We’ve bought a non Sky TV for the attic, has built in Freeview so gets it’s signal from the roof ariel (which we havent used for years). My wife called in an engineer who said the old ariel will no longer work, the signal has changed etc etc……quoted us £400 for a new one which he quickly dropped to £350 when she fell off her chair.

Is the guy trying to pull a fast one?

I spent £30 on a digital Ariel and fitted it to my chimney myself while we had scaffolding up to fit a log burner.

Scaffolding was £180 so in total £210 which suggests he’s taking the mickey.

We had an old analogue one up before that and we were watching freeview happily with that too. We only changed because the scaffolding was already up and it seemed worth a go.

Ask Ton, he’ll know.

Seems very steep.
The aerial itself would only cost about £20 even for a high gain one.
Is there a lot of work for the new aerial?
If the TV is in the loft have you tried just a decent indoor aerial?

I just bought a Freeview aerial at B&Q and stuck it in the loft. The reception is perfect.

Old school antenna here, while I can see the transmitter from the attic window it works fine and dandy and it doesn’t need changing.

Ultimately you’re still receiving the same signals, using the same RF kit, it’s just the content has changed. Older kit may need to be replaced as it may not be high enough gain and cause issues (slight snow on an analogue system was not a massive problem, but can cause all or nothing issues with digi) but in a general sense there should be no differences.

We had a digital arieal, booster box fitted for £150 ish in Sunderland. He had a mare doing it too.

Oh – it’ll help if you can find out what transmitter you need to point it at, get a bearing off a map and use a compass (or smartphone all) to line it up.

Still have an old aerial here and freeview HD is spot on. Have been told that there is no such thing as a digital aerial, but don’t know how true this is, but the signal is still transmitted by radio waves no?

Depends what you have already – some antennae will work, some won’t. Mine’s older than the hills and was fine (until a storm tore the cable down, anyway). There’s a website that covers UK TV reception and aerial design in depth, have a google.

Given the price and given that you were told it won’t work without even checking, I’d suggest that what you’ve got there is a shyster.

mcboo, the bloke is having a joke.
dearest aerial we sell is £39, a installer running this to 1 tv should be charging no more than £150

a standard 32 element aerial cost £10, so about £90 installed to 1 point.
but remeber i am in yorkshire………….. 😉

Using the old one in the loft that we haven’t used in years for freeview and it works fine.

we paid 90 quid

we paid £100 for a (fitted) new digital ariel and booster box.

got one from argos for about £15, works perfect

Depending where you are you may have to manually tune the telly rather than auto tune
Happened to us when switchover occurred the tv picked up the stronger signal from Sutton coldfield over our local Waltham transmitter
The fitter is having a laugh though sounds 4x more than I would pay, maybe try a booster box fitted first?
There is no thing as a ‘digital aerial’ btw

A few months ago I had a freesat dish supplied and fitted, and a new digital arial supplied and fitted; total cost £330. No scaffolding required despite the tall chimney.

Sounds like the kind of tradesman my Mum & Step-Dad normally end up using.

Wickes std arial here, fitted about 10yrs ago myself. Picking up loads (must be 50+ SD channels). And Freeview HD channels are perfect.

Thanks all. We live in a valley, the guy told my wife we no longer get a signal from the one behind us (Alexandra Palace ironically enough), now comes from across the other side of London so needs to be higher to have line of sight to it………still a bit none the wiser, will maybe call round some guys.

mate, all you need is a 32 element wide band aerial.

http://www.ukfree.tv/shutdowndetail.php?tx=TQ296900

Mrs gave me the quote

1 x 48 element (High gain) aerial plus 1x 10ft pole = £200
Redirect 2x cable run = £50 (dont know why they’d need to do this)
1 x 1 way amp, connections, testing and labour = £100

plus VAT of course.

I have a TV and FM aerial in the loft linked in with a Proception distribution box. The box allows me to distribute FM, AM, Sky and Digital TV using just one cable.

If you are in a poor signal area you may struggle with a loft aerial but if you buy the aerial and coax cable you can always try it and if it doesn’t work fit it externally.

To answer the original question I was getting quotes between £250 and £300 which is a joke.

Including the aerials, coax cable, clips and Proception box I spent well under £150

mcboo, a 48 element aerial is £16.95
10ft mast is £9.99
1 way masthead amp is £9.99
100m cable £10
connections are pence

i can sell you all the stuff you need for about £50+vat

Mcboo, I honestly think he’s taking the wee. I had an old aerial taken down, a new one installed on a shortish pole and new wiring and that was around £90. I get my signal from the Mendip transmitter, just above Wells, which is around 35 miles away, and the aerial isn’t anything really fancy. I reckon a good installer should do the job for around £100-120 tops.

Ton I’m right in the middle of the green zone a mile south of Ally Pally…….is there any reason I wont get a good digital signal from there?

ally pally is not freeiew ready.
a 32 element wide band aerial pointed at crystal palace will sort you out.

Ton, cheers

Ally pally isnt freeview ready because it’s no longer a TV transmitter, that shows the installer was clueless
You want Croydon or Crystal Palace

Its Situations like this that makes this place is invaluable!

My electrical firm have an aerial installation arm and will fit a 48 element , pole, and coax into property for £125.00 and we are far from the cheapest out there.