TV Aerial Pole replacement

[timbo343]

Has anyone installed a home TV aerial before or alternatively replaced their pole for a longer one?

 

Where i live, a home building company has decided to build 3 rows of houses directly in the line of sight of my freeview aerial. Could I complain about this and ask them to pay for it to be put right or am i wasting my time? Alternatively i have thought about removing the existing pole and putting up a new one.

 

Is it easy to do and what would be the best way to join the existing coax cable to a new length which will be situated outside.

 

Thanks

[Gibbo]

I'd certainly have a word with the site manager, they might throw you one up FOC, although you don't really need a completely clear line of sight.

 

If you do it yourself, don't join the co-ax. You'll never get a watertight seal and end up with signal degradation. And with digital you need all the strength you can get.

[plexer]

You can join it I'd suggest a couple of satellite connectors and a coupler then wrap the whole lot in self almagamating tape, job done.

 

Ben

[Andrew_C]

You could join; I wouldn't.

 

Another alternative if you are having reception problems would be a masthead amplifier. Run existing cable into the amp, and a new bit on to the aerial.

 

If the cable has been up for a length of time (>5 maybe 10 years) I'd change it anyway.

[TechSupp]

We had a similar thing, giant warehouse, lots of people affected so they paid for lots of new uprated arials.

[timbo343]

Thanks guys.

 

Ill try the site manager option, if that fails, i shall use the F connectors with self amalgamating tape.

 

Tim

[maniac]

May be worth knocking on the doors of your immediate neighbours and see if anyone else if affected. If you all got together and approached the developer as one, you might be more likely to persuade them to fork out for the necessary upgrades. I wouldn't expect to have to pay to rectify the problem myself, as it's clearly caused by the new development.

[timbo343]

Where we live we can get 3 different transmitters. The majority point west to Emley Moore which i cannot get due to an obstruction (something like a house, tree or a hill) or have a sky dish and the extension of the house (the bit which i live in) is only ground floor with a small aerial pole, hence ive got hold of a longer pole. I point my aerial North to Tyne Side which is the stronger signal. There is also belmont which isnt as strong but to point my aerial to either tyne side and belmont, there are new houses in the way. I have noticed the signal getting weaker as the weeks have gone on and more taller houses have been put up

 

I thought about having a freesat dish and receiver but i have heard the channels aren't as good as the freeview ones.

Edited May 23, 2011 by timbo343

[m25man]

If this is a new development and the new construction is taller than the previous buildings you will be entitled to a new antenna courtesy of the developer this should have been covered within the loacl planning office.

These types of issues are often picked up and documented by the planning and building control officers however the developers will keep their heads down and wait to be asked rather than volunteer to recompense all the neighbours!

 

I would approach the site manager express your concerns and if he tries to fob you off politely advise him your off down the planning office for some advice see how quickly he will want to help you then.

[timbo343]

Ooooooh, thats interesting. Yeah, the new houses are slightly taller than ours, in fact some are 3 stories high. As you can see by the attached pics that the aerial is on a single story extension and the aerial points directly into the new houses, the aerial has not been moved. The last time it was touched was when it was installed about 5 years ago.

 

Looks like a friendly word with the site manager then and if that doesn't work, a member of my family is a district councillor so will see what they have to say then.

[SteveBentley]

You could join; I wouldn't.

 

Another alternative if you are having reception problems would be a masthead amplifier. Run existing cable into the amp, and a new bit on to the aerial.

 

If the cable has been up for a length of time (>5 maybe 10 years) I'd change it anyway.

 

Amplifiers are more use if you're on the edge of the transmitter service area. If the problem is that you can no longer see the transmitter it's probably going to make things worse.

 

The only problem with the idea of getting the builders to do the aerial is that they're renowned for being cowboys when it comes to aerial installs!