Our house has an old style aerial that’s lying on it’s side on top of the dormer window, and a cable that runs down on top of the roof tiles. Before I go up and rebolt it to the wall, is there something else I should do instead? I have access to the loft eaves space just now so plan to run the cable inside, but just wondering if there’s a smaller, lighter, simpler aerial setup I could get instead.

We don’t really watch telly, but I’d like there to be easy access to signal for when the kids grow a bit older or if we have guests staying a while. The broadband is Virgin if that’s relevant.

I’ve absolutely no idea about this. I see there are indoor aerials – are they any use?

Shy dish and hd box , loads of stuff you can watch for free .
They’re regularly for sale on gumtree , sometimes on free cycle .

Depends how good the TV signal is that you get. If you’re in an area with a strong signal then you might get away with a small areal rather than a larger high gain antenna. The problem might still be though that the areal might need to be mounted on top of quite a long pole. Alternatively a sat dish and Free sat box – or your TV might be a freesat set.

You could try an areal in your loft with a booster.

I bought an aerial from Argos and stuck it in the lost for easy upgrading, heading up there in a bit to attach a splitter and cable for an extra TV.

Firestick

What’s a firestck/how does it work? We may want a TV in two other rooms in future.

I ain’t got a clue on how Firestick works, but I know what it does.
It basically makes the telly a smart tv where you receive the iplayer, ITVhub, Channel 4 player and much, much more (depending on your morals) depending on what you download. It does your Amazon and Netflix too, if you’re that way inclined.
I don’t have an aerial and just use the firestick, you’d need one for each TV though, but I don’t see that as a problem and I don’t feel disadvantaged for not having an aerial.
I hardly watch TV these days and think it’s perfect for the way we watch TV in these modern times.

Firestick or similar device will give you internet provided catch-up style services, so not live TV. you’re limited to channels and need a decent Internet connection capable of streaming. If you’ve got a PC you could just connect your PC upto your TV and get iPlayer etc from that, it’s the same thing really.

Except the live TV bits which do give you live TV.
Limited access? I can’t say I’ve noticed. 😈

Don’t worry about it being limited – if you don’t know what you’re missing then it’s irrelevant – and you’re probably better off too. I really need to watch less TV and get out on my bike more! But with kids in the house there are certain channels and programmes which they just couldn’t live without or their social life at school would be ruined!

Does a firestick need wifi? I like the idea of tv without relying on the net in case there’s any kind of connection problems in future, though maybe this is a bit like keeping a bag of candles in case there’s a power cut!

Yup it uses wifi.

Deffo Firestick and Kodi installed. Aerials are so last year.

Kodi on an Amazon Firestick with 7mb (yes, seven) d/l speed, no problems here.

I have a firestick on an old TV as it doesn’t work with the new aerial, it’s not a great replacement. It took me 20 minutes to set up the cable including drilling for my daughter’s TV and around £18 for parts that will allow at least another 2 TVs.

Telly aerials, SNAKE OIL, don’t get all speendy unless your many miles from your transmitter and then it’s worth getting a decent cable and connectors as well as aerial if you are. We’re 12 miles from Heathfield, using a 16 year old “analogue” aerial and 30+ year old cable with dry fit cheap maplins connectors and get DTV fine. This was after being told by an expert that we would need a new aerial and cable system as it wouldn’t work with digital.

I’m a radio tech by trade so pointed out that ALL radio is analogue wavy lines UNLESS you are the military and jamming.