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Old 4th May 2022, 9:19 pm   #861
dub_boi
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post
You're right, all the pubs seemed to be using cable by then, but the hotel at Dublin airport seemed to be getting a UHF off air feed from Divis for some reason.
The cable network spread rapidly across Dublin from 1974 and most premises were cabled by the late 1970s. Isolated buildings, like the airport hotel, were more difficult to cable so I imagine that's why it was using an off-air signal. The relatively high elevation of the airport and level ground to the north probably helped reception from Divis.
Quote:
There were still some huge Band I arrays south of Dublin when I was last in the Republic in the 90s, clearly visible from the DART train. They were VP and pointing east, presumably working Holme Moss which was quite a stretch. I imagine they'll all have fallen down by now.
Some areas close to the DART line around Monkstown and Dun Laoghaire never seem to have been cabled, I suspect due to wayleave issues. As a result they sport some elaborate UHF aerials, often bowties with a parabolic reflector or stacked Yagis, aimed at Divis or Llanddona. I imagine most have been superseded by satellite reception but some look well maintained and may be pulling in Freeview.
I don't remember ever seeing a vertical VHF aerials in Dublin but they certainly existed in the past to pick up Holme Moss - see attached.
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Old 8th May 2022, 8:55 am   #862
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

I saw this aerial a few months ago, and was so amazed to see it; I took a couple of pics. I was standing at the bus stop opposite, waiting for a bus.

It's in a road called Sackville Road in central Hove, a mile or two south from where I live.

I was even more surprised to see this thread!

Amazing really, it has sat there for probably 60-odd years, and survived the great storm of 1987, and many smaller ones since.

Streetview location here.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.83...7i16384!8i8192
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Old 9th May 2022, 11:10 am   #863
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

That looks in very good condition. I would think its for BBC1 from Rowridge on ch3 and ITV or Southern from Chillerton Down on ch11.
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Old 9th May 2022, 12:03 pm   #864
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

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That looks in very good condition. I would think its for BBC1 from Rowridge on ch3 and ITV or Southern from Chillerton Down on ch11.
It would also have received a strong Ch 2 band 1 BBC signal from the local Brighton relay station at Whitehawk Hill.
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Old 21st May 2022, 8:55 pm   #865
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

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Originally Posted by radio69 View Post
I saw this aerial a few months ago, and was so amazed to see it; I took a couple of pics. I was standing at the bus stop opposite, waiting for a bus.

It's in a road called Sackville Road in central Hove, a mile or two south from where I live.

I was even more surprised to see this thread!

Amazing really, it has sat there for probably 60-odd years, and survived the great storm of 1987, and many smaller ones since.

Streetview location here.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.83...7i16384!8i8192
The smaller BIII antenna at the top of the mast seems a bit the worse for wear; I wonder what it was pointed at?

[In my youth we had two BIII antennas, one for ATV from Lichfield and another bigger array to get Granada off Winter Hill.]
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Old 21st May 2022, 9:09 pm   #866
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Spotted this one on the roof of a shop in Theale, Berkshire; it's firing down the Thames Valley towards the London BBC/ITV transmitters.

The BI director has lost its lower 'leg'.

What intrigues me is the coupling between the bayed BIII arrays and the BI dipole; I've never seen this approach, with no kind of support at the BIII-folded-dipoles' centres and the strange upswept connection of the Q-bars to the BI dipole elements.

I wonder who made it? Was it perhaps a 'retro-fit' kit designed to be attached to a BI antenna when ITV came along?
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Old 22nd May 2022, 7:47 am   #867
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

I wonder if that aerial is Pre 1962 when the new
mast was installed at the Ch9 site.
There was quite a power increase
(as well as extra height) in that direction
so the signal strength
there would have improved.
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Old 8th Jul 2022, 7:32 pm   #868
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Apologies if I have posted this one before. I took this picture this afternoon in Aberdeen Road, South Croydon. Anyway, it is still there complete with downlead to the front room!
John.
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Old 10th Jul 2022, 4:48 pm   #869
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
Spotted this one on the roof of a shop in Theale, Berkshire; it's firing down the Thames Valley towards the London BBC/ITV transmitters.

The BI director has lost its lower 'leg'.

What intrigues me is the coupling between the bayed BIII arrays and the BI dipole; I've never seen this approach, with no kind of support at the BIII-folded-dipoles' centres and the strange upswept connection of the Q-bars to the BI dipole elements.

I wonder who made it? Was it perhaps a 'retro-fit' kit designed to be attached to a BI antenna when ITV came along?
The cross links would have provided a decent VHF (FM) Radio signal too, perhaps an example of band 1, 2 and 3 from a single coax feed, not a bad idea as a lot of the more fancy 405 line sets had VHF radio tuners too.
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Old 11th Sep 2022, 8:33 am   #870
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Spotted in Thame on Friday.

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Old 12th Sep 2022, 9:27 am   #871
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Looks in good nick still. I saw one locally a couple of weeks ago and thought I would go back and snap it, but I can't remember where it was.

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Old 12th Sep 2022, 2:39 pm   #872
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Probably no need to go in person with a camera these days Peter.
Here's one near me in Sept 2010.

Now you see it...
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.52...7i13312!8i6656

And in Aug 2014,
...now you don't.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.52...7i13312!8i6656

I can tell you that where it is, all you needed was a piece of wet string to receive Holme Moss, which leads me to believe it was installed before October 1951 and originally received the Sutton Coldfield signal on Ch4.
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Old 13th Sep 2022, 11:34 am   #873
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Hadn't thought of that, thanks. Holme Moss, Kirk O Shotts, Sutton Coldfield and the other Band 1 transmitters were just names on a plate on tunable Band 1 only TV's when I first saw them in my teens. Probably been to most of those places in the intervening years.

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Old 14th Sep 2022, 2:15 pm   #874
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Lynton, today. I shared a photo of this aerial in September 2019 and it rather looks like time hasn’t been kind to it.
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Old 14th Sep 2022, 4:59 pm   #875
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Fascinating to see how it has degraded, kinda sad but it was probably erected about the time I was born!! And kudos for it to have stayed up so long.

The two way VHF collinears my pet antenna riggers stuck on the roof of various taxi companies and roadstone quarrier businesses in the 1980s are all long since demolished.
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Old 15th Sep 2022, 9:39 am   #876
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

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Lynton, today. I shared a photo of this aerial in September 2019 and it rather looks like time hasn’t been kind to it.
Oh dear, I have always marvelled at how well this aerial has survived over the many years that I visited Lynmouth. I think it was in quite a sheltered location. But sadly a combination of time and sea air corrosion has finally caught up with it.
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Old 16th Sep 2022, 9:22 am   #877
Peter.N.
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

Some of the early dipoles and probably 'X's and 'H's had wooden dowling in the centre of the tube, anyone come across one, and did they lengthen the life of them?

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Old 16th Sep 2022, 9:58 am   #878
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

This may have been done to reduce 'wind howl' Peter. John.
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Old 16th Sep 2022, 10:57 am   #879
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

I remember replacing some aerials with the wooden dowels early in the 1960’s, I have no idea if it had any benefit but Johns suggestion is good.
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Old 16th Sep 2022, 12:27 pm   #880
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Default Re: 405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

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This may have been done to reduce 'wind howl' Peter. John.
I was told when my parents lived in a semi detached house on the Wirral back in the early to mid 1960's their neighbours put up a roof television aerial which would have been for BBC North on ch2 from Holme Moss and Granada on ch9 from Winter Hill. The larger band 1 aerial howled during windy conditions which upset both my parents and the owners of the aerial so they had the roof top television aerial taken down and it was replaced by a loft aerial. As most of this part of the Wirral received a strong signal from both Holme Moss on band 1 and Winter Hill on band 3 the loft aerial gave just as good results as the roof aerial. This was also in the days before Winter Hill started transmitting a strong BBC1 signal on band 3 ch12.
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