"Jan" wrote in message
ps.com...
Got a small tv in Luxembourg, no channels found (trying both SECAM and
PAL). I suppose I need an external antenna. Something cheap will likely
do the job as signals should be good in this area, but are there any
pitfalls to avoid in order to avoid a 100% useless antenna?

If you live within about 30 km from a station, you should be able to get
some kind of a picture with nothing more than a 1 meter piece of wire
connected to the antenna terminal. Make sure the TV is set for antenna, not
cable. Don't k now the European frequency plan, but here in the US, TV
channels 14 and above are offset by 1/3 of a channel from cable channels in
the same frequency range.

Tam

Got a small tv in Luxembourg, no channels found (trying both SECAM and
PAL). I suppose I need an external antenna. Something cheap will likely
do the job as signals should be good in this area, but are there any
pitfalls to avoid in order to avoid a 100% useless antenna?

If you live within about 30 km from a station, you should be able to get
some kind of a picture with nothing more than a 1 meter piece of wire
connected to the antenna terminal. Make sure the TV is set for antenna,
not cable. Don't k now the European frequency plan, but here in the US, TV
channels 14 and above are offset by 1/3 of a channel from cable channels
in the same frequency range.

Tam

Found the following on the web. Note the channel frequencies are different
from North America. No mention of VHF for TV broadcasting in the UK.

http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/...is_Ver_1.0.pdf

Frank

Probably because it covered DIGITAL TV. They have a few analog channels. The
last time I was there they had BBC1 and BBC2 on VHF. What I found
interesting is that a lot of Europe uses vertical polarization rather than
horizontal like we do. Every time I go over there it takes me a few days to
get use to the 50 Cycle refresh rate which I perceive as flicker. But at
least the "colour" is the same from all cameras.

"Frank" wrote in message
news:YR4gf.120103$S4.98713@edtnps84...
Found the following on the web. Note the channel frequencies are
different
from North America. No mention of VHF for TV broadcasting in the UK.


http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/...is_Ver_1.0.pdf

Frank

"Fred W4JLE" wrote in message
...
Probably because it covered DIGITAL TV. They have a few analog channels.
The
last time I was there they had BBC1 and BBC2 on VHF. What I found
interesting is that a lot of Europe uses vertical polarization rather than
horizontal like we do. Every time I go over there it takes me a few days
to
get use to the 50 Cycle refresh rate which I perceive as flicker. But at
least the "colour" is the same from all cameras.

Fred, If you notice the document
(http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/...is_Ver_1.0.pdf)
does refer to analog transmission in the UHF band.

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHF:
"British television originally used VHF bands I and III. Television on VHF
was in black and white with 405-line display. British colour television was
broadcast on UHF (channels 21-69), beginning in the late 1960s. TV from then
on was broadcast on both VHF and UHF, with the exception of BBC2 (which had
always broadcast solely on UHF). The last British VHF TV transmitters closed
down on January 3, 1985. VHF band III is now used in the UK for digital
audio broadcasting. Unusually, the UK has an amateur radio allocation at 4
metres, 70-70.5 MHz."

Possibly somebody from the UK could verify if all the VHF stations have in
fact closed down. It is true that they use vertical polarization. The
refresh rate is 25 Hz, interlaced, which is why the flicker is so
noticeable. NTSC color drift was cured in the late 70s. PAL was a genuine
attempt to fix the color drift problem -- with some loss of color
resolution. SECAM was invented by the French to be different to everybody
else.

Regards,

Frank

If you are trying to use this in the North American, South American
markets, no wonder it doesnt work! North american uses NTSC standard,
while PAL/and SECAM are European standards! Think there is also another
standard for Austrailia/New Zeland, tho they might also use PAL.
(and this is before you consider the tv station frequencies difference)!
Jim NN7K



Frank wrote:
Got a small tv in Luxembourg, no channels found (trying both SECAM and
PAL). I suppose I need an external antenna. Something cheap will likely
do the job as signals should be good in this area, but are there any
pitfalls to avoid in order to avoid a 100% useless antenna?


If you live within about 30 km from a station, you should be able to get
some kind of a picture with nothing more than a 1 meter piece of wire
connected to the antenna terminal. Make sure the TV is set for antenna,
not cable. Don't k now the European frequency plan, but here in the US, TV
channels 14 and above are offset by 1/3 of a channel from cable channels
in the same frequency range.

Tam


Found the following on the web. Note the channel frequencies are different
from North America. No mention of VHF for TV broadcasting in the UK.

http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/...is_Ver_1.0.pdf

Frank

"Jim - NN7K" wrote in message
. com...
If you are trying to use this in the North American, South American
markets, no wonder it doesnt work! North american uses NTSC standard,
while PAL/and SECAM are European standards! Think there is also another
standard for Austrailia/New Zeland, tho they might also use PAL.
(and this is before you consider the tv station frequencies difference)!
Jim NN7K

I wonder if you are right. Looked at the original posting, and noticed he
did not exactly say he *lived* in Luxenburg. BTW, some of these countries
use 60 Hz PAL, which would not work with a set bought in EU either. RF
frequencies are guaranteed not to line up, because the channel spacing is
different.

Tam/WB2TT