£115 for a TV aerial?

[nsa]

We just sent an aerial technician away after quoting £115 to supply (not fit) an Antiference RX12 TV aerial for our house. I had the bright idea of checking the price online and they are available for £7. The guy said "I don't have any input to the company's pricing policy".

He said we needed a digital aerial to replace our analogue one, but now I doubt that we do. He came from the company that appeared first or second when I Googled "aerial technician west London".

Joy.

[netherfield]

No such thing as a digital aerial,if the one you have is sound it will pick up the digital signal.

Recommended installers can be found here

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

But be warned the site can be painfully slow somtimes.

Edited by netherfield on Monday 12th September 16:08

[cossy400]

What he said ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ we had a guy come round and move our ariel as we were on an old transmitter asked him about digital change over he said thousands will be conned etc etc,

[Mr GrimNasty]

There may be 'no such difference' but it is true that you may need to upgrade your aerial to get an acceptable digital signal.

Edited by Mr GrimNasty on Monday 12th September 17:24

[cerbfan]

Yes but if you read the post that was for supply only not fitted.

[Mr GrimNasty]

cerbfan said:

Yes but if you read the post that was for supply only not fitted.

Already changed it - if you weren't so slow! (And before you look at the time stamp, I re-changed it.)

[Oystercatcher]

Mr GrimNasty said:

There may be 'no such difference' but it is true that you may need to upgrade your aerial to get an acceptable digital signal.

Edited by Mr GrimNasty on Monday 12th September 17:24

Professional Aerial Riggers Against The Sharks
http://www.paras.org.uk/
Debunks those "bloke down the pub says..." stories

[Simpo Two]

Buy one for £7, stick in your loft and it will do fk all. Pay £150 for a proper bloke to fit it on the chimney, align it properly and fit an amplifier if required.

[SS2.]

Probably depends where you live and the strength of the digital signal in your area.

Me, I'm almost line of sight to the nearest transmitter - our aerial is a cheap and nasty jobbie from decades ago which is simply laid on the floor of the loft.

My brother, on the other hand, has fitted an 8' behemoth external aerial and can't get even the blockiest of pictures.

[StevenB]

My 30 year old aerial needed boosters to get the analogue signal, even then channel 4 and 5 where not great. I now have a freeview box, same aerial, great picture on all stations. So see what the reception is like before you buy a new aerial.

[Simpo Two]

StevenB said:

My 30 year old aerial needed boosters to get the analogue signal, even then channel 4 and 5 where not great. I now have a freeview box, same aerial, great picture on all stations.

That's odd, digital has much less range than analogue due to the higher frequency. Maybe they built a new transmitter?

[nsa]

I went into the loft last night and moved the aerial to a better spot about six feet away from where it used to be, and fitted a £10 amplifier that I bought on Ebay. Perfect picture now.

Doubtless lots of people will accept what the "professional" says. What a c*nt. The company has a sponsored link when you search for aerial technician west london. Sounds like Air Force.

Edited by nsa on Tuesday 13th September 08:14

[Meeja]

Simpo Two said:

StevenB said:

My 30 year old aerial needed boosters to get the analogue signal, even then channel 4 and 5 where not great. I now have a freeview box, same aerial, great picture on all stations.

That's odd, digital has much less range than analogue due to the higher frequency. Maybe they built a new transmitter?

But once the analogue signal is switched off at a transmitter, the frequencies on which the digital chamnels are broadcast are changed.... So at worst reception quality stays the same, and in some cases it improves.

[Du1point8]

Simpo Two said:

Buy one for £7, stick in your loft and it will do fk all. Pay £150 for a proper bloke to fit it on the chimney, align it properly and fit an amplifier if required.

Mine is in the loft and it does just fine on all free view channels and dont think there is a crap picture on any of them.

[98elise]

Du1point8 said:

Simpo Two said:

Buy one for £7, stick in your loft and it will do fk all. Pay £150 for a proper bloke to fit it on the chimney, align it properly and fit an amplifier if required.

Mine is in the loft and it does just fine on all free view channels and dont think there is a crap picture on any of them.

Same here. £25 for homebase, fitted it myself, just pointed it in the same general direction as the others in the street. Picks up all the digital channels just fine

[davidjpowell]

We struggle. In a dip lots of trees. It's on a bloody big pole, but does not like many freeview channels.

Just waiting for the signal strength to be turned up before doing anything about it.

[mph1977]

Meeja said:

Simpo Two said:

StevenB said:

My 30 year old aerial needed boosters to get the analogue signal, even then channel 4 and 5 where not great. I now have a freeview box, same aerial, great picture on all stations.

That's odd, digital has much less range than analogue due to the higher frequency. Maybe they built a new transmitter?

But once the analogue signal is switched off at a transmitter, the frequencies on which the digital chamnels are broadcast are changed.... So at worst reception quality stays the same, and in some cases it improves.

and the power is turned up for the digital as it's not going to co-channel interfere with someone's analogue signal from the next transmitter or a relay

[FaineantFreddy]

davidjpowell said:

We struggle. In a dip lots of trees. It's on a bloody big pole, but does not like many freeview channels.

Just waiting for the signal strength to be turned up before doing anything about it.

Just what I was going to say

There's no point in spending money "upgrading" your existing antenna until digital switchover in your area is complete, because in the majority of cases the digital signal is currently being broadcast at a much lower power than it will end up, to avoid interfering with the existing analogue signals.

As an example, the digital wick at Crystal Palace will be turned up so it's 10 times the current power. For some locations, that could then mean that instead of a "better" antenna, you would actually require a smaller antenna or even an attenuator to avoid overloading your set top box.

There's a load of mis-information out there about this, so before spending any money do your research!

[Meeja]

FaineantFreddy said:

There's a load of mis-information out there about this, so before spending any money do your research!

I have to say, the link to PARAS given by OysterCatcher earlier in the thread is a very good read. It would help a significant number of people avoid being ripped off IMHO.

[nsa]

Just to refresh this. After a couple of weeks, our aerial has a perfect signal. I saved about £200 by relocating the aerial higher up in the loft and added a cheap amplifier that I got on ebay. moneysaving expert.com here I come!