Recommend me a loft aeiral!?

[rash_decision]

Hi, I'm looking for some advice on what aerial to buy for my loft. It would be to feed 2 televisions for freeview.

I've had a quick look online and as I know nothing about these, I'm kind of stumped! I am in a good signal area, and haven't had any trouble before. I had my roof replaced on the house last year and don't want to install an external aerial again.

A neighbour recently paid in excess of £200 to have an aerial installed. But in looking at prices online, this seems excessive, and must surely be 95% labour charge?

Thanks in advance!!

[rsv gone!]

I have the high gain scewfix one. About 25 quid, I recall. Good if you can get a signal in the loft. You would need an amp to split it though.

[megaphone]

Ideally you need the correct band type for your area, enter your postcode in this site to check, click for detailed view

http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker/

Will also tell you if the aerial needs to be installed horizontally or vertically. Will confirm signal strength.

If the signal is good then a high gain aerial should work ok in the loft, you'll need a loft mount pole to fix it to a beam or joist. You may be able to split the signal to two TV's if it's strong, if not you'll need an active splitter, as already mentioned. You'll need power in the loft for that. Or you could always install two aerials.

[AerialAndy]

TBH best way for a novice to see type of aerial is look at what your neighbours got or ask the neighbour who had his upgraded what type they used. This will probably give an idea. On the other hand what an aerial installer will do for his £200 is take a reading to find quality of signals, select the correct high quality CAI approved aerial for the system being installed, select the correct mountings to hold the aerial, select the correct distribution be it passive or amplified, calibrate your signals, install high quality cables which reject impulse noise (Webro WF100 is what I use), have a 4G filter placed in the system for future problems and then test system outlets. As a van cost £16kish, ladders around £2k, meter equipment £5k + £400 per yr calibration and service, £5mil public liabilty, trade association fees, ongoing technical training costs, VAT, yearly equipment servicing etc etc etc I would take offense at someone saying 95% of an invoice is labour. There are a lot of cowboys and bandwagon jumpers out there which do the cheapest job for them possible but there are excellent installers aswell, CAI or the RDI websites are best place to look.

Probably regret typing that and sorry if that sounds like I'm ranting but I would really advise aerial installs are left to those that know what they're doing instead of calling us when it all goes wrong and we have to undo all thats been put in and start again and charge even more, false economy at the end of the day.

[pete a]

AerialAndy said:

TBH best way for a novice to see type of aerial is look at what your neighbours got or ask the neighbour who had his upgraded what type they used. This will probably give an idea. On the other hand what an aerial installer will do for his £200 is take a reading to find quality of signals, select the correct high quality CAI approved aerial for the system being installed, select the correct mountings to hold the aerial, select the correct distribution be it passive or amplified, calibrate your signals, install high quality cables which reject impulse noise (Webro WF100 is what I use), have a 4G filter placed in the system for future problems and then test system outlets. As a van cost £16kish, ladders around £2k, meter equipment £5k + £400 per yr calibration and service, £5mil public liabilty, trade association fees, ongoing technical training costs, VAT, yearly equipment servicing etc etc etc I would take offense at someone saying 95% of an invoice is labour. There are a lot of cowboys and bandwagon jumpers out there which do the cheapest job for them possible but there are excellent installers aswell, CAI or the RDI websites are best place to look.
.

This + 1 nail on head.

[AerialAndy]

Why thank you Peter

[rash_decision]

AerialAndy said:

TBH best way for a novice to see type of aerial is look at what your neighbours got or ask the neighbour who had his upgraded what type they used. This will probably give an idea. On the other hand what an aerial installer will do for his £200 is take a reading to find quality of signals, select the correct high quality CAI approved aerial for the system being installed, select the correct mountings to hold the aerial, select the correct distribution be it passive or amplified, calibrate your signals, install high quality cables which reject impulse noise (Webro WF100 is what I use), have a 4G filter placed in the system for future problems and then test system outlets. As a van cost £16kish, ladders around £2k, meter equipment £5k + £400 per yr calibration and service, £5mil public liabilty, trade association fees, ongoing technical training costs, VAT, yearly equipment servicing etc etc etc I would take offense at someone saying 95% of an invoice is labour. There are a lot of cowboys and bandwagon jumpers out there which do the cheapest job for them possible but there are excellent installers aswell, CAI or the RDI websites are best place to look.

Probably regret typing that and sorry if that sounds like I'm ranting but I would really advise aerial installs are left to those that know what they're doing instead of calling us when it all goes wrong and we have to undo all thats been put in and start again and charge even more, false economy at the end of the day.

I had a quick look to see what was on the neighbouring houses, but it would seem they all have loft aerials or rely on Sky/Cable??

Absolutely no offence meant with my original post Andy , but I live in a very good signal area. I installed my last aerial and it was absolutely fine. The only reason it has dissapeared is due to the roofers damaging it when I had the roof re-tiled. I have ladders, to get into my loft, and don't need a van, public liability, calibration of equipment, yearly servicing, training etc. I was just looking for a recommendation on a loft aerial to connect up when I get home from work next week.

I don't want to pay someone £200 upwards to fit something that I could adequately do myself for £20/25 ish????

I know there will be a lot of cowboys out there, hence my doing the job myself. If you want a job done right........and all that!! Lol.

[AerialAndy]

No worries mate, I was merely pointing out that theres a lot more to aerial installs then whacking a £20 quid aerial up and charging £200 for the privilege, your neighbours job was probably more involved then that. Can't recommend you an aerial as I don't know what your signal power and quality is like without a reading. If you go too big you'll overload the tuner. Go too small and theres not enough for the tuner to decode and noise creeps in to interfere with the signal. Makes? The Philex ones Screwfix and the like sell are cheap and flimsy but as its in a loft then this probably won't matter so if the signals as good as you say then they'll probably do but do get a CAI approved one. A CAI3 aerial is for good signal areas so look for that. Big brand makes then Vision, Antiference, Televes are all good. I personally use Vision which you can find on Ebay. I would say I'd send one but can't guarantee what you need. Talking of ripoffs the Philex aerial, even the largest ones sell for under a tenner and thats for one so goodness knows how much Screwfix/B&Q buy them in for to sell at £25!
Hope all goes well

[rash_decision]

AerialAndy said:

No worries mate, I was merely pointing out that theres a lot more to aerial installs then whacking a £20 quid aerial up and charging £200 for the privilege, your neighbours job was probably more involved then that. Can't recommend you an aerial as I don't know what your signal power and quality is like without a reading. If you go too big you'll overload the tuner. Go too small and theres not enough for the tuner to decode and noise creeps in to interfere with the signal. Makes? The Philex ones Screwfix and the like sell are cheap and flimsy but as its in a loft then this probably won't matter so if the signals as good as you say then they'll probably do but do get a CAI approved one. A CAI3 aerial is for good signal areas so look for that. Big brand makes then Vision, Antiference, Televes are all good. I personally use Vision which you can find on Ebay. I would say I'd send one but can't guarantee what you need. Talking of ripoffs the Philex aerial, even the largest ones sell for under a tenner and thats for one so goodness knows how much Screwfix/B&Q buy them in for to sell at £25!
Hope all goes well

I understand what you mean, I maybe didn't come across too well in my OP! Lol.

Cheers for the advice Andy, I'll have a look on Ebay and see what I can find. It's all about delivery time with Chrimbo coming up! Lol. I'm offshore at the moment so unable to nip out to a supplier!

[The_Burg]

What is your issue with a roof aerial? It will always be better and probably cheaper.

[rash_decision]

The_Burg said:

What is your issue with a roof aerial? It will always be better and probably cheaper.

I think they can look unsightly, and I would like to run the cable internally, out of sight. Also living ot the top of an exposed hill, it reduces the risk of issues with high winds or weather.