Aerial Installation Chelmsford

Wednesday 17^th July and our 2^nd call is an aerial installation Chelmsford, when we arrived the temperature was a blistering 30 degrees!  I chatted to my customer who wanted an Anglia signal for free-view and also wanted their dish upgrading from a single output L.N.B to a quod so they could use their PVR, (one cable is used for viewing while the other is used for recording).

Aerial Installation Chelmsford

We decided to use a log-periodic w/b aerial and if it did not perform in the way I wanted I would have changed it to the Antiference XG10 which is an ultra-high gain aerial drawing in more signal when you’re in need of every db.  As I had hoped the log was drawing in all 6 digital mux’s nice and even and in a nice format all at 30db.  With the log now aligned we fitted a low noise variable gain masthead pre-amp and using the spectrum analyser we set all the mux’s at 50db with little noise.

Aerial Installation Chelmsford

For fixings I used a small pair of T&K wall bracket providing double support to the aerial and property spreading the light load of the log-periodic aerial ensuring it will be there for years and years to come.  We used an 8ft 1” ½ alloy mast to guarantee support for the aerial, why use ¾” or 1” when a 1” ½ will give fantastic support?  Once we had the aerial installed we ran our cable at the top of the gable end by the roof line and came down the left hand side of the house where we had just changed the Sky mini dish and needed to run the twin cable (shotgun) to the sitting room TV.  We tacked down the twin cable every 6 brick courses as always and cable tied the aerial coax cable on top keeping our cable run as neat as possible, straight and clipped evenly.

Aerial Installation Chelmsford

There was already a 10mm hole where the old satellite cable came in so I ran a 16mm drill bit through making the original hole 6mm larger to accommodate the twin satellite cable and the single aerial coax cable, keeping the cable’s entry in to the property neat.  We sealed the hole with brown mastic and once inside I replaced the cables from the two way power unit to the TV and fitted the f` plugs to the twin satellite cable.  My customer had a HD sling box with built in free-sat and a drive to record on, I have never seen one before and I have to say after installing it I was very impressed with its appearance, easy menu navigation and picture quality.  We tidied up and wrote our bill and thanked our smashing customer for looking after us so well providing us with a constant supply of cold drinks while working in scorching temperatures.

Aerial Installer Essex

Thursday 4^th July and were off to a new aerial install Essex CM7, upon arrival we found it difficult to get to the flats which were on the pedestrianized high street of Braintree.  Once we realised the pedestrian high street was except for access we were ok.  The flats had no rear access for our ladder and kit to go, so kindly a shop with access to the rear of the property kindly allowed us to take our kit through to be able to access the roof.  After surveying the roof we decided to take some test readings with our aerial and take a look at signal strength and best location to site the new aerial.

Aerial Installer Essex

Next time down we were kindly offered a cup of tea which was most welcomed, we carried through our drill, T&K wall brackets and fixings.  We soon had the T&k wall brackets up high in our chosen location and with the large U` bolts in ready to receive the new aerial.  I choose a log-periodic w/b aerial with the reading of the test aerial I knew it would perform very well with the given signal strength and quality of the signal available. Next task was to go back to our van and get a log periodic aerial along with an 8ft 1” ½ alloy mast and of course a reel of cable (black).  Feeling like pack horses we lumped all our gear through the shop and up the fire stairs to the roof top.  Hard work climbing up a fire ladder with a spectrum analyser, tool belt, 8ft mast and a heavy reel of cable.

Aerial Installer Essex

Once the aerial was dropped into the wall brackets I was delighted with the signal quality and strength, 48db on all six digital mux’s, with the aerial now aligned all we had to do was discreetly run the aerial cable down the floors to the distribution room.  Fortunately there was a lovely lead flashing where the flat roof met the walls of the building and we decided to put our cable under the lead, keeping it out of sunshine, extending the life of the aerial cable.  Next leg was to drop our aerial cable down a floor, which was made easy with the fixings of the fire ladders neatly placed between the top floor and the second floor.  With cable ties we soon had the cable to the rear of the distribution room where all we needed to do was drill a neat 10mm hole in to bring the aerial cable through.

With the aerial cable now in the distribution room we ran our cable to the twelve cable ends from the flats.  With good signal we used a digital tap to divide our signal in to 2 with a loss of -3.5db.  Fantastic now all we had to do was secure 2x 6way pro amps and were done.  Testing both amps we were delighted with a perfect signal of 55db on all six mux’s.  Job well done!

Satellite dish move

Another satellite dish move today, there seems to be a lot of roofing or extensions being built where the satellite dish needs to be moved, which is good for us.  We always try and re-locate the satellite dish on the chimney stack once the roof is on, giving better reception, line of sight and signal quality.  We us a pole bracket which bolts on to the back of the satellite dish to attach it to the temporary scaffolding, securing the dish out of everyone’s way and of course keeping the cable secure and out the way of the work and workmen.  Our customers often comment on better picture quality with the satellite dish mounted higher than they had it, we always try and get the best possible line of sight for the satellite dish and it’s always high on the chimney stack.  It is nice with the recent weather we have had to have the luxury of scaffolding with all its safety features and easy access to the roof, we are sometimes amazed at the complex building and design of some of the scaffolding we climb up, it’s a work of art.  The dish only needs to be move just a few degrees and its off line all your favourite channels turned into a blue screen reading no satellite signal, it is at this point our customer’s ring andysaerials.com, and we try to get to them the same day where possible, 90% of the time is a good average.  Sky receivers sometimes get the hump once they have lost their signal and once the signal has been restored a software update generally does the trick and gets the box up and running again.  The Sky boxes do not travel either, we often get customers who have moved and their box has not wanted to work after the journey.

Moving a satellite dish is as easy as disconnecting the satellite arm from the wall bracket connecting the pole mounting bracket the dish, aligning and extending the satellite cable/ cables back to the original cables and waterproofing the connections with self-amalgamating tape.  Your favourite channels are restored and at least with the building work going on you can watch your favourite satellite channels again.

Aerial Install Chelmsford

Nice warm day and were off to Chelmsford for an aerial install, when we arrive we had a couple of choices of chimney stacks to choose from, they were both in good order and we decide to use the 1^st one due to location of points to be installed.  After taking some test readings with our test aerial before the aerial install we decided to use a w/b log-periodic as the signal strength and quality was good.  Our customer want a FeeeSat satellite dish fitting too, so we decide to use 2 9” chimney brackets and 2 lashing kits ensuring years of support for both the aerial and FreeSat satellite dish.  The chimney was lovely to lash as it was solid brick and square, sometimes you can double lash a chimney and the 2 chimney brackets never line up, but thumbs up to the bricki who built this lovely stack as it is perfectly square.

New aerial Essex www.andysaerials.com

Tuesday 11^th June 2013, yesterday it was a boat to put an aerial on and today it is a static

Holiday home!  Must say the quiet was absolutely lovely, just needed a lazy chair and a cold glass of wine!  When we arrived we looked at all fixing points and gave some suggestions, my best was a 16ft 2” alloy mast at a corner of the holiday home and with the floor taking the weight of the mast, I felt it would be both secure and last for years and years to come, however my customer wanted a wall bracket drilling and fixing to the top of the holiday home where there was previously an aerial.

New TV aerial Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

Well 1^st call Monday morning and were off to Chelmsford for a new TV aerial installation.  When we arrive our customer met us and opened the car park so we could park our van, we walked up the tow path and reached the boat which required the new TV aerial.  The boat already had a TV aerial and received some of the digital TV channels, which was pretty amazing considering the TV aerial was mounted very low and facing the wrong way.

New digital TV aerial Wickford Essex www.andysaerials.com

1^st call Saturday morning and were off for a new digital TV aerial Wickford Essex.   Our customer’s had only moved in the day before and had booked us at the beginning of the week for 1^st call Saturday morning, when we arrived we were delighted to see the property was a bungalow and with a new roof.  We agreed a price and had 2 new points to run and connect the excising sitting room cable to the system.  I went up the roof and lashed the chimney stack with a large heavy duty 5 brick course chimney cradle, ready to receive the mast and the new digital TV aerial.  The views from the roof were nice and the day was warming up as were we.  I fixed a w/b log-periodic aerial to an 8ft 1” ½ alloy mast and took it up to the chimney along with my spectrum analyser.  Once I had dropped the new digital TV aerial into the chimney cradle and plugged it in to my spectrum I was horrified to see the bottom mux’s from Anglia belting in at 70db while the top three were not workable.

Free-Sat Free-Time satellite install Brentwood Essex www.andysaerials.com

At last a sunny picture to go in my blog!  Sunny Brentwood Essex and were here to install and new satellite dish for Free-Sat Free-time for our customer.  We looked at the possibilities and knew the best option for sighting the free-sat dish would be on the chimney stack.  The roof was our favourite biscuit tiles, and needed a roof climber.  We went up from the front of the property and then while sitting on the short ridge of the house we rotated the roof climber 180degres, so we could access the back roof where we wanted to install the free-sat free-time satellite dish.  With the ridge being so short before the hip of the roof it was fun avoiding the aerials while trying to turn around the roof climber, but we managed it and fitted the satellite wall bracket, as there was not a decent aerial mast to fix it to.

New digital TV aerial Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

Thursday morning and 1^st call is a new digital TV aerial Chelmsford Essex.  Upon arrival I chatted with my customer who thought they were in a signal black spot which I disagreed with.  They wanted a new digital TV aerial as their aerial was the wrong group and was not able to deliver all of the digital channels.  I recommended a log-periodic w/b aerial and also quoted for an Antiference XG10 w/b which is an incredibly outstanding aerial.  My customer was happy to spend a little more and have the XG10 so I went to the van and assembled a XG10.

New digital TV aerial Witham Essex

We just love the sunshine, and this week has been lovely!  About time I could post some pictures with sunshine in.  We had our last call on Wednesday for a new digital TV aerial Witham Essex, and were hoping for a bungalow.  As you can see from the picture it was a house and had an extremely delicate roof!

After a lot of thought we decided the best method would be to put our ladders up the front and gently ease our roof climbing ladder on to the delicate roof.  We managed to get the roof climber on the roof without breaking a single tile.  The next issue was the stack, as you can see from the attached picture the only way to fit the chimney corners of the lashing kit was to stand on top of the chimney stack and place them there.  As you can see the chimney stack is as clever as the roof and in need of repair.