251 replies to this topic

[charlesc]

des, on Jun 22 2007, 08:37 PM, said:

I got the DSE L4074 and it doesnt seem to do nothing doesnt even pick up any analouge! I dont know why it just isnt doing anything at all!.

OK, I'll bite .

There's not much info in this post for anyone to go on...

What are you trying to do with it, what is it plugged into, what channels are you expecting to receive (do you know which your transmitter is?).  Is it a single point in the house/apartment, is the antenna plugged directly into the TV/STB/PC.... etc.  etc.   etc...

How have you connected it?  Are you sure it is wired correctly?


EDIT:  There is another post tonight on this 'indoor' antenna here.  Dick Smith info here.
It looks like it is a powered unit, is the power supply connected to it correctly?

[des]

I connected it to the box and power goes into the box and u plug the reciever bit to the set top and it should work but nothing! have tried alot!.

[Woomera]

I bought the L4074 today and connected it to my Strong 5006 box which goes into my Sony KVHR32 crt, works perfectly picking up all available channels here in Townsville, comes with a amplifier which I found was not needed, runs perfect without it, well worth the $69 from DS, also have a 2nd KVHR32 & Topfield TF4000T downstairs using an outside antenna, PQ is the same on both, excellent.

[cyclops25503]

A few days ago i bought an AWA STB-232 from Big W , thinking "i may as well give it a go", even though i can only use an indoor antenna.

Anyway, it took a bit of mucking about, and the fact that i started out using the wrong polarization (i started using horizontal before i realised that here you neeed vertical), but with a bit of fidding around, i now get perfect reception on all channels on a cheap indoor "rabbit ear" antenna. And not a very good one either...you know those dime-a-dozen ones that clip onto the top of your telly that typically come with a new telly? I've got one of those, and it works brilliantly. I've only got a cheap TV and cheap speaker set, but i'm very pleased with the audio/video quality i'm receiving with this setup...analog telly just looks like a sick joke to me now.

Edited by cyclops25503, 16 July 2007 - 09:38 AM.

[mtv]

cyclops25503,

What area are you in?

(obviously a good one for reception with an indoor antenna)

This info may help others in your area.

[cyclops25503]

I'm using my STB at Woodgate, and although i do get perfect reception, it took a lot of mucking about. The antenna has to be in exactly the right place, and it has to be completly vertical.

[peter3]

I got the $16 DSE antenna (cat no: L4015) for my digital tuner card (PC), the signal is very decent. Jaycar also has something similar.

[colcam]

someuser, on Nov 25 2006, 02:55 PM, said:

I hope this can help some people with Indoor Antenna reception.

I have tried 6 different Indoor Antennas in my bedroom to try and get good reception.  To start with, all I could get was SBS, then I read this forum and re-positioned to get 10 as well.  I was happy for a while but started trying different Antennas.  I first tried a non-amplified Chinese brand antenna from the local electrics store and that was far better than all three rabbit ears based Amplified Antennas I tried from Dick Smith and Jaycar that only received SBS intermittently.  So I tried a couple more non-amplified versions and had similar results to the Chinese brand (not so great).

Now Dick Smith have a fairly new product and it's catalog number L4074

DSE Digital Antenna

I was fairly skeptical at first but now I get perfect reception on all channels.  So if you are having no luck with your indoor antenna, give this one a try as it's definitely the best one I've tried and it's really small so it doesn't take up your whole bedroom with long rabbit ears.  

hi well that was good luck for you then.

(my region is Bankstown, Sydney and i am in a 2 story flat)

i bought the same antenna from DS (it was the only one that looked like it was suitable at $70 ) and have the spent the last couple of nights playing with it. I found one had to move it around to be able to pick both 10 and 9 (no channel 7) although SBS and ABC were just acceptable.

In short but, it was a pain and impractical (i was getting sick of moving it around just to test it).

So i started looking through advertisments for installers as i thought that i was just going to have to bite the bullet and pay up for an antenna. I have a $1000 42"plasma and a $99 Legend HD Box so $500 for an external antenna felt disproportionately excessive for my budget thus far.  

But just a few moments ago I had the idea to try an old funky non powered set of FM-VHF-UHF rabbit ears to see how big a difference the Digital antenna made. And lo and behold to my absolute amazement the reception on all channels jumped at least 30% in quality, and about 15% in reception without the necessity to resite for 9 and 10 respectivily.

I am over the moon as the reception looks great.....

now to set my old XBOX as an upscaling DVD player (just waiting for the HD XBOX cable )

(some might find this contrasting experience enlightening)

Edited by colcam, 29 September 2007 - 02:40 AM.

[colcam]

colcam, on Sep 29 2007, 01:29 AM, said:

I am over the moon as the reception looks great.....

ps: my no name chinese rabbit ears just found Channel Seven clear as a bell, hee, hee....

[darkfalz]

I get perfect reception with just a coax cable (no antenna) on all channels except for SBS, but I am just using the standard rabbit ears in the V shape. Probably helps I live direct line of sight/view from black mountain tower.

[digitalj]

darkfalz, on Oct 13 2007, 01:58 PM, said:

I get perfect reception with just a coax cable (no antenna) on all channels except for SBS, but I am just using the standard rabbit ears in the V shape. Probably helps I live direct line of sight/view from black mountain tower.

Only Cartoonists have rabbit ears in the V-shape, to work at it's best, it needs to be either entirely Horizontal or Entirely Vertical, so that it matches the polarisation of the signal you're trying to receive.

[in2itive]

I've got a pair of rubbish rabbit ears and am picking up everything in Tuggeranong, Canberra (Banks specifically) without a problem. Top reception, only minor interference if someone wanders too close to the tv (as in right in front of it).

Edited by in2itive, 14 October 2007 - 05:36 PM.

[interceptor]

Hi all ive added this post in another topic and i think it should be here because im not getting many replies maybe someone can help me out so i will just paste what i wrote in the other topic:

Hi all,
Like so many people here with reception problems i too am getting impulse noises on my tv with loud "pops" and "clicks" from electrical noises or cars passing by up and down the street. Unfortuantly i am down low on the bottom end of a street but to my advantage i live on the lower north shore of sydney not far from the towers. I am looking at getting this antenna from Dick Smith Electronics but i am not too sure about it. Its an indoor/outdoor antenna, weatherproof and can be desktop mounted or wall mounted. It is currently going for $70 which i think is a bit pricey. Also i can mount an outdoor antenna on my roof but there is no point as i will be wasting my money as i wont be here for a long time and the effort and money for an outdoor antenna wouldn't be suitable for my situation. I was wondering if anyone is familiar with this Dick Smith antenna and if mounted outdoor does it have a cable socket so i can use quad shield coax on it. Here is the link to the antenna im talking about....cheers

http://www.dse.com.a...duct/View/L4074

Also forgot to mention im currently using rabbit ears which is mostly definatley why i am getting interference with impulse noises.

Also like to add that i went to dick smiths tonight and found out it has an F connector socket and comes with a power injector that runs off dc power supply that is supplied and has a wall mounting bracket with it as well.. Any info would be appreciated because i am thinking of purchasing this and trying it out.

Thanks

[alanh]

interceptor,
What you are proposing will not cure your problem. An amplifier in this case will amplifiy the interference and the signal. If the interference overloads the amplifier your reception will be worse.

All you can do is to make the rabbits ears flat, and be the length recommended in my indoor antenna post, and place it as far as possible from any mains wiring hopefully near the exterior of the building. This is all you can do. Otherwise install an outside antenna or us an MATV system if you are in multiple apartments. The MATV system may not be set up for digital TV.

AlanH

[interceptor]

alanh, on Oct 20 2007, 01:31 AM, said:

interceptor,
What you are proposing will not cure your problem. An amplifier in this case will amplifiy the interference and the signal. If the interference overloads the amplifier your reception will be worse.

All you can do is to make the rabbits ears flat, and be the length recommended in my indoor antenna post, and place it as far as possible from any mains wiring hopefully near the exterior of the building. This is all you can do. Otherwise install an outside antenna or us an MATV system if you are in multiple apartments. The MATV system may not be set up for digital TV.

AlanH

I think it would fix it if i set it up outdoors withought the power adapter injecting current into it. But i have decided to pick up a vhf/uhf  tv antenna tomorrow and set it up properly and with quad shield cable.

[alanh]

Interceptor,
An outside antenna will make a big difference. You do not say where you are so you must use the link I have already recommended. This is because in some areas repeaters are better and require a different antenna.

Do not use a power injector into a standard antenna. It will short it out. They should only be used to power masthead amplifiers.

Please post any further posts in the Sydney geographic Viewers' forum.

AlanH

[interceptor]

alanh, on Oct 20 2007, 11:42 AM, said:

Interceptor,
An outside antenna will make a big difference. You do not say where you are so you must use the link I have already recommended. This is because in some areas repeaters are better and require a different antenna.

Do not use a power injector into a standard antenna. It will short it out. They should only be used to power masthead amplifiers.

Please post any further posts in the Sydney geographic Viewers' forum.

AlanH

Thanks alan, i am on the lower north shore area and by looking at the other antenna on the roof they are facing north/east i think towards artamon gore hill way.

[interceptor]

I bought an antenna today cost me $49 vhf/uhf and it comes with 2 f connectors one for rg59 and one for rg 6...my only problem is that i have rg 6 but its not long enough for me to do the job..another thing is i went to Dick Smith electronics today to pick up some RG 6 cable off the role but they dont sell roles of cable anymore!!! They dont even sell electrical components they go rid of everything! and this is a powerhouse store as well! I am very dissapointed dick smith!!! What happened to the dick smith that supplied all that stuff?? Whats this world comming to..anyway looks like ill have try tandy tomorrow. All i need to get now is the cable, and the fascia antenna mast and i should be set.

Oh and a question for anyone will RG59 cut out the impulse noises is it adequite enough to use or should i just stick with rg6?

cheers

[yaehbhi]

hi All,

I'm in Endeavour Hills, Melbourne. Have recently bought a SD Set top box but the digital reception is not that good with my existing indoor rabbit ear antenna. Only get channel 7 and 9 and with some tweaking channel 10.

can anyone recommend which indoor antenna with built in amplifier will be suitable for this area?
which of the following from dick smith would you recommenced: http://www.dse.com.a...logs/CTG0001112

thanks very much for your help!
Yaeh

[digitalj]

Which part of Melbourne are you in?

[beeblebrox]

yaehbhi, on Nov 11 2007, 11:08 AM, said:

hi All,

I'm in Endeavour Hills, Melbourne. Have recently bought a SD Set top box but the digital reception is not that good with my existing indoor rabbit ear antenna. Only get channel 7 and 9 and with some tweaking channel 10.

can anyone recommend which indoor antenna with built in amplifier will be suitable for this area?
which of the following from dick smith would you recommenced: http://www.dse.com.a...logs/CTG0001112

thanks very much for your help!
Yaeh

None of the DSE ones are any better than your existing rabbit ears!!!!  in fact I'd go so far as to say your existing rabbit ears if they are adjusted and located properly are probably superior to any of these by far.

If your rabbit ears don't work then you're really going to need an external antenna if this is too difficult have a look at the threads on the winradio ax31b previously talked about...  this is a good option but is as much as an external antenna... (sometimes the only option though

[felixq78]

MatthewP, on Sep 17 2006, 07:27 AM, said:

Does anyone have any success stories using only an indoor antenna.
After reading this topic I am tempted to give it a go as I receive fantastic analogue reception.
I backed off after I was told by an A/V salesman that it flatly would NOT work at all.
MattP

  
I've just wasted $70 on the DSE L4074 digital Indoor/outdoor antenna. Virtually no reception. Jeez, you'd expect that it's performance would at least "equal" that of a coat hanger.
I've re-installed the old Rabbit's ears and the reception is perfect, for the moment anyhow.
I thought my inconsistent reception was the antenna but it appears it may have been caused by interference of one sort or another.
I've just re-configured my TV/DVD Rec/STB setup so that could be why it's improved.
As for the DSE L4074 it's going back to the shop for a refund.
Unless I discover some obscure reason for it's lousy performance.
Anyone else had any experience with this piece of crap?

[digitalj]

felixq78, on Nov 11 2007, 09:40 PM, said:

  
I've just wasted $70 on the DSE L4074 digital Indoor/outdoor antenna. Virtually no reception. Jeez, you'd expect that it's performance would at least "equal" that of a coat hanger.
I've re-installed the old Rabbit's ears and the reception is perfect, for the moment anyhow.
I thought my inconsistent reception was the antenna but it appears it may have been caused by interference of one sort or another.
I've just re-configured my TV/DVD Rec/STB setup so that could be why it's improved.
As for the DSE L4074 it's going back to the shop for a refund.
Unless I discover some obscure reason for it's lousy performance.
Anyone else had any experience with this piece of crap?

If you'd read this forum before hand, you'd have found that that particular indoor antenna is pathetic for picking up reception, the best antenna is a roof antenna properly installed by an antenna technician, but if you must use rabbit ears, the $2 version tends to work alright for strong signal areas.

What Area are you in?

[w3dge]

Hi,

I have to agree with the other posters, after all my attempts to get different indoor antenna's to work in my favour and after trying 2 different amplified antennas, i just ended up using the rabbit ears.

After experimenting with positioning, (i bought a 10 mtr cable), i found that double sided tape to a window frame in the full vertical orientation seems to work best for me. (its also always behind the curtins, so nobody notices it). So i recommended you try again standard with the standard rabbit ears, in either full horizontal or full vertical setup and try positioning it in different places.

I get all channels except for a patchy ABC2, although i'm in Canberra

Or if you don't keep moving around different rental places like i do, put an antenna on the roof and save yourself the trouble.

[alanh]

w3dge,
What total length did you use for the rabbits' ears.

Alanh