405-Line VHF Aerials 2013 to the present day.

[Andy Green]

Originally Posted by jb332

The Wenvoe signal certainly penetrated well in a general northerly direction. I took this photo near Rhandirmwyn (near Llandovery) earlier this year

there used to be many old aerials like that pointing at Wenvoe here in the South East of Ireland.

[Rich Woods]

My goodness, I miss the reach & durability of the UK VHF Band 1 & 3 transmissions. I used to have great fun seeing what stations I could pull in on a simple band 3 dipole in my bedroom in rural Lincs back in the 70’s.

[Graham G3ZVT]

From Manchester, the Fireball tuner in our HMV 1871 could pull in the sound from Sutton Coldfield where I used to hear (rather than see) Aunty Jean with Tingha and Tucker and something called Crossroads, when it was unknown outside the Midlands.

[Rich Woods]

We were about 12 miles south of Grimsby. On a simple dipole indoors on a GEC BT303 (admittedly a fringe set) I used to get Anglia, (later Yorkshire) from Belmont, a good picture on Yorkshire from Emley Moor and occasional reception from Anglia (probably Sandy Heath) and very occasionally ATV from Litchfield. Happy days!

[Rich Woods]

For comparison, on UHF as well as Belmont, you could pull in Emley Moor with an amplifier and that was pretty much it apart from Dutch channels PTT 1 & 2 with no sound in high pressure.

[Andy Green]

Not actually 405 but Vintage nonetheless. Spotted in Antibes TF1 Band 1 819 line aerial pointing towards Nice direction.

[Mr Hoover]

After 819 lines closed in the early 1980s they continued with some 625 line system L signals in band 1 up till 2011 (Canal Plus possibly) so could be from that era.
The reflector looks much longer than the other 2 elements so very wide band which it had to be on the 819 systen with the audio carrier 11 odd MHz away from the video one.

[marceljack]

Originally Posted by Andy Green

Not actually 405 but Vintage nonetheless. Spotted in Antibes TF1 Band 1 819 line aerial pointing towards Nice direction.

As far as I know, there were no band I transmitter on the Cote d'Azur but this antenna was maybe directed to Bordighera in Italy (very near of the french border) where there was a transmitter on the specific italian channel C located just below the FM (vision 82,25, sound 87,75 MHz).
The particularity of this channel was that the sound frequency was within the FM band and of course hearable on any FM receiver.

Edit: the dipole of this antenna seems to be missing and the antenna seems wider than an antenna foor the italian C channel.
So another possibility would be an antenna for channel F2 (41-54 MHz) which has been used temporarily by Tele Monte Carlo in the 50s in the (vain) hope of a bigger coverage than their channel F10.

[Rhgbristol]

Spotted the attached aerial whilst in Lydney yesterday afternoon.

Band 1 VHF television aerial, still firmly secure and still pointing in the right direction for BBC 1 from Wenvoe - excellent workmanship and quality, having been installed I’m guessing sometime in the 1950s or 60s!

Surprisingly no evidence of an accompanying Band 3 aerial for ITV, albeit a smaller UHF aerial spotted lower down the mast, still aimed for Mendip, suggesting this being added to the mast sometime after 1970, for the UHF/colour boom at that time.

Does anyone recognise the aerial style and manufacturer for the Band 1 aerial ? - and why the connection to the dipole via the slanted element sections?

I used to see a lot of these on rooftops in Bristol, often with the tiltable mast to aerial bracketry as here, in my childhood, but now all but gone. The slanted dipole connection has always puzzled me - was it some sort of arrangement to pick up Band 3?

[marceljack]

Originally Posted by Rhgbristol

The slanted dipole connection has always puzzled me - was it some sort of arrangement to pick up Band 3?

No, it's an impedance adaption to the feeder.

[Graham G3ZVT]

Originally Posted by Rhgbristol

The slanted dipole connection has always puzzled me

Called a "Delta-Match".

[G6Tanuki]

That slightly upward tilted design was quite common across lots of the South West, I even saw a couple in the area from Kidlington down to Abingdon and Pangbourne when I was living in the area in the early 80s.

[emeritus]

Looks like the 8DB -D from an undated Telerection leaflet.

[colly0410]

Originally Posted by Rhgbristol

Attachment 320154



Surprisingly no evidence of an accompanying Band 3 aerial for ITV,

Maybe they used the third harmonic trick to receive ITV. As channel 10 is about three times higher in frequency than channel 5 then the third harmonic would be around channel 10. Many aerials in the midlands used the channel 4 Sutton Coldfield aerials third harmonic to receive Litchfield on channel 8, presume the same trick would work in south Wales/South West...

[akuram1]

1049

Think maker was Telerection.

[Graham G3ZVT]

Originally Posted by akuram1

1049

Think maker was Telerection.

Stop sniggering at the back!

[Rhgbristol]

Yes - that name always generates a smile !!



Regarding post 1054, I regularly travel to Lichfield to visit my daughter, and as such often drive past the BBC Sutton Coldfield and IBA Lichfield masts.

Admittedly there are very few, if any, 405 line VHF aerials now left on roof tops, may be just a few BBC 1 aerials to be found.

I guess there’d be quite a few still languishing in lofts though, due to the string signal conditions!

[emeritus]

In the Essex council estate where my aunt lived, tenancy conditions prohibited the installation of external aerials, so loft aerials were the norm.

[colourking]

A picture from Athlone in the centre of Ireland, attached (as visible on streetview) from April 2025 (relatively recent but I do not know if it is still there 7 months later!) of a (incomplete) Band 1 4-element vertical polarised aerial for reception of BBC TV 405 lines from Brougher Mountain in Northern Ireland, as the crow flies 115km or 72 miles away. The reflector and upper-half of front director had 'fallen off' over the years.
The two small UHFs installed under it aimed in roughly in the same direction were for RTE from the Cairn Hill (AKA Corn Hill) transmitter, which opened in the late 1970s.

This building is nowadays a computer/phone etc shop at the eastern end of 'Sean Costello Street' . Adjoining buildings demolished so looks like development due to happen there

Some remnants of Horizontal polarised 2-element Band 1 aerials could be seen on some buildings in the town, these were for RTE from the (one-time Band 1) Maghera transmitter to the south-west used before Cairn Hill opened.

(Athlone otherwise well known of course from vintage radio dials due to the former main medium wave transmitter just east of the town)

[colourking]

Another from RoI , this from Kilkenny city (looking down left side of 'Parliament Street' from 'High Street') and I'm not fully sure but what looks like a 4-element Band 1 with the dipole element since fallen off - assuming aimed at Blaenplwyf transmitter in West Wales (near Aberystwyth) about 216km / 135 miles away, but must have been somewhat useable there? . Consulting online it was horizontal for BBC Band I 405-line service which matches (The area never received RTE on Band I). Unfortunately the pictured is blurred, and it wasn't possible to get a better view as getting nearer the view is blocked at streetlevel . It was still there as of last Saturday anyway when I took the picture. Its also visible on a Sept 2019 streetview, but the more recent ones don't seem to have captured it due to camera position

A number of old high-gain UHFs generally 'in tatters', aimed at Blaenplwyf, dating from the 1970s/1980s can be seen. Obviously its UHF was at one time useable there. A greater number of these could be seen in the past but many have since fallen or removed. One I have pictured here as well, just down the other side of the street from the VHF one (easily seen on streetview)

Blaenplwyf would have had an uninterrupted run to the mountain range (where Mt Leinster transmitter is) approx 20 miles from Kilkenny city, over which there would well have been some diffraction to zone 20 miles on the other side . So long as the mountain range was visible, there likely was nothing to be gained with increasing receive aerial height.

Obviously many vertical polarised VHF Band III aerials still up in the area for RTE from Mt Leinster (defunct since 2012), some older ones being just 3-element yagis thanks to a strong signal