How much should a decent TV aerial replacement cost?

[Legend83]

Another 'just moved in' question!

Previous owners had Sky (which I don't plan to get) and having tested the aerial input from the roof, the aerial appears to be an old analogue job - not good for my Pioneer!

So, more of the green stuff required - how much should a new digital aerial plus fitting by a professional (including running cables into lounge and bedroom for me) cost?

Holding my breath here....

All threads by me likely to be DIY/house related for the forseable future...

[Orb the Impaler]

Depends where you live. Here it cost 50 quid (Rossendale).
That London? Several hundred, I suspect.

[richyb]

If there is a sky connection you can just get an old box and get normal TV through it, no need to actually subscribe. I had to do this when I lived in N.Ireland as I was in a valley and couldn't get a signal with a standard aerial.

[Targarama]

I paid £120 7 years ago for a good sturdy ariel on the chimney of our house (new build - tried it inside the loft, but it only delivered a weak signal).

Edited to add: This included installation

Edited by Targarama on Friday 13th March 09:17

[Legend83]

Orb the Impaler said:

Depends where you live. Here it cost 50 quid (Rossendale).
That London? Several hundred, I suspect.

Hertfordshire...

[Legend83]

richyb said:

If there is a sky connection you can just get an old box and get normal TV through it, no need to actually subscribe. I had to do this when I lived in N.Ireland as I was in a valley and couldn't get a signal with a standard aerial.

Interesting. So if the cables running into the house from the sky dish are still live I can just plug these into an old Sky box (Sky+?), feed this into the TV via COAX and I am away?

That still leaves me with the problem of no TV in the bedroom.

[levron73]

Just had my house done - poor reception area to needed a 100 to 120 something(s) aerial with 10 foot mast, amplifier box supplied and fitted, 3 new points installed (through some very think walls!) all in £690 inc VAT

The aerial and mast was £180 + VAT
The 8 way amplifier was £110 + VAT
Then roughly £80 per new cable run

Was slightly more expensive than other quotes but they were brilliant - much better than the other bloke that turned up,, scratched his head, got out his 1m drill bit and started test drilling my wall, couldn't get through, scratched his head some more, asked me what he should do - I told him to get back in his van!

[Sixpackpert]

If they had Sky then the dish and cable are still there??

Why don't you get Freesat?

http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=products.M...

Or I have a non-HD receiver going cheap as I've just bought the Humax HD recorder.

Edited by Sixpackpert on Friday 13th March 09:25

[Legend83]

levron73 said:

all in £690 inc VAT

Ouch!

levron73 said:

The 8 way amplifier was £110 + VAT

Got a 4 way one already installed so can knock that one on the head!

[richyb]

Legend83 said:

richyb said:

If there is a sky connection you can just get an old box and get normal TV through it, no need to actually subscribe. I had to do this when I lived in N.Ireland as I was in a valley and couldn't get a signal with a standard aerial.

Interesting. So if the cables running into the house from the sky dish are still live I can just plug these into an old Sky box (Sky+?), feed this into the TV via COAX and I am away?

That still leaves me with the problem of no TV in the bedroom.

Yep. I had a fairly ancient looking sky box that should one had laying about in the loft so borrowed that and plugged it into the sky dish wire in the living room and I could watch tv through it. You have to set it as scart on the tv and control the channels through the sky box/remote but not a major hassle.

[theshrew]

Legend83 said:

richyb said:

If there is a sky connection you can just get an old box and get normal TV through it, no need to actually subscribe. I had to do this when I lived in N.Ireland as I was in a valley and couldn't get a signal with a standard aerial.

Interesting. So if the cables running into the house from the sky dish are still live I can just plug these into an old Sky box (Sky+?), feed this into the TV via COAX and I am away?

That still leaves me with the problem of no TV in the bedroom.

Yeah just plug a box in and your sorted mate. I actually found it a better picture when i did this to. Its just the same as having free veiw. A couple of the chanels are different but all the main ones are there.

[deckster]

I paid £250 all in a couple of years back for new aerial, masthead amplifier and two connection points. The guy was thoroughly professional and it turned a completely unusable signal into 100% Freeview reception. I was happy.

[croyde]

About 5 years ago had a new digital friendly aerial supplied and fitted here in London for around £160.

[Baron Von Alders]

Just had a new digital ready aerial fitted after the last parted company from with the chimney in the recent winds - £125 for fitting to the chimney, running cable into the loft & connecting to the existing cable.

East London / Essex area.

Edited by Baron Von Alders on Friday 13th March 09:33

[Sixpackpert]

Legend83 said:

richyb said:

If there is a sky connection you can just get an old box and get normal TV through it, no need to actually subscribe. I had to do this when I lived in N.Ireland as I was in a valley and couldn't get a signal with a standard aerial.

Interesting. So if the cables running into the house from the sky dish are still live I can just plug these into an old Sky box (Sky+?), feed this into the TV via COAX and I am away?

That still leaves me with the problem of no TV in the bedroom.

Get a freesat box. Get a video signal sender for the bedroom telly.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=22828...

[Super Slo Mo]

Just as a matter of interest, who's told you it's an 'analogue' aerial?

An aerial is an aerial. Gain and tuning (frequencies they work best at) vary, but both will receive digital and analogue transmissions just fine.

If your signal strength is good and the aerial/cable is in good condition, then going to the expense and trouble of having another fitted probably isn't worth it.

Your antenna might be corroded/damaged, and your cable from it to your TV might not be up to scratch which, if it's old, might well be the case.

[Legend83]

Super Slo Mo said:

Just as a matter of interest, who's told you it's an 'analogue' aerial?

An aerial is an aerial. Gain and tuning (frequencies they work best at) vary, but both will receive digital and analogue transmissions just fine.

If your signal strength is good and the aerial/cable is in good condition, then going to the expense and trouble of having another fitted probably isn't worth it.

Your antenna might be corroded/damaged, and your cable from it to your TV might not be up to scratch which, if it's old, might well be the case.

Good point, however when I plugged the Pioneer in all that I had on screen on DTV was 'no connection available'. I put the input to ATV and retuned and managed to get 3 channels of varying quality....

[aclivity]

Just had a quote (North West area) for

£85 Aerial supply, fit, one outlet fitted.
£45 for mast mounted splitter (powered or non powered, same price, only use powered if required)
£30 per additional outlet

£220 for 4 outlets, £200 for cash.

There are people advertising in my local paper for an aerial supplied & fitted for £45 - the guys I spoke to both said that they got a lot of their work through repairing the £45 aerial installations!

[Legend83]

Sixpackpert said:

Legend83 said:

richyb said:

If there is a sky connection you can just get an old box and get normal TV through it, no need to actually subscribe. I had to do this when I lived in N.Ireland as I was in a valley and couldn't get a signal with a standard aerial.

Interesting. So if the cables running into the house from the sky dish are still live I can just plug these into an old Sky box (Sky+?), feed this into the TV via COAX and I am away?

That still leaves me with the problem of no TV in the bedroom.

Get a freesat box. Get a video signal sender for the bedroom telly.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=22828...

How does this work?

[Sixpackpert]

Legend83 said:

Sixpackpert said:

Legend83 said:

richyb said:

If there is a sky connection you can just get an old box and get normal TV through it, no need to actually subscribe. I had to do this when I lived in N.Ireland as I was in a valley and couldn't get a signal with a standard aerial.

Interesting. So if the cables running into the house from the sky dish are still live I can just plug these into an old Sky box (Sky+?), feed this into the TV via COAX and I am away?

That still leaves me with the problem of no TV in the bedroom.

Get a freesat box. Get a video signal sender for the bedroom telly.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=22828...

How does this work?

Don't know, it just does! Will probably get one to stream media from the upstairs PC to the tv in the living room.