Log Periodic aerial performance reports – A.T.V. Poles, Brackets, Clamps & Aerials

S Askey (Ridge Hill Transmitter)
I'm 9 miles from Ridge Hill. I haven't got line of sight to the transmitter - there is a wood and small hill in the way, there are too many trees to actually see it. Installed the DM log you sent today - great product, pretty much full signal & quality bars on the TV even when testing it in the living room. Up the pole it even better. The DM went in the same position as the previous aerial and I used the same cable because it was in good condition. I managed to get rid of an old mast head amp & the old aerial I took down was not the right group for my transmitter (ridge hill hereford)! And it had been installed by a pro installer. Makes you wonder. Also, they had used a crappy diplexer for the FM/Dab aerials with missing screws in the cable clamps - they were loose - explains why I used to lose the signal in the wind.
Amazingly The DM log also picks up Sutton Coldfield signals on channels 40+ (Sutton Coldfield is a group B is it? (Yes) ) - So proof of DM log wideband performance - and Sutton C is 70 miles away, bearing 45 degrees compared to ridge Hills 90 degrees. Amazing.

C Leach (Bluebell Hill Transmitter)
Just a note to say thank you for an A1 service,including advice and your website. I installed all the kit I bought from you and I now have a perfect picture and a sound / good quality setup. many Thanks. Highly recommended.

D Farrow (Touring Campervan)
I've got an all singing all dancing self seeking satellite system on my van, it works reasonably in England but once I go to Scotland it's another story. So I bought a DM log and bolted the mounting pole to the ladder on the back of the van. The aerial sticks about 12" over the roof and I leave it up permanently. So far the aerial has given us a perfect picture everywhere we've been, including Orkney! In fact it worked better than our home aerial, so I bought another one!
I'm pleased to hear the DM log has worked so well. When we use one for boating holidays ours works almost everywhere (90% plus ?), but not quite everywhere ! Obviously it's vitally important the aerial is set up correctly, or it won't perform at its best.

G Gordon (Canal boat)
I recently bought a [DM Log] log periodic aerial & caravan pole for my narrowboat ,following your advice by telephone. I just want to say thank you. Reception is amazing and the pole is fine supporting the aerial & very convenient on a narrowboat. Thanks Again.

M Smith (Touring Caravan)
We had always tried getting a picture off an amplified set top aerial in the caravan, and the results were really rather mixed. I took the plunge and invested in your DM Log, a caravan pole and a couple of the double clamps to attach it to the jockey wheel. I'm very pleased with the results, it works great, recommended.

A McCulloch (Canal Boat)
With our old loop aerial with amplifier the analogue BBC 1 & 2 are poor, ITV and Ch.4 are watchable, just, and 5 is there in sound but with little picture. On Digital we get BBC 1& 2 OK but no signal on 3, 4 or any ITV. This does not enthuse my telly addict crew to boating and if she who must be obeyed is not happy…..
Just back from fitting the new aerial and pleased to say the improvement is amazing, particularly as I only have it on the short section of the caravan pole at the moment. The previous aerial was fitted on the roof on a short copper pipe about a foot long which the caravan pole sleeves over nicely without swinging around. I reckon it would take the short section plus one or even two of the longer ones without needing a stay. On digital it has picked up nearly all channels with a good, steady picture and those that are missing are not important e.g. channel 8 which in Scotland is a Gaelic language channel. On analogue BBC1 & 2 and ITV are good, however Channels 4 and 5 have no signal and probably need the aerial raised a bit more. Some of my neighbours are now jealous. Many thanks for your prompt attention and advice. All I need to do now is get the Lat and Long of the various transmitters and enter them into the GPS as waypoints to help align the aerial when in “foreign parts” and we should be good.
On our first long trip on our narrowboat the DM Log aerial proved very successful. What an improvement on our old 'Flying Saucer'! With the addition of a signal strength indicator when other aerials were not in sight we had Freeview all the way from Anderton to the Ashby and then back via the Staffs & Worcs and Shroppie. Mostly with one extension pole, once with two. Many thanks for your help when deciding what to go for.

M Smith (Emley Moor Transmitter)
Hi Guys. recently purchased a DM18 from you to use in Leeds off the Emley moor transmitter, mounted it very nice, good solid parts but dismal picture, my fault as I had joined it with a connector to the existing coax that was very neatly installed. Big mistake, ran the new coax direct to TV and have all the freeview no problem and a discreet aerial installation to boot, many thanks and will use you again.
This is a very significant aerial report in that even a small aerial, like a DM18 at only 2ft 6ins long, picks up perfect digital 25 miles away from the transmitter. The aerial height was about 95m, so it's not exactly up on the hills either! Having said that Emley Moor is pumping out 174kW, which, particularly for digital, is big big power.

A Dickinson (Narrow Boat)
Many thanks for the very prompt service & I was absolutely amazed at the build quality of the DM18 log aerial & supplied brackets I received -great value for money. This was purchased for our narrowboat to replace a Yagi style aerial bought a few years ago from a well known DIY chain. Reception-wise that had served us well, but being decidedly flimsy in comparison to the DM18, was starting to look very dog-eared & the hardware & circuit board were starting to corrode badly. The DM18 is lovely & compact & with the rainproof "F" connector & build quality I'm expecting great things. It's already giving a perfect picture down in a deep cutting! Many thanks once again!Best Rgds A Dickinson.
We can't promise it'll work everywhere though ! Just most places (90%+? ) in my experience. Don't forget to always have the front end of the aerial tilted up a few degrees, it helps to keep water out of the connection.

R Hamilton (Touring Caravan)
In Feb 2009 I purchased a TV at the caravan show at the NEC. Took all the advice from all the experts and got aerials and sat dishes and everything else that the advised. Eighteen months later my TV still would not get a picture........ Internet searching I found a cheeky guy up in Sheffield who gave me meat and potatoes advice, I bought an aerial. It arrived 15 minutes ago and I now have 94 freeview channels all bright and clear. Super cool expert service. Thanks.
I like this aerial report, “cheeky guy in Sheffield who gave me meat and potatoes advice”, love it. I can't promise the aerial will work as well everywhere, but hopefully in most places!

K Stagg (Mendip and Wenvoe + KIlvey Hill Transmitters, using a CH36 diplexer)

As an analogue legacy all the visible roof top aerials in my neighbourhood (West Swansea) are pointed at Wenvoe which is 53 km east – southeast. This normally requires a medium to high gain aerial to receive good analogue reception. By adding a masthead amplifier one can also receive, most of the time, reasonably good analogue reception from the Mendip transmitter, 105 km away, whose bearing is only about 10 degrees different from Wenvoe. This is a great advantage to a Yorkshire exile as one can then receive the English BBC transmissions and C4 rather than the sometimes different Welsh alternatives. I almost have line of site to both these transmitters except for two or three roofs about 100 metres away from me.
The Kilvey Hill transmitter, 7km east-northeast with vertical polarization, has historically been disregarded in West Swansea as it was originally a Wenvoe repeater beamed NE up the Swansea and Neath valleys. In August 2009 Kilvey Hill analogue services were switched of and it became an omnidirectional digital provider for the whole of the Swansea region with increased digital power. As a result I can now get 10/10 quality/signal strength reception of all Kilvey available digital channels with a cheap 10 element Yagi and 8db amplifier positioned in a side loft! This does not, however, resolve the problem of receiving the preferred English regional transmissions when they differ from the local ones. I have thus replaced my faulty roof top aerial with your Log40 with a 20 db mast head amplifier pointed at the Wenvoe / Mendip transmitters. I feed my household TVs from both the external and the internal aerials via the CH36 diplexer. Even though both Wenvoe and Mendip are transmitting on reduced digital power prior to switchover next spring I am now receiving 10/10 digital reception on most Wenvoe channels and 7/7 on most Mendip digital channels. (Some digital muxs are on very low power at present). Analogue reception from Wenvoe is very good and acceptable from Mendip.

A Jackson (Sandy Transmitter)
We had a Contract aerial in the loft and we've also got trees in the way. We suffered from annoying picture breakup which my kids gave me grief about when it affected CBeebies. So I got a local installer to come round and he quoted me a large amount to fit a Tri Boom type aerial mounted on a 12ft pole on the chimney "to clear the trees". The thing is even with a 12ft pole it still wouldn't have cleared the trees!
After reading your website I decided to have a go myself and ended up fitting a Log40 on a 9ft cranked pole on the side of the house. In this position it just managed to avoid having to face through the trees. I also added a masthead amp. Due to time shortage I initially just fitted the aerial without the MH amp and it worked pretty well, much better than the Contract aerial in the loft, but it still suffered intermittent blocking, particularly on BBC1. Once I'd fitted the masthead amp it was fine though. Analogue is good but not perfect. All in all very satisfied, particularly at sorting it out without handing over large amounts of cash to an aerial installer, and having a 12ft pole on my chimney!
Incidentally my Freeview box has its own volume control and I found the sound quality was better if I turned it up on the set top box and down on the actual TV!?!

C Wynn (Rowridge Transmitter)
The old aerial installed on the chimney of our house when we moved here 20 years ago worked perfectly with the Humax set top box we bought when Freeview first started transmitting, even though it was badly bent and had one of the directors missing. However, towards the end of last year the picture began to degrade to the extent that all channels were virtually unwatchable. Time to check the aerial. How it managed to work OK for so long was a mystery. The plastic cover over the cable connections was virtually non-existent, you couldn't see the connections for a thick pile of green and white crystals and the copper braiding was completely corroded away. I replaced it with a wideband aerial I'd bought from B&Q when Channel 5 started. This aerial was mounted higher than the original aerial because conventional wisdom dictated the higher the better. Initially the reception seemed fine. However, early this year we started getting intermittent pixellation on some channels, and sometimes the picture quality fluctuated wildly. I then discovered your website (absolutely superb I hasten to add) and started experimenting with the vertical positioning of the aerial and its angle of tilt. With each change of position all the signal strength characteristics changed but invariably I would get one mux with a stable strength and 100% quality whilst all the others fluctuated wildly. At this point I gave up and, on your recommendation, purchased a Log 40 aerial and sufficient double screened cable to give an unbroken run from aerial to TV set. After installing the Log 40 on top of the 6 foot mast I was very disappointed to find that the maximum signal strength was little better than before. After hours of experimenting with vertical positions and angles of tilt I gave up and left the aerial lying on the flat roof. On returning to the TV I discovered that all muxes were now rock-solid on 50% strength and 100% quality. Evidently the aerial needed to be mounted lower down on the other side of the chimney. Back up on the roof I found the aerial was pointing at about 45 degrees from north rather than 107 degrees towards the transmitter. After substituting a small right-angled pole for the 6 foot mast to give clearance for mounting the aerial very low down on the opposite side of the chimney, pointing the aerial towards the transmitter and experimenting a bit with angle of tilt I now get a stronger and more stable signal. These readings have not varied throughout the summer even though this area is notorious for getting interference from French transmitters under certain weather conditions, so the Log40 does seem to be better at minimising this interference.
It is hard to believe that lowering the aerial by 30 cm and moving it 60 cm further south can make such an astounding difference. [link] Aerial positioning, it really can make a big big difference.

S Hart (Crystal Palace Transmitter)
The aerial is pointed at Crystal Palace. Performance is fine. The signal strength is around 65% and 70%. My previous aerial was in the loft and connected to a high gain mast head amp. The new aerial means that I have had to drop the amp down to mid-gain because I was getting break upon the picture (possibly caused because the signal was being overamplified - it is now fine). I could probably do without the amplifier if I just had it connected to one TV but I have the signal going to two TV cards in a PC. The aerial build quality is much better than the one it replaced (which came from Screwfix and was flimsy.Your web site is a BIG help and I feel that it really helped me to get the job done right. The only extra information that would have been useful on the web site is a few tips on getting the job done safely. I considered doing the job from a ladder (my chimney stack is on the end of the roof) but bottled out once I'd got up there! I used a tower in the end but I still had to do a bit of pondering to sort out how best to keep the steel brackets in place while I positioned the lashing wire. Got it all sorted in the end but a few tricks of the trade would have probably helped.
All in all though very good product and very helpful web site. All the best. Cheers.

J Nadin (Belmont Transmitter)
Our transmitter is Belmont, 26 miles as crow fly's, dead inline with Humberside Airport?
The aerial was a Log 40, recommended by yourselves on the phone, was a 100% success, eleven years of four and half channels!! Log 40 was the right one, great reception and less wind problems as we are prone to high winds. Comparison with old aerial? No comparison. Aerial quality, I would say it is nigh on bomb proof. I would like to congratulate you on your customer relations and lightening delivery service, (ordered 12-00 one day, fitted 1-00 next day), and a first class website, spent hours reading it.

G White (Durris Transmitter)
I just fitted a Log 40 you supplied. Build quality seems good. Picture quality on analogue and digital good. Now pick up more digital channels with a clearer picture and get C5 on analogue which I didn't before. Old aerial was a contract cheapy although the analogue channels were fine. Thanks for advise and the informative website.
Analogue C5 off Durris was on CH67, which indicates that the previous aerial was an A group because it didn't pick it up (Pre switchover Durris was a wideband). It also explains why the original aerial failed to receive all the digital MUXES, see Main 6 MUX transmitters : Durris. This report backs up our tests that a Log40 works about as well as a decent Contract 10A, or better than a poor quality Contract 10A !

D Smedley (Bilsdale Transmitter)
We moved to this house in 1981 and brought our (almost new) aerial with us but it was too large to fit in the loft (development site regs, all indoors), but as it was of the two-part type I unbolted the back half and used that. I don't know the make but it is one of those 'X' format element types. To be honest, it worked perfectly OK on analogue but on digital reception it was prone to producing pixellation quite regularly. I purchased a Log40 from you on the Monday and received it the next day! I am pleased to say that it is up and running perfectly. Many Thanks for an excellent product and 1st class service.

I Dawson (Durris Transmitter)
Thank you for the Log 40 aerial. I am receiving from the Durris transmitter (grp K at the moment but will revert to grp A in Sept 2010). It's only about 20 miles away but through loads of trees. The original aerial was an Italian FR 8 element aerial (470-862Mhz wideband Yagi). The Log 40 is infinitely superior in build quality & reception on digital and analogue. Kind regards.

Mr Richardson (Bilsdale Transmitter)
I replaced a small B&Q wideband aerial with the Log40. My old aerial gave unacceptable digital break up but the new one works much better and the signal is fine now.

I Harris (Bilsdale Transmitter)
Your reply was waiting for me when I got home from work on the evening of Monday 5th. I placed the order online the same evening. Aerial was dispatched on the 6th. Aerial arrived at home on the 7th. I arrived home from work at 6pm, had tea and fitted aerial in loft as planned. I used a good old fashioned compass to get the alignment right, wired it up and turned the TV on. Instantly had a great picture, but things improved further when I managed to tune the TV Freeview into digital! Even better as we only get a weak digital signal at present (Not due to 'go digital' until 2012). Sat down with well earned glass of wine and watched Lara Croft on BBC3. Thanks for you help. Your website is extremely informative and your advice spot on. I have no hesitation in recommending your service to anyone and everyone.

F Taylor (Waltham Transmitter)
Been telling you porkies, my other aerial is actually a Televes V not a Televes DAT. Here’s the info anyway, so here goes. V aerial is fed into 2 TVs via a 2 way Masthead, the Log 40 into 4 TV’s via a 4 way Masthead. Bit Error details come from a Sony Bravia LCD TV on each aerial respectively, averaged across the range of Freeview channels, but all are very similar anyway. Signal level on both is high 10/10, solid green. Visually, with digital there appears to be no difference when things are good, the difference seems to be Sunday evenings around 8PM the V aerial will cause the TV to glitch occasionally or if weather conditions deteriorate where the Log 40 is OK. Analogue on the Bravia TV’s isn’t great so it hard to be really critical. Watching the kids CRT tellies though reveals no ghosting on analogue via the Log 40 aerial there is a slight trace of it on the V aerial.
In a nutshell the log 40 on my installation seems more tolerant of reduced signal or worsening weather conditions.

K Crawford (Bilsdale Transmitter)
Whilst looking for information regarding aerial installers in my area I stumbled across your website. I found it to be one of the most informative sites I have ever visited. The website persuaded me that I could actually do the installation myself. The quality of all of the products I ordered was exceptional and very good value also. I have now installed the Log 40 aerial with the 4 way masthead amplifier and the picture on all 4 TVs is as good as I have ever seen. The speed of delivery was great also, despite the Easter holidays. Thanks for an excellent service, I can't recommend you highly enough.

K Maxted Black Hill transmitter

My background is in Physics and engineering and I am a radio amateur as well. I chose the horizontally polarized broadside array because I wanted moderate gain without very critical directivity. The local horizon is about 30' above roof level and 200 yds distant. I cannot see the transmitter location from here even from the local horizon it is not line of sight because of East Kilbride on rising ground about three miles away. FM and DAB require outside antennas. I think the structures on the horizon- a metal clad school building, trees and some house roofs give several signal paths and possibly some rotation of polarization. The signals can be marginal enough for aircraft scatter to cause flutter and dropout. I think most of the signal arrives by diffraction and can vary markedly over very few feet vertically and horizontally.
Some years back at a location not far from here I tried a folded dipole phased array (4 dipoles without a reflector), constructed from 2.5mm sq house wire. The results were very impressive (could receive Darvel and Blackhill) so my thoughts went towards sourcing a commercial array if I could find one for my own use towards Blackhill. There are a few newish builds in similar topographic locations in the neighbourhood that have arrays (2- dipole grids) and their neighbours have long yagis so I thought it worth a try. I think the wide aperture of the phased array makes it less sensitive to variable diffraction effects (varying as the trees sway).
For the gain I needed the windage was comparable, if a little lower than a yagi but the small aperture of the yagi would be more critical if the diffraction pattern changed.
The aerial replaced was a lousy and mis-sold B&Q bacofoil job. It was in pretty reasonable condition given its flimsy nature. The box stated 32 elements but in fact it is an X-yagi (XB5 type) with about 12 real elements - I should have returned it but is has now been up several years since the second phase of digital changeover. The coax was not replaced but is reasonably decent low loss (no comparison to the 50 ohm coax I use for Ham purposes) and has been up a few years with only about 8' exposed to the elements. The braid and inner were unoxidised and bright.
I have no means of measuring signal strengths and the TV is no help in this respect but the set-top box for my video did show "77-85%" signal readings across all the channels and my recollection is the the previous antenna showed a marked dip to about "45%" on one of the ITV complexes, I think at the lower end of the band. I would lose these completely in wet weather once the trees had come into leaf. Thanks for a great service, best regards Ken Maxted
The only addition I could make to Ken’s comprehensive report would be to point out that the Grid aerial’s gain curve makes it particularly suited to B, E or C/D group transmitters. It’ll still work down on the A group frequencies but it’s relatively low gain down there.

Log Periodic aerial performance reports (plus the Grid aerial ! )