my antenna guy just hooked up my G 17. I hear music,but not stereo light and no signal strenth light on all stations. He double checked to connections. HELP!!!! david

Most likely, you have a wiring problem in your antenna lead. More often than not, this is due to a short circuit in the connector at either end of your antenna cable.

I would start by removing the connector at the tuner end of your cable; then I would make absolutely certain that no part of the braided shielding comes into contact with the copper core of the cable; and then I would try inserting that copper copper directly into the center part of the tuner antenna connector. If you then get a better signal, you can safely conclude that your connector was mounted incorrectly and redo that connection with all due care.

Of course, the problem could also be at the antenna end of the wire...

Good luck,

-- Pierre

but I dont understand. Are you saying that a bad connection at the TUNER end of things would create a poor signal at the antenna. My installer said the the signal AT THE ANTENNA end of things was poor. Doesnt that eliminate the connection at the tuner as the problem? In other words, can a bad connection at the tuner, cause a bad signal from the antenna, when it is measured at the antenna????? david

David-

In my case, the G 17 didn't generate adequate signal strength for stereo on most of the stations that mattered to me, even with a well, run direct feed of quad shielded RG6 cable. This led me to contact a friend who was both a Naim fan and a radio station engineer, and he recommended that I seek out a Blonder and Toungue booster amp. I ended up using the MVB-35 Distribution amp. Even though the Naim folks cautioned against using a booster amp, the difference in reception conditions and the distances involved, the crowded airwaves, etc. all led me to believe that a different approach was needed for use in the US suburbs. I have gotten excellent results with the Blonder and Tongue product.

Good luck,

Bruce

Question is then, is your installer measuring signal strength directly from the antenna output without your coax downlead connected?

If an antenna with the gain of a G17 is outputting a weak signal level, when mounted on a mast and pointed within 45 degrees of a decent strength transmitter, I would strongly doubt that it is properly assembled I'm afraid.

See my email to you for further suggestions please David.

David,

Did your previous antenna provide the correct level of signal? Given that the G17 has a Gain of 15.9db it is unlikely to deliver a poorer performance than the antenna it replaced. If you have new coax cable of at least CT100 standard and you are getting a low signal level you have an antenna assembly problem.

Good luck

Mike

my prior aerial was a 12 yr old channel master which until recently provided a good signal (at least good enough to allow both the signal strenth light and the stereo light to light up on most of my favorite stations). Only recently it was providing less stations with good strength. My installer used a meter on the cable coming from the aerial AT THE AERIAL, not on the cable which attaches to the tuner. These meter readings showed poor signal strength on almost all stations. The G 17 was installed and had the same cable attached. Now the signal strength was WEAKER than the old aerial. He tried attaching the cable to the G 17 in both polarities- that is after attaching the cable to the G 17, he tried reversing the cable attachment. Made no difference.
Now I would love to think that my cable is bad. It is an RG 6 cable that was placed about 6 yrs ago. If a meter reading is taken off the cable as it leaves the aerial, I don`t understand how any problems with the cable could be the cause of the weak signal. Is this proper logic? BOTH aerials yielded poor signal strength, just that the G17 was worse.
I am so frustrated and I am not sure how to handle the situation. I am 30-40 miles from NY city and would believe that I should be able to get a decent signal with an expensive roof aerial. I mean, my Tivoli bedside radio, which uses a wire antenna that is about 4 ft long and sits behind my bed gets all my local stations! How can my roof mounted aerial NOT?!!
I will talk to NANA later but anyone else have any advice for me? david

Who recommended the G17 and why?

regards

Don

recommended by NANA. Why? david

Don,

Type G17 in the Find box

David,

To avoid one of the common installation errors you must ensure that the insulator on the circular dipole is mounted at the top of the antenna and it is facing the front of the antenna. This ensures that when you connect the centre of the coax cable to the right hand terminal on the antenna you get the correct polarity when connecting to the Tuner. The circular dipole can be incorrectly mounted the wrong way round but is unlikely to be mounted upside down.

If the transmissions you are receiving are circularly polarised you will get reduced performance if you have the coax reversed at the antenna.

However I suggest you get it from the horse's mouth - contact Ron Smith at ronsmith@talktalk.net

Good luck

Mike

brian, my installer tried connecting up the cable to the G 17 both ways, it made no difference. Is it possible to construct the circular element backwards? The two top portions of the circular element are matching pieces which appear to be the same. One had a red band and the other had a green or blue band(cannot remember). There was no mention of which one goes to which side of the central terminal that forms the attach point for these 2 pieces of the circular construction. Is this a potential problem. Dont forget, I was having problems with my older antenna, so I am still wondering if the cable could be the problem. david

I dont know how much you gave the guy to set up your new aerial but there is no way i would of let him leave till it was working how i wanted it to.
Munch

David,

It is possible to mount the correctly assembled circular dipole on the antenna main frame the wrong way round i.e. with the round insulator (housing the connectors) facing the reflector end (back) of the antenna when it should be mounted facing the front i.e. where the shorter director rods are mounted. Correct cable connection should follow.

Super Low loss CT100 cable is double copper foil screened and is rated at 0.6db loss per 10m cable run or better. Cheaper cables can be much more lossy but there is no guarantee that the cable is your problem. A single run of cable (no joins) from the antenna directly to your Tuner should be all you need. Cable can deteriorate with water ingress.

I believe you should expect as a minimum 400 microvolts at the antenna before connecting the long run of coax down to the Tuner. A millivolt or greater would be much better but of course this depends on the transmitter you are facing. The G17 antenna performance in my experience lived up to expectations and my Nat 05 works well 50-60 miles from a 250kw transmitter.

In my previous post I should have said 'mixed polarisation' not circular.

Difficult to diagnose and help from a distance. A mast amplifier is not desirable but may be what you need.

Hope you sort the problem.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by davidf:
I was having problems with my older antenna, so I am still wondering if the cable could be the problem.

See above and -

"We stock only top quality double screened satellite type cables. Losses on cables account for at least half of reception problems, especially on UHF television frequencies, and these days computers, microwaves, satellites, mobile and cordless phones, alarm systems etc. can all cause interference problems on normal coaxial cables."

from Ron Smith's website.

Do NOT contemplate a masthead amplifier until you have checked this. If cables are inadequate, poorly terminated, damaged, jointed or allowed to fill with water - they will throw away much of the potential benefit you should have bought with the G17.

quote:

recommended by NANA. Why? david

and to Michael Brian

First I have had a G17 for about 25 years. I bought mine BEFORE Naim bought their first aerial from Ron Smith!!

The reason why I asked is that I would have expected the recommender/supplier/installer to have visited the site and measured the signal strength BEFORE recommending what you need. I would have then recommended you ask them to help you sort out your problem.

Looks like NANA have already responded along these lines.

Saves an awful lot of pointless hassel.

cheers

Don

an update: Never could get the G17 to work. Tried putting in new cable (RG6) direct from aerial to 01. Tried putting a higher mast lifting the G17 total of 10 ft above roofline. Tried swapping wiring to terminal (both ways). Even spoke to Ron Smith by phone! The G 17 could only get weak signals to all the stations that I usually listen to. My old Channel Master worked better. So, replaced the old antenna. The installer suggested a Channel Master antenna signal amp- installed this, the signals were all great. Every station had the signal strength and stereo meter light up. Tried it for 2 days, realized that the sound was worse with the antenna signal amp. So took the amp out, and now I a exactly back to square one. My tuner sounds good even thought the strength of signal could be better. So I believe I gave it a shot. Will return the G 17. No regrets since at least I gave it a try. If I didn`t try, I would always wonder. I suppose I could try other big antennas, but I really don`t want to spend more time (and money) on this situation.
By the way, Ron Smith conceded that the very tall trees surrounding my house could be the reason for the weaker signals that have developed over the past few months. Trees have to stay! regards, david

David,

Did NANA have any tips for fixing your problem?

regards,

dave

the tips were to try to re-cable the antenna, which I did. A few other tips, as well, nothng helped, unfortunately. david

Sorry to hear that David. I understand the Ron Smith antennas are normally rather special.

I run my NAT 101 here with an indoor Godar antenna and am getting fabulous results considering the compromised signal quality with an indoor mount. Even with the slight hiss live performances are stunning on NPR stations.

regards,

dave