External Antenna Questions

[Jez]

Hi all,

I have a few questions about external antennas for Radarbox.

We need to have a new TV ariel fitted to the outside of the house, and I was wondering whether to get an antenna for Radarbox fitted at the same time. (I would be aiming to get a professional TV ariel fitter to actually fit the ariels).

So my questions:

1) Is it possible (or advisable) to fit a Radarbox antenna on the same mast as a TV ariel?

2) If so what things would issues / considerations would I need to be aware of?

3) What recommendations are there for suitable external antennas? I'm not bothered about mega-performance, I just want something that's high and outside. I'd like to avoid any external power if possible, and want to make sure my Radarbox doesn't suffer from any ill effects from the external antenna.

Sorry if any of these are dumb questions – I know very little about antennas and how to fit them etc!

Thanks in advance.

Jez

[Jeremy]

In my experience you have no problems at all. Mount any of the external aerials on the market on the stub mast above your TV aerial and it should work fine. Any length of coax over 10m will start to show losses of signal but if you want to be really up market, install a mast head pre-amp and feed the power up the coax - all commercially available. Not necessary unless you have a long length of coax though. void a pre=amp at the receiver end of the coax if possible as you then amplify noise as well as signal.
J.

[Jez]

Thanks for the reply Jeremy.

How do you guys route the cable through from the roof to your Radarbox?

Do you just drill holes through the wall and then route the cable all the way through to RB, or do you install a socket in the room similar to how you would for a TV aerial, and then run an additional cable between the wall socket and RB?

The wife is not too happy about this latest idea of mine, and I'm not sure she'd like the idea of long cables running out of walls! :)

[cruiser01]

I think you can through the satellite tv cable (no loss signal like coax rg58) together with the tv cable. So tv cable for your tv and satellite cable used for the television using the adapter for the SMA connection on the radar box.
Also for long distance... otherwise you can use a long usb cable and you move the radar box near the antenna.

[Jeremy]

Hole in the wall but then  I have 7 feeders to bring in. Luckly I live in a timber framed bungalow so I can push a screw driver though the walls! Drill a hole is the only way (at an angle to allow water to stay outside) and then pack around the feeder or use some filler. Hide it behind a curtain and wife will never see it. Under a window cill is a good place.
Use as few connecors as possible. I use a Westlake 103 coax into the room and in line N type connecter with a short length of smaller coax to another N type with a SMA adapter into the RB. The fly lead takes some of the strain off the RB connecter. You can purchase all these if you are not good with putting on plugs or just lazy, like me!
J.

[kaifone]

Hello there!

I just got my external antenna kit (10 mts cable)

being a newbe with matters like antenna installation with amplifier etc..

I was wondering if I could find here an "how to" doc or some indication....to install the kit the right way.

leaflet/instructions are nonexistent in the antenna delivery box

tks anyone for help

[Fenris]

I was wondering if I could find here an "how to" doc or some indication....to install the kit the right way.

Most important things are:

1) Safety - making sure that the mounting and the antenna are secure and unlikely to fall on someone

2) Making sure that cables are correctly terminated to the connectors, with proper soldering, cutting, trimming, crimping etc

3) Ensuring that water cannot penetrate the connectors and cable, use of self-amalgamating tape plus an outer cloth adhesive tape is recommended. Overall varnishing with polyurethane is also a good idea. Mount things so that the antenna and preamp connectors are on the underside so that moisture is likely to drain away.

Add a drip loop where a cable enters the building, that ensures that water runs down away from the entry hole.

[kaifone]

Tks Fenris

I think we should putl this infos in a "how to" doc, if anything would encourage people to buy the antenna kit (whatever) and as a direct consequence to expand the 24/7 active RB in the network! which I suppose is of great interest for Airnav and all of us
hope to have more infos from others about their installation experience!
tks ciao
k

[kaifone]

I just installed the ext antenna: really simple and intuitive!  and if I can do it anybody could!  just some logic for the cable connections

Tks Fenris

I think we should putl this infos in a "how to" doc, if anything would encourage people to buy the antenna kit (whatever) and as a direct consequence to expand the 24/7 active RB in the network! which I suppose is of great interest for Airnav and all of us
hope to have more infos from others about their installation experience!
tks ciao
k