Miscellaneous

I sometimes receive calls from customers complaining that they only have 40 - 50% or less signal strength showing on their TV, I'm also convinced that some people still believe that if they had more signal their picture would be somehow better, although this is no longer the case they can be forgiven as prior to the advent of Digital TV and during the good old days of analogue TV this was almost correct but that's a different subject. Although my example above is a little extreme it does go to prove a point. So long as a digital signal is clean, in other words not have any other channels / multiplexs using the same frequency within the same catchment area or be over amplified adding unwanted picture noise then the signal strength is not too important. Not only was this Panasonic TV showing No Signal but the signal strength was almost unreadable and below my meters minimum threshold.The example above was taken in my customers home, Ganderton Close, Inkberrow

December 2015.

Over the years I've often noticed that when I mention to a customer that their TV Aerial is pointing towards the Bromsgrove transmitter, it becomes obvious that many think that its the two large transmitters at Wychbold that transmit their TV signal, not realising that these two 700 ft masts at Wychbold are in fact just the supports for the Longwave radio transmitters which dangle between them and have nothing to do with TV at all, the TV transmitter being almost 5 miles further North. Also interesting is the fact that people in Bromsgrove will often refer to the local TV transmitter being located at Dodford but when I work in properties in Dodford residents there will refer to the TV transmitter being located at Worms Ash. Anyway, here it is in my image above but perhaps the easiest place to see it is when heading North on the M5 and as the M42 entrance ramp peels off and back over the M5 it stands on top of the hill, North West of the M5/M42 junction.

It's not everyday that I turn up to install a TV Aerial and are met by Ponies, Dalmatian's and Alpacas. I couldn't resist including this image on my site as despite the light rain it was a privilege and a joy to be working around these beautiful animals and the few hours that I spent there will be remembered for a long time to come!

June 2016

Made in Bristol first appeared on the un-used Freeview channel, channel 8 on the 8th of October 2014. Although it may be of little interest to us up here in the Midlands it is interesting to see it after the retuning of a TV when it pops up on Channel 8. This local broadcast channel is only meant for viewers in and around Bristol but some lucky people (or not as the case may be) who live in and around Stoke Heath, Bromsgrove and the Lickey side of Bromsgrove are sometimes able to view this channel when their wideband Digital TV Aerial is pointing South towards the Ridge Hill transmitter near Ledbury. Due to the lie of the land between the two areas mentioned above and Bristol there is very little in the way so the signal has virtually a clear line of sight and an uninterrupted path from transmitter to TV Aerial which is essential if this very weak signal is to be received on distant TVs which are way outside the transmitters designed coverage area.

September 2015

Balmoral Close is the last housing development on the right at the bottom of Station road in Fernhill Heath. I've taken this pic as it clearly shows the location of the 4G mobile phone mast which is just across the field on my left hand pic and a close up of it on the right. As there are many properties which have masthead amplifiers attached to their TV Aerials in close proximity to this mast 4G interference can often be expected if no filters are fitted. See my news Blogs on 4G interference dated -
7th July 2015,
31st May 2015
12th Jan 2015
HERE

Clicking on the image above will reveal two images where you will see a 4G mobile phone mast which was a few hundred meters away from where I was working, just off the London Road in Worcester. This 4G mast became live at the end of November 2015, many homes were adversely affected as a large number have their Aerials directed towards the Malvern transmitter, Malvern uses frequencies very close to those used by 4G. See my news blog dated 27th November 2015 HERE

This is the location of the Malvern transmitter, seen here just in front of North Hill. This transmitter is my least favoured of all transmitters. I will only normally use this transmitter as a transmitter of last resort. I always prefer (if available) to use any one of the other 5 transmitters in our area.

June 2016

This is another example of a chimney damaged by poor installation methods. See my "Cowboys & Bodgers" gallery ​HERE and scroll down to Installer fault 8 for a full explanation.

June 2016

I've often seen this skip located at the Hanbury refuse depot full like this but along with the old tube TVs there's now an assortment of flat screens too!

February 2016

I'm sometimes called out by customers who, after viewing this page on their Sky Digital box think they may have a reception problem. Anyone viewing my image above and seeing a similar strength and quality on their own Sky box can be assured that this is perfectly normal. In fact, in the very rare, half a dozen times or so in the past 20 years of Sky Digital that I've seen a display of full signal strength or quality it's either the Sky box or the LNB (part of the dish) which has had a major fault, and on each one of those rare occurrences most if not all Sky channels were pixilated or missing. Also worth pointing out here, although I have already mentioned this in different parts of my website, having more signal strength and or quality than necessary will NOT improve picture or sound quality.

August 2016

TV Aerial wall brackets which are secured by drilling into chimneys are almost guaranteed to fail shortly after installation. As well as loosing TV pictures when the TV Aerial does come down often the chimney and sometimes even roof tiles suffer damage as a result. This example (pictured above) I encountered in Wolverton road Worcester. Drilling into chimneys is NOT recommended in all but extreme cases where the installation of a chimney steel lashing wire and bracket is just not possible and then it should only be carried out with extreme caution and in very rare situations. All other possible Aerial siting locations should be explored before going ahead and drilling into a chimney.

August 2016

When I'm called out to a large property like this one at Westwood near Droitwich I never quite know what to expect. Although this large Elizabethan country estate has long been converted into apartments, on my previous call outs the work has sometimes been challenging to say the least but on this occasion I needn't have worried as my customer had been messing with the coax plug and simply got it the wrong way round which created a signal short and consequently no TV pictures.

August 2016

This is a very rare sight. Although I didn't fit this one I did install many hundreds of these solid face Amstrad dishes in and around Worcester during 1989 and 1990 making the few that still remain 26 / 27 years old. Most have long gone from walls and chimneys so it was a surprise to see this one still holding firm to the side of a chimney in Park street, Worcester.

​August 2016

Although there may be a few things you can do to try and improve your own TV reception this is definitely not going to be one of them!

It's not very often that I'm on top of a chimney with a Jackdaw's nest below me but I had a good idea there may be one inside this chimney before climbing my ladder as the parents were both in a state of panic dive bombing me as I got nearer to the top

May 2017

When I finished this job for my customer in Bromsgrove she was pleased that there was now two working TV points in the house, one in the lounge and one in the bedroom above but although very functional it was not so pleasing to the eye, so guessing that the wall had recently been painted I asked if there was any left over paint and just 10 mins later the painted result was plain to see!

(Click on the image above)

July 2017

Although I've seen old nests at the back of sky dishes this is the first one I've been called out to with a sitting Dove. Although my customer was sure the Dove and it's nest were responsible for their poor TV signal it was the tree in front of the dish that was the cause.

June 2017