To many caravanners, the concepts related to television signals and antennas is a foggy subject. As a result, they fall into the trap of relying on an “expert” to advise them on the best antenna or products for their caravan.
Recently, while running a seminar, founder Sally Garden of Wilkgard Technology Group P/L, who owns the brand Explorer-RV, polled audience members to find out how many antennas the average caravanner went through until they found one right for them.
The average caravanner went through 3 to 4 antennas before they found one suitable for their needs and that worked effectively! One couple went through ten!
Terms such as signal, wavelength, transmitters etc. are often thrown around and not knowing what they mean can make the subject seem daunting – leading to poor purchasing decisions. These concepts can be explained quite simply and once understood can save you money.
The elusive television signal:
Put simply, a television signal is a type of energy, and it travels through space around us and without it, your antenna cannot display a picture on your TV. We are unable to see it with our eyes, but its quality, characteristics and size can be measured. If you were able to see it, it would be like a wave pattern. This signal that has a wave pattern can be either running vertically or horizontally.
Where does a television signal come from?
Broadcast companies build large towers that produce and broadcast (send out) a signal. This tower is called a transmitter. There are three general sizes of towers which are best described as “Daddy Bear” the largest, “Mummy Bear” medium size and “Baby Bear” the smallest tower. The size of the tower determines how far the signal travels from the tower.
The Broadcast companies embed data onto this signal, and together they are transmitted into the world ready to be picked up by your antenna, distributed down your cables and connections and bingo your TV shows a picture.
Antennas.
This is where your TV antenna comes in. Its primary purpose is to pick up that signal and send it down your cabling connections in your house or caravan to your TV. Here it runs through electronic components in your TV that pulls off the information embedded in the signal that produces the picture.
Sally Garden
Founder and CEO
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