11/11/13
I received a call from a lady this morning asking me if I could have a look at her TV to find out why the picture was continually breaking up on some channels.I arrived later this afternoon at her home in Ockeridge to find that not only were there some channels pixelating or breaking up as she had described but there were also many channels completely missing.
The lady told me that the picture had been gradually getting worse over the past few months.
Taking a look at the Aerial from the ground I could see that it was a new and modern designed TV Aerial made by a company called Triax, a TV Aerial that I personally know to be of good quality and well made.
The Aerial looked as if it had been installed within the last couple of years or so and my customer confirmed this also telling me that it had been a well known company from Worcester that had done the work.
The Aerial installation was straight forward and had a clear line of site direct to the powerful transmitter at Malvern, so what could be wrong!
After checking the fly leads and the wall plate inside and apart from finding the expected weak incoming signal I was resigned to the fact I was going to have to climb my ladder to take a closer look at the TV Aerial. A TV Aerial that I know from experience should normally last well in excess of 10 years and probably more than 20.
Getting close up and personal with this Aerial it quickly became obvious as to the problem. No matter how well made a TV Aerial is and no matter how big or small it may be etc etc if the person who initially installs it, installs it incorrectly it WILL, in time FAIL.
This, like many modern TV Aerials has a semi sealed dipole (the dipole being the working/clever part of the Aerial where the TV coax cable connects)
This particular TV Aerial has a small water drainage hole in the base of the dipole just in case of any water ingress in the future, the water could then simply drain away.
For what ever reason the installer of this TV Aerial installed the Aerial upside down, putting the drainage hole at the top, allowing the dipole housing to act as a reservoir and fill with water each time it rained. The end result, after time being a completely destroyed printed circuit board within the dipole housing.
You may think that anyone could have made this simple mistake but I think it's comparable to a mechanic installing a new engine in a car, only then to fill it with water instead of the required oil and yes the same result for both - FAILURE
When installing a new TV Aerial or Satellite dish I personally go through a checklist during the installation to make sure even if I'm momentarily distracted something like this could never happen.
Note, since writing this news blog in November 2013 I have been called out to a dozen or more TV Aerials which have also been installed upside down. My photo above is another example of the same problem, this one was in Cutnall Green, October 2015
See also "Installer fault 9" in my "Cowboys & Bodgers" Gallery HERE
