I am thinking of fitting a Glomex TV antenna to the mast head. I have a Avtex 15" TV/Freeview/DVD player and I was wondering how difficult they are to fit and whether anyone has any thoughts on the quality of the picture?

Nimrod, Westerly Oceanlord

Hi Johan. We have a Glomex TV antenna at the masthead. It was already fittted when we bought the boat, and although we hardly use it, we decided it would be silly to take it off, in case we become more TV dependent in future, when hopefully we will be spending more time on the boat.

We have however tried it out a couple of times, just to make sure it really did work, and justified the extra windage(!), and it has performed satisfactorily, both with a laptop with a TV dongle, and with a 12v Panasonic TV.

Hope that helps.

Likewise, my old 'home' had one fitted at the yard. Never had a problem with it unless offshore and it was a bit choppy then the picture used to come and go. Near a transmitter the gain did need reducing.

Ours was just a normal TV thou so couldn't comment about digital reception.

W.

Many thanks all. It seems that it may well be worth the investment as we are intending to spend 6 months at a time on the boat.

Jo 

Hi Johan - I'll certainly recommend the Glomex aerial as a good buy. Earlier this year we had the mast lowered on our Westerly Seahawk and took the opportunity to fit a Glomex aerial (amongst other things) before re-stepping. The latest models are supposed to be 'digital compatible' and I have it connected to a basic flat screen telly via the gain controller but plugged into a small 12 volt DVB-T scart-connected box which gives the digital freeview channels. It is only used when we are moored-up and mostly in our home port where there is good digital reception but I must admit the picture quality over the majority of channels is excellent. Although I'm not much of a telly watcher myself, I find that keeping my 'other-half' and crew mate happy with the odd episode of 'Coronation Street' a small price to pay for regular sailing trips!