Have your say & ask the experts

I've just got myself a Cambridge Audio DAB500 for £20 second hand and was wondering how good the free or cheap options would be for use as an aerial.

If they are a no-go or just not strong enough, I'll fork out for a proper DAB aerial, but I was hoping to go for the least expediture route first.

Has anyone found these to be any good i.e. better than no aerial (with no signal).

Thanks in advance

Ok,

So  I plugged in my TV aerial last night and it picks up about 40 stations a lot of which had gone off air by that time (2:30am)

My Roberts portable Dab toy picks up about 60 with its telescopic aerial in the same room. ????!!!!

Does this mean I need a  DAB specific aerial?

I have the same dab tuner as yourself and, unless you intend to move the tuner around the house I would invest in a proper roof mounted Aerial, the benefits out way the cost . As I live on the south coast near the Isle of Wight I can pick up an excellent signal which shows on the tuner as 0 error, as you do not mentioned where you live I assume you are able to receive a decent signal , anyway the answer to your question is invest in a proper Aerial.

Did you buy an aerial or is your reception good enough without one?

I live in North London in Barnet.  I live in the bottom of a small valley (or bottom of a hill) and even my Sky reception and freeview is awful.

What should I be looking out for in an aerial?  I don't mind climbing up onto the roof to fit one either.

Does it need to point in any particular direction or is it just a case of playing with the aerial?

HI. I paid for an aerial contractor to come out and using his equipment he found the best place to site the aerial, which including the aerial, cost about £55. Before I bought my dab tuner I had a Cyrus FM tuner and the reception on that was error free. As I mentioned I live on the south coast opposite the Isle of Wight , I am able to pick up a perfect signal from the radio transmitter on the island, my heart goes out to people who spend a considerable amount of money on a really good tuner (be it fm or dab) and are unable to receive a decent signal. If you are serious about listening to the radio as I am, then get an expert in to advise you on what is the best way to go, before you spend needless money on doing it yourself without any success. Hope this helps.

£55!!! That must be south coast prices.

The first three quotes I've had to supply and put up a DAB aerial in London were no less than £160!!!

I have a 4.5m extending ladder, but like you say I don't have the equipment to test for the best signal etc.

I was thinking of installing a better TV aerial as mine is tiny in comparison to my neighbours and I can't get much in the way of freeview either!!!  Lucky I have Sky in the living rooms, but I wanted freeview for the other rooms.

All my neighbours have much better Freeview reception even when my freeview unit is plugged in.

Hi. I think you might have to bit the bullet, as they say and spend out on getting the job done.  I suppose I was lucky on the price I paid but looking at the rates you have been given, we here in the south say that's London for you.