Radio Reception Booster

[ianess]

I live in  a poor reception area but have heard of a signal booster that utilises the earth lead in a house`s main electrics as a massive ariel.  Does anyone know of this and is it safe?

[peanut]

ive heard of that too but i dont think they make them anymore. i too live in a poor reception area and have tried many things with no luck.

[romko]

avoid them. they disappeared for a reason - namely that using mains cable for an aerial has technical limitations (its cr@p),

try using an indoor aerial with a built in gain control (variable dB). Buy the best you can afford - you get what you pay for. or, if poss  invest in a good external aerial.

 

freeview boxes  may work well in cr@p analogue reception areas - if the area has that coverage.

[TOSHA]

Remeber also... it depends on what you are trying to receive,   different wavelengths, choose your ariel to suit. the shorter the wavelength, the harder to receive, try short wave versus fm....... see what I mean. Once you satrt getting into micro wave lengths, then you are going to have problems with range. To get distance with signals up into the Ghtz range, you either have to be looking at line of site [err] or bigger power outputs.

You can't get a quart into or out of a pint pot, all depends on...... Htz, KHtz, Mhtz Ghtz.... the old Short Wave were very long wavelengths, a great lump of wire did the trick, over very long distances, not loads of power to do it, same for LOng Wve or Med Wave... now we are down to wave lengths of bits of centimetres, and they are great over the road, unless you break the law and increase the power, then you might just get not over the road, but down to the bottom of the road.

If you are looking for better TV reception, get a good ariel, and stick it in the right direction at the best height. These things with two twigs stuck on them, which claim to be the best things since sliced bread, are usually just that....sliced bread.

Look back at the old CRYSTAL set instructions, and they usually give you the best advice on trying to get the best signal under a specific set of conditions