just a bit east of north = (google maps) and also rotate the Wisi so the long side is verticle.

I had a look at the fittings and it seems straight forward - if the weather is ok Ill be up the latter on saturday. Ill report back to let you all know how I went.

Hi Everyone, SUCCESS

I got up on the roof and pointed my aerial north (changing the polarity) My neighbour had a basis signal strenght meter and pointing at Forresters Beach I got 2 lights pointing to Mt Sugarloaf I got 4 lights (the max).

I now get all the freeview chanells from Newcastle - no TVS obviously- but most importantoy I get a wonderful ABC signal on  2,22,23,24. SO if you are in the "Shadow zone" then I would strongly suggest giving it a go.

Thank you all for your advice.

[bigjay]

hi all

i have just recently moved into my home at glennning valley on bottlebrush dr and am in bit off a gully sourounded by trees,
i currently have a small areial on roof that im pretty sure is a bit out dated,i was hoping someone could help me in letting me know what the best type of ariel would be to purchase.
i currently have upgraded all the  coax cable with new ones but am unable to recieve any reception at all and the few chanels i do pick freeze and tell me there is no servic.
i am lost as to why and have tried usiing the links supplied o first page but it wont allow me to go to as the say the are out dated  and i am not sure wich would be the best reciever to point to
i am very habndy with these things but it has me stumped

any help much appreciated

regards jay :-)

[debruis]

bigjay, on Feb 3 2011, 06:26 PM, said:

hi all

i have just recently moved into my home at glennning valley on bottlebrush dr and am in bit off a gully sourounded by trees,
i currently have a small areial on roof that im pretty sure is a bit out dated,i was hoping someone could help me in letting me know what the best type of ariel would be to purchase.
i currently have upgraded all the  coax cable with new ones but am unable to recieve any reception at all and the few chanels i do pick freeze and tell me there is no servic.
i am lost as to why and have tried usiing the links supplied o first page but it wont allow me to go to as the say the are out dated  and i am not sure wich would be the best reciever to point to
i am very habndy with these things but it has me stumped

any help much appreciated

regards jay :-)

I would try either Mt Sugarloaf or Forrester Beach for reception. I would use phased array antenna and masthead amplifier with 34db gain.You can get both from Jaycar. When testing reception from Forrester turn antenna 90 degrees (long side horizontal). If you have too much grief let me know and I will organize a time to come up

[bigjay]

debruis, on Feb 3 2011, 07:15 PM, said:

I would try either Mt Sugarloaf or Forrester Beach for reception. I would use phased array antenna and masthead amplifier with 34db gain.You can get both from Jaycar. When testing reception from Forrester turn antenna 90 degrees (long side horizontal). If you have too much grief let me know and I will organize a time to come up

thank u for the great advice i have done so and tuned it and now have 41 dtv channels without a problem

many regards        

[jrp001]

Who does antenna's in gosford area?

[debruis]

jrp001, on Mar 15 2011, 08:33 PM, said:

Who does antenna's in gosford area?

I do. Let me know if you need help