# Forum Home Renovation Television, Computers & Phones  tv antenna upgrade, confused about what exactly I need

## s900t8v

wanting to upgrade my antenna to a newer type as it doesnt work due to what I believe is corrosion of the terminations and the fact it is ancient ? VHF not UHF  
looking at myswitch it looks like I only need a UHF antenna  
this one is 126km away  Service Network Owner Freq(MHz) Channel Polarisation Pat Licence No  ABC ABC 578.5 35 H DA 1160102  SBS SBS 571.5 34 H DA 1160083  AMV Prime 585.5 36 H DA 1159948  VTV WIN 592.5 37 H DA 1156397  BCV Southern Cross Austereo 599.5 38 H DA 1159980  
two sites - this one is 2km away  Service Network Owner Freq(MHz) Channel Polarisation Pat Licence No  ABC ABC 620.5 41 H DA 1160035  SBS SBS 613.5 40 H DA 1160037  AMV Prime 627.5 42 H DA 1160036  VTV WIN 634.5 43 H DA 1160039  BCV Southern Cross Austereo 641.5 44 H DA 1160038   
so is this suitable ?   https://matchmaster-au-assets.object...0_brochure.pdf 
then just run new fg6 quad cable with f type connections ?  
thanks

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## John2b

The National Broadcast tower further away from you is transmitting signals nearly 1000 times as strong as the one near to you. It's likely that the local transmitter is filling in a shadow area. If you are in that shadow area, then the local repeater is the one you should use; otherwise you are likely to get a more reliable signal from the main transmitter site. 
You can try the Matchmaster antenna selection guide here: Antenna Selection Guidematchmaster.tv which should tell you which transmission site to point at and which antenna to use if you put in your address. Also have a look at the other houses around you and see where their antennas are pointing, but don't take any notice of the antenna models as they will mostly be out of date or poor choices anyway (ex hardware store or franchise lawnmowers, etc). 
RG-6 quad-shield and F-connectors are standard specification for reliable digital reception. If someone isn't using the standard components and has reception difficulties, the fix is usually to replace cabling and outlets with RG-6 and F-connector types. YMMV.

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## s900t8v

thanks  
the guide suggested the site 2km away, I suppose not the end of the world to try both, most of the antennas in my area are old looking and pointing at the main broadcast site 60km away

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## John2b

> the guide suggested the site 2km away

  It may be right. In my experience, small repeater systems are often problematic (they receive from the prime broadcast site and retransmit locally) so going directly to the source can be a better choice unless there is a contraindication. Small repeaters may not have a battery backup and are more likely to fail. In your case the same antenna will cover both transmitters - all you need to do it point and retune the TV. 
If you navigate through the menu to manual tuning mode, most TVs will show carrier quality (C/N), signal strength or level, and bit error rate (BER). Ideally C/N will be 100%, level with be in the green zone, and BER will be <10-6 or 0 E-6 (i.e. less than one in a million). Write down the values for each channel from one transmitter, then move the antenna and repeat. You'll have to do this one channel at a time, so record the five channels, then move the antenna and repeat.

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## s900t8v

fantastic information, thank you so much!  
really appreciate it!

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## John2b

In fact, if you point to the far transmitter, retune the TV and find it is selecting the local frequencies, that would be a good reason to use the local site. TV's are designed to pick the strongest signal of available alternatives for each channel.

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## s900t8v

thanks again for the info 
I just walked down the street  
most of the houses with old really tall hectic antennas (made up of several large assemblies) are pointed to the site 60km away  
many of the newer retrofitted antennas are mounted lower, are smaller and are pointing to the local 2km away site.  
two houses down the end of my street in a gully seem to have the newest setups they have these type antennas not mounted very high at all (despite being in a gully) and are pointed at the local site   https://www.matchmaster.com.au/digit...as/02mm-mdu50/ 
this is the type of antenna the matchmaster recommended in conjunction with the local site so perhaps they are diy jobs or perhaps an installer has used this setup... at any rate I'll have to wander down and catch my neighbours to quiz them about their reception next time thyre out gardening haha

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