TV

[~Thomas~]

TV is line of sight, ANY height is of benefit. In my area there is ample signals flying around and they don't need to be amplified. the key is sticking your "head" up and getting a signal in the first place. here is another picture. http://www.l-y-n-c-h.com/Akula/content/20110511_9881_large.html

The Hinckley Loop is just simple and well designed. digital or analog it makes no matter (the signal and strength is the same)

So plug in your zip code and this map assume a "30 foot above ground" outdoor antenna.

http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/dtvmaps/

or here is another with locations. http://www.antennaweb.org/Address.aspx

here are some of mine from the harbor.

WFTY TELEFUTURA 67-1UHF

WSAH IND 43-1UHF

WEDW PBS 49-1UHF

WTNH ABC 8-1Hi-V

WCTX MYTV 59-1UHF

WEDY PBS 65-1UHF

WLNY IND 55-1UHF

WCCT unknown 20-1UHF

WVIT NBC 30-1UHF

WFSB CBS 3-1UHF

WTIC FOX 61-1UHF

WEDH PBS 24-1UHF

WHPX ION 26-1UHF

WTBY TBN 54-1UHF

WLIW PBS 21-1UHF

WABC ABC 7-1Hi-V

Thomas: I am much impressed with your beautiful boat Akula! My first comment relates to your research as this attitude usually brings great results. Secondly, I am pleasantly surprised that you achieved such success with no amp.. I think your 55' mast has much to do with this systems efficiency. I would like to do as well, but my mast is only 37' so will opt for an amp/antenna, but hate using the extra amps!

Sounds like you are also aware that most AC TV's draw more current than the DC ones.

Chief

 

[Chief RA]

Thomas: I used the signal strength unit you provided and my boat marina only shows 4 channels with weak reception. From this I must conclude that I need amplification to even get these 4 well. Thanks for your help! Chief

 

[Stargazer3]

I originally swore I wouldn't have a TV on my H410, STARGAZER. But I was over-ruled by my wife & son. So we have installed a 24-inch LCD/DVD unit on the main bulkhead with wires going through to the forward berth so that they're not visible. We also have 19-inch units w/DVD in each of our berths. We tried external antennas but only received 3-4 channels from a cabin-top unit. Then we decided to upgrade to DirectTV. We have an HD dish on our home dock and carry a smaller dish to put out on cruises. We clamp it to our transient dock at 315 degrees magnetic and the inclination is fixed. reception is awesome! Great for those rainy days! Capt Bill on STARGAZER

 

[LuzSD]

No TV thank you. Much prefer our music and the view or a good read.

 

[tkanzler]

Thomas: I used the signal strength unit you provided and my boat marina only shows 4 channels with weak reception. From this I must conclude that I need amplification to even get these 4 well. Thanks for your help! Chief

I'm afraid it's going to take more than amplification, which will amplify the noise as well as the weak, dirty signals you'll get. The amp will add noise, too. What you really need is a mid- to high-gain directional antenna to have any chance of reliable reception, and to make matters worse, you have stations in all three bands, with wavelengths from over 17 feet at the lowest channel to 1.5 ft at the highest, based on what TVFool.com shows for Bodega Bay. That means giant elements for channel 2, and little ones for channel 48, plus high-vhf in between. That's a tough one even for land based reception.

 

[Chief RA]

tkanzler: Please don't try to theory lecture me! I taught electronics for US Navy, US Army, Butte college. Degreed engineer (BS,BA,AS) in comp.,comm,radar,sonar.and 12 other industrial fields. (FCC lic#1890) Comm engineer for Pacific Gas & Electric, Diable Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.
It was not our intent to theorize as much as it was for letting each other know what has worked and not worked for us on the water. All the theory in the world can't tell you that or I would have the best system afloat!

Chief,EE,IE,ET

 

[william24424]

Cheap Upgrade...

LED HDTV's use small amount of power and antenaas are inexpensive...Best buy list the most energy efficient models. I also use my antenaa @ my house for free tv, old school=still cool.

 

[seadaddler]

Power Antenna

I spend a few months on the east end of long Island,NY in Wading River in my motor home and unless had cable no TV reception but this year I replaced the power RV antenna and with LCD HDTV and so many channels from Ct.
I get all the channels but some times the weather does make reception not very good and same for my marine power antenna on my boat and the HDTV has a scan memory setup that I use to scan and improves reception and so many
more channels.
Nick

 

[Chief RA]

william: I too would use air transmission for my home but I am DIRECTLY behind a tall ridge and it isolates me from the valley transmitters. I'd love to cancel this satellite stuff! I got 42 channels in my RV once over on the coast near the bay area. Chief

 

[Grouperhound]

I have an onboard inverter and genset but 12v was still a consideration when I was looking. In the end the options for 12v seemed very limited. So I bought a 32" 120v LED Backlit Visio that uses 35watts. I have a 50 watt cigarette lighter inverter should the need arise. I was able to find a compact Panasonic Bluray Player that uses a 12v external AC adapter brick. I plan to ditch this and hardwire it.

I also assembled a small mini ITX PC that I plan to power with 12v. Many of the ITX motherboards have legacy serial ports so it is a direct connection to the NMEA network. The TV will serve as my monitor along with a wireless keyboard.

A Ubiquiti Bullet WIFI adapter is serving as a client bridge for the lousy marina reception. It works awesome!

Finally I plan to install a 14" Glomex on the mast, but I want to wait until I'm confident I am considering all of my gadgets before I send a rigger up yonder.

 

[CootIam]

Re: A different option

Do you have to use your computer data to do this ??

 

[cruisingdog]

tkanzler: Please don't try to theory lecture me! I taught electronics for US Navy, US Army, Butte college. Degreed engineer (BS,BA,AS) in comp.,comm,radar,sonar.and 12 other industrial fields. (FCC lic#1890) Comm engineer for Pacific Gas & Electric, Diable Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.
It was not our intent to theorize as much as it was for letting each other know what has worked and not worked for us on the water. All the theory in the world can't tell you that or I would have the best system afloat!

Chief,EE,IE,ET

I don't think tkanzler was lecturing. He was just passing out some good info that most folk probably don't know. Now when you make that unobtrusive logarithmic mast dipole (Yagi antenna if you like) you can share it with us ;-) But I'm sure when you get that working tacking is gonna be tough! :dance:

 

[Jimmy P]

TV Onboard

What are people using for a tv on their boat, a 12VDC model or one that you would find in a house (120VAC)? Do you experience any problems with the tv due to moisture? Anything special for a mount or just a normal wall mount? I have a 380 and anticipate mounting it on the forward port bulkhead, leading into the v-berth.

That's where mine is located. A wall mount 22" flatscreen right on the bulkhead of the v-berth with large support washers on the other side. It's a regular 120VAC plugged in the wall outlet aboard. Haven't had any moisture issues in two years (Samsung) although with the price of small flat screens, it's not a big issue if some future replacement is needed.

I don't use it much except when all of my sailing neighbors are stuck in the marina during a rough northeaster. Then it's whatever football game we can find with a few cocktails! Good luck.

 

[Sumner]

....I also assembled a small mini ITX PC that I plan to power with 12v. Many of the ITX motherboards have legacy serial ports so it is a direct connection to the NMEA network. The TV will serve as my monitor along with a wireless keyboard....

We do it the other way around. With the USB tuner we can make whichever computer we want the TV and then that Computer's cheap monitor becomes the TV screen.

Either the ...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor-navigation/Compter-Nav-index.html

...12 volt computer is the TV with it's screen or one of the laptops is the TV or a larger 23 inch 12 volt monitor attached to the laptop is the TV. The USB tuner just plugs into whichever computer we need to be a TV.

....A Ubiquiti Bullet WIFI adapter is serving as a client bridge for the lousy marina reception. It works awesome!....

Yep we are at the far end of the yard and their WiFi doesn't reach that far as most people have to go down to the 'hut' to get on the internet. With the Bullet we can watch Netflix at the boat ,

Sum

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[Grouperhound]

We do it the other way around. With the USB tuner we can make whichever computer we want the TV and then that Computer's cheap monitor becomes the TV screen.

...12 volt computer is the TV with it's screen or one of the laptops is the TV or a larger 23 inch 12 volt monitor attached to the laptop is the TV. The USB tuner just plugs into whichever computer we need to be a TV.


Sum

Nice! For me the computer is probably overkill, but they are also my hobby. I plan to play with it. The Simrad stuff works with Ethernet, I'm just not sure how to exploit it with a PC and Windows.

 

[Ed Caldwell]

Computer data?

Do you have to use your computer data to do this ??

Cootlam:
Not sure what you mean by "use your computer data". The USB TV tuners are small devices that plug into a USB port on your laptop. To work, they need software (should be in the box with the tuner) that will interface the hardware to your operating system, store your channels, control the size and aspect ratio of the display, etc. Some even offer a recording function, provide an FM radio, or other things.

 

[jimmcgee]

There's a lot of home brew stuff on the web for building antennas. I wanted something KISS, a permanently mounted mast top omnidirectional that I wouldn't have to fiddle with.

The amplifier is important. According to the AntennaWeb site posted above I should only see five stations; and that's about what I get without the amplifier. With it I get between 38 and 41 stations depending on weather conditions. The antenna with amplifier was around $150, and another $40 for the bracket.

I also like the simplicity of a 12v TV. They're easy enough to find at truck stops, RV shops and even on Amazon in the low $200's with a built in DVD player. I was able to tap into the 12v light circuit where I wanted to install the TV so installation was simple. The biggest thing was fishing the antenna wire down the mast, which I did when I pulled it last spring.

 

[Rich Stidger]

There is one issue with 12V TV's when they are wired directly into the ship's power. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned it. The 'brick' that normallly supplies power provides a regulated 12V. When it is installed in a truck and wired directly, the truck's voltage is 13.6V or less. But in our sailboats when we are charging our deep cycle batteries, it is common to have charging voltages as high as 14.6V.

Many users have mentioned that this high voltage is detrimental to LED's in our light fixtures, and I can imagine that it could be bad for other electronic devices. Now I personally have not had any problem with these high charging voltages for any of my TV's or other non-marine devices. But I think this is something to be aware of. And yes, I did wire my TV directly with the appropriate size fuse.

 

[Chief RA]

Rich: I think you are mistaken as I think the alternators in vehicles provide about 14+ volts much the same as our chargers do. Electronic equip. tolerates voltages well within these ranges. Chief

 

[Sumner]

Nice! For me the computer is probably overkill, but they are also my hobby. I plan to play with it. ..

I use the same 12 volt boat computer on both boats and at home (use a netbook on the road). It is small and comes out of the boat easily.

I have everything I do on it, we use it for navigation with OpenCPN and SeaClear, our large web site with the programs to build it, word processing, spreadsheets and of course wifi and the TV deal (over 280 gigs of stuff). Using the same computer all places means my files are always current and I don't have to move them from computer to computer. I do backup with a portable USB hard drive and have everything that is on the main computer including all navigation software and charts on the 2 netbooks and one laptop via the backups.

At home I run the computer on a cheap 120 to 12 volt power supply and use an Alpha radio for wifi vs. the Bullet we use on the boat. This next year I'll probably make another 12 volt computer with a newer motherboard that is faster and still uses just an amp or so.

As you mentioned the fact that it is easy to find motherboards with serial ports helps to hook up to all the NEMA stuff,

Sum

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