That’s odd, since Digital TV has probably been around in your neck of the woods for maybe only 10 years or so, so it’s not really “old”.
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An interesting read about the history of TV transmissions in the Riverland area in the early times. Used to be possible in the analogue era to get a somewhat reliable signal from the Mildura and Adelaide transmitters, a comment on the thread also mentioned that Mildura/Wentworth could pick up the Loxton transmitter back in analogue times
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High power VHF signals in Australia seem be transmitted either horizontally or vertically in pretty close to even numbers, at least in regional areas. All metros are horizontal.
But on UHF, there are very few high powered vertically transmitted signals.
Vertical polarity only ever seems to be used for low power infills.
I have wondered why this is so … so I did a bit of Googling. The closest answer I can find is that there appears more man made interference on the vertical plane, thus the preference for horizontal. But then, I’ve always thought that there is more likely to be that type of interference on VHF, not UHF.
I’m guessing some high powered VHF signals (in the analogue era at least) were forced to use vertical polarity to minimise interference to nearby horizontal set ups eg. for Orange and Taree (both vertical) being in reasonable proximity to Sydney (horizontal) despite the vertical man made interference issue.
Which may also explain why DAB signals (vertical) needs more error correction built into their signals? If they could have been horizontal, they may have been able to accommodate more stations?
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Old Stacked TV antenna setup in Renmark which looks like it was used for Mildura at one point as it’s roughly pointing in that direction, the lower antenna was used for picking up Loxton. There used to be a house there but was demolished for an extension of a neighboring caryard.
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Assuming it was erected before 1990s, I’m surprised they didn’t try for Adelaide, with a lot more choice on offer from there.
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I was in Berri from 1975 to 1980 living in Zante Road, We used to get Adelaide Tv 95% of the time with our aerial… dare I say, a roll of 300ohm slotted ribbon on the curtain rod in the lounge room. It was the big sunspot cycle of the decade of course, may have had something to do with it.
27mhz was on fire, a ringo on the chimney and spent all day talking to the yanks. didnt get to paint the house in the holidays.
Good days.
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It’s fine but try this:
Aus made, top gain.
Hills is fine but I feel MM are now in front.
For UHF, their import of WISI is a highly durable product with excellent gain too.
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Each to their own I guess, even before I swapped sides of the transmitter, when I was doing TV Antenna installs I was never a fan of anything Matchmaster, Hills were much better quality & generally had better gain per antenna size.
Hills also had & I think still do have their own Australian RF test yard where they’d hit the antennas, etc with all sorts of RF to test for gain, rejection etc, after engineering but before production at scale.
The Hills antennas were always actual tested gain & rejection figures & all were Australian made, the Matchmaster gear was only theoretical gain & rejection figures.
I never liked the WISI UHF passed array, despite it being supposedly so good & well recommended & used by many. It wasn’t until quite late after digital TV started when the coax connection & BALUN was changed from screw & saddle to F-type, long after the Hills Ultimax 36 antenna was F-type. The WISI connection box was also in 2 parts & not sealed to the weather & air, whereas the Hills Ultimax was a fully sealed BALUN with F-type connection, so there was no way water or salt air (if you live on the coast) was getting in to the BALUN connection & corroding it causing reception problems, the Hills Ultimax always had better figures than the WISI, & I found from testing that in a difficult reception area the Hills Ultimax would always give a more constant reliable reception than the WISI.
It’s been a long time since I’ve done antenna installs, but I don’t think Hills have dropped that much & don’t think Matchmaster has picked up that much?
Most of the reception antennas in broadcast we use now, are ZCG Scalar antennas in stainless steel.
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Are they selling an antenna or TV? 
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That should be for a TV, as no free to air stations transmit in Ultra HD, 4K or HDR or use DVB-T2.
But it wouldn’t surprise me to see TV antennas advertised as such.
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What’s your opinion on Fracarro antennas? Every 2nd house in Brisbane has one just about.
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They did used to see antennas that were labelled as suitable for or specifically designed for colour TV.
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I’m more puzzled why installers still install VHf/UHF combos considering UHF has gone for good for some years now!
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UHF still used in many areas, including in the inner city.
Only a few small towns in outback QLD and maybe WA still use both.
But yes, theoretically 99.999% of viewers only need one or the other.
The only logic I can think of is where both VHF and UHF versions are available eg. inner areas of Sydney or Melbourne where say Kings Cross or South Yarra UHF infills may or may not give better results than the main VHF sites. Then the same antenna can be realigned to the alternate site (polarity may need to be changed too).
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I was respoding to a post on Brisbane, not Darwin.
Did a bit of checking and at least Alice Springs, Mount Isa, Thursday Island and Cobar also have both VHF and UHF.
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There’s another 25 or so places with VHF and UHF mostly outback Queensland and NT. There was nothing to be gained with a restack in many remote locations so they kept their original channels.
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I guess future proofing in case they ever restack again. But I guess if that ever happens the antenna would be life expired and need replacing anyway.
A lot of V/U combo antennas in cap cities would be left over from pre restack. Amazing how many still have Band I antennas too.
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I believe there IS to be another restack, when DVB-T2 is rolled out, UHF 40-51 will also be made obsolete as T2 will allow a number of networks to be multiplexed into the one RF channel.
Which is looking a fair way off? Later this decade maybe?
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We still have an old VHF/UHF combo on our roof with the Band I elements for Channel 2 - our house is 20 years old and it was installed at the time, and being in a prime signal area with no DTV reception I’ve seen no reason to change it. I imagine many in older houses are exactly the same
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