New aerial installation Upminster Essex www.andysaerials.com

I received a call this week for an extra point from a customer who originally called me last year for a New aerial installation Upminster Essex.  I was delighted to see my customers again and quickly realised I had not photographed or blogged on such a fantastic installation!

New aerial installation Leytonstone E10 www.andysaerials.com

Friday 8^th March 2013 and a New aerial installation Leytonstone E10 andysaerials.com, an extremely wet miserable day but we enjoyed this installation.  We arrived on time midday as our customer only received the keys to their newly purchased property at lunchtime.

New aerial installation Shenfield Brentwood Essex

As you can see from the picture this was fairly late on Saturday evening, as the day was incredibly busy, which we like.  After testing my customer’s aerial signal I suggested taking down their 2 aerials (London & Anglia) and putting up on good quality aerial, replacing the aerial coax to their distribution amplifier.

New aerial installation Springfield Chelmsfor Essex www.andysaerials.com

Saturday 16^th February 2013 and what a beautiful day, a clear blue sky and at last not cold!  Parking was an issue here, but luckily there was a public car park at the back of my customer’s house and I just played feed the parking meter.  And my customer’s kindly made us pancakes which we have to say were amazing!

Neaerialinstallation Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

 Wednesday morning first call for a new aerial installation Chelmsford Essex, nice and local and traffic not too bad, just wish the sun would shine.  I arrived at my customer’s house and looked at their aerial system and I was horrified to see such a poor installation, by the company who installed the aerial a couple of years ago.  Firstly the chimney cradle kit was one of those ratchet strap devices for those who can not lash a stack, it was thrown on and the chimney cradle did not fit the chimney stack.  The plastic strap went up the chimney stack by 3ft as opposed to being level, and was tightened around the cement course and not the brick course causing unnecessary damage to the chimney stack.  The ¾ mast was steel and a contract 10 element aerial.  The aerial coax cable was thrown across a flat roof and dangled down the side of the house.  I counted only 1 tack securing the aerial cable.  Just to add insult to injury the aerial cable was not one piece and had a join in, and no effort had been made to seal it, knowing it would let water in.

New aerial installation Gallywood Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

1^st Call on a cold morning New aerial installation Gallywood Chelmsford Essex andysaerials.com.  On arrival the temperature was cold, very cold!  Getting on the roof was a challenge itself, as the front roof section of the house was covered with my favourite solar panels.  We set up at the back of the house and carried our ladders and roof climbing ladders to the back garden.

New aerial installation Gallywood Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

Once on the roof I lashed the chimney stack and fitted a 13” 5 brick course chimney cradle and then straight down to the ground as I could no longer feel my fingers!  A cup of tea and a serendipity Kit-Kat from my kind customer did the trick and back to the van to assemble the Blake DMX10 w/b ultra high gain aerial.  I put together the aerial and fixed it to an 8ft 1” ½ alloy mast and left enough cable to reach the TV in the sitting room on the ground floor.

New aerial installation Gallywood Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

I aligned the Blake DMX10 w/b aerial with my spectrum analyser and was very happy with the signal strength and format.  I ran the aerial cable down the roof and then under the guttering and down a drainpipe so the cable could not be seen.  No need to drill a hole for the cable to enter the house as the Sky man had drilled a hole big enough to fit 4 cables through.  I connected my aerial cable to my customer’s Sky+ box and set up their digital tv.

New aerial installation Gallywood Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

Returning back up my ladders I run a 2^nd cable back to the loft from the Sky+ box (up-link, this carries my digital signal from my aerial and Sky analogue signal too).  Once in the loft I plugged in an Antiference 8way ir distribution amp and started changing the connections in the loft from coax to F.

New aerial installation Gallywood Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

After the loft work had been completed we closed the loft hatch and re-tuned all the TV’s in the house and replacing any damaged fly leads.  As always my customer was delighted with andysaerials.com work, price and picture quality.  We cleared up, and put all the packaging neatly in the box the aerial came in.  Wrote the bill and set off to our next job.

Digital aerial repair Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

Digital aerial repair Chelmsford Essex andysaerials.com

As you will see from the picture this is not one of my aerials.  It’s a Televes dat45 which looks the part but is a heavy head and not designed for a ¾ mast, which they are often fitted to.  The aerial had twisted the flimsy 6” chimney cradle and came crashing down.

Digital aerial repair Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

Me being me I decided not to have a join in the cable and brought the aerial down to re-cable it. Once on the ground I removed the old aerial cable and re-connected new cable and opted for an 8ft 1” ½ alloy mast which would happily support the aerial.  Having heavy duty mast requires heavy duty support at the chimney stack, so I fitted my favourite 13” 5 brick course large chimney cradle.

Digital aerial repair Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

When I went to lash the stack I was applauded with the installation!  The more I looked the further I was disgusted.  The chimney corners were stuck to the stack with glue?  And the lashing wire was not wrapped around the j’ bolts enough to hold the lashing wire around the stack yet alone tighten. The aerial cable was not tacked to the stack the whole job was an amateur bodge.

Digital aerial repair Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

My customer shouted to me tea and biscuits were served, I went down and explained how terrible the job was and told him I had repaired the roof where the aerial had struck and he told me he had fitted the aerial a week or two ago.  I was surprized it had stayed up for 2wks!

Digital aerial repair Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

He was a nice guy and made a lovely cup of tea and very generous with the biscuits, so I put his DIY right and aligned his aerial to Sudbury.  His signal was marginal just sitting on 35db and could have done with a mast head pre-amp but didn’t have the budget for that and was happy with his pictures,

Digital aerial repair Chelmsford Essex www.andysaerials.com

I fitted his chimney cowl to prevent the birds falling down his chimney, then put my ladders away wrote a bill and set off home.

New aerial installation Roxwell Chelmsford www.andysaerials.com

Saturday 2^nd February 2013 very cold morning and were off for a new aerial installation Roxwell Chelmsford, we arrived on time and quickly decided it was hat weather!  I knocked the door and met my customer who instantly asked if I would like a hot cup of tea, yes please!  I went out the back garden and stood on their patio and looked at fixings for installing their new aerial and decided the rear garden would be the best position to site the aerial.

FM aerial installation www.andysaerials.com

This afternoon I went to Hornchurch Essex for a FM aerial installation, I arrived early as m y customer had a dental appointment.  I thought I could use the time to catch up on some paperwork but my customer turned up early too.  After introducing myself I walked to the rear of the property to obtain a better view of my customer’s chimney stack with a broken Antiference directional FM aerial.  We agreed a price and went to my van for my ladders, although my customer’s roof were biscuit tiles (small tiles which break like biscuits if you tread on them) there was a protruding dormer with a flat roof so I was able to get me ladders onto the dormer walk along the flat roof and then shimmy up the roof’s hip.

FM aerial installation www.andysaerials.com

I made my way to the chimney stack and loosened the U bolts allowing the 10ft 2” alloy mast down so I could remove the broken Antiference directional FM aerial.  From the ground the aerial installation looked heavy duty and well done but once I was up there the first thing I noticed was the top U bolt had been done up far too tight and making a crease in the 2” alloy pole reducing its life expectancy by years.  I slid the mast down low so I was able to remove the Antiference FM aerial and took it down with me, on closer inspection the dipole had been fitted upside down which would allow water through the drain hole at the top which should have been at the bottom.

New aerial installation Billericay Essex www.andysaerials.com

This morning’s 2^nd call was a new aerial installation Billericay Essex, due to wind damage, my customer’s aerial had fallen off their chimney stack, and was dangling by the coax cable on his roof luckily no tiles were broken where the aerial struck the roof.  The aerial was a Blake DMX10 A group which had survived the fall had a bent deflector plate but otherwise ok.  Had it of been a wide band I may of re-used the aerial as I had spare deflector plates on my van, but if Crystal Palace start transmitting channels above ch35 in the future, say more HD channels, my customer would have a limited aerial and paying for a new chimney cradle, lashing kit and an eight foot pole it made better sense to have a new aerial form me which also keeps the 5 year guarantee clear.

Had I of used my customer’s aerial my guarantee would have stopped at the furniture of the chimney stack, and for a little more money they now have a Blake DMX10 wide band aerial with a 5 year guarantee perfect.  It was still extremely windy while I was lashing the chimney stack and I just love the wind, never forget to secure your ladders in extreme wind as you will find yourself on a roof without a ladder!