Install tv aerial

You can read our full review of this antenna here. And always keep in mind your safety. There are over , emergency room-treated injuries and deaths in the U.

When mounting your antenna to a wall use wall mount-rated brackets to secure the mast firmly. Ensure the wall brackets are securely fastened into your wall structure wood or brick and spaced out evenly so that as much of the mast as possible is secure.

Your homes chimney is a great place to mount your antenna. That said, if a chimney mount installation is ideal for you, check out these Easy Up Galvanize Steel Y-Mount Brackets for safely securing your antenna mast to your chimney. Using a base mount or antenna tripod, such as the Skywalker Signature Series Heavy Duty , find an ideal location to mount your antenna.

The benefit of using a base mount is that it is more flexible than a tripod. It can be used on a rooftop, by wall mounting or even in an attic mount installation.

Regardless of which type of mount you use, be sure that it is securely fastened to your roof. Ideally, find a roof joist or rafter to lag bolt your mount too. While fastening to plywood is okay, hitting solid wood in your roof is going to provide much more stability. Regardless of your TV antenna installation type, ensuring the mast is perfectly vertical is key. Any angular deviation one way or another may impact signal reception.

This is why we planned earlier for a small carpenters level in your tool pouch. Now is a good time to pull out your compass or peak at your neighbors roof to roughly align your antenna in the direction of the broadcast tower. You can try aiming the antenna in the middle of both towers and see how you fair. Otherwise, I recommend exploring the antenna rotator option, or even better, the network tuner option. This is an often overlooked part of any TV antenna installation.

The coax cable itself will introduce losses into your system, as does connectors, splitters and the like. In fact you can expect to see the following losses, in Decibels, over foot run of RG-6 coaxial cable:.

There are ways to minimize the impact of longer cable runs if it is unavoidable by installing an antenna preamplifier. A preamplifier basically takes your antenna signal at your antenna and before the long cable run and injects a small amount of gain to amplify the signal so that any losses observed by your long coaxial cable run and downstream splitters are offset by this increased gain.

Care must be taken when selecting an antenna preamplifier as injecting too much gain can be just as bad or worse than not having enough. For this reason, newer preamps on the market have adjustable gain settings. This will allow you to configure different preset gain amounts so you can dial it in just right.

Not only is coaxial cable run length important, but just as important is the quality of the coaxial cable you are using. Buying a high-end antenna and then connecting cheap, low quality RG-6 coaxial cable is a recipe for disappointment. There are several on the market and available on Amazon at a great price point. Another tip is to ensure you apply sealant to all your exposed connections.

One of the most common reasons for poor reception is water and moisture. If your antenna comes with a rubber boot, make sure it is installed over the F-connector once attached to your antenna. For all other exposed connections, be sure to apply sealant of one form or another. Some popular options are:. Whenever possible run as much of your coaxial cable indoors. While premium cables will provide UV protection from the sun, over time the sun will win and begin to break these cables down.

Make sure your cabling is securely fastened and only run as much as you need for reasons discussed previously. Try to avoid any tight turns or corners. If you must bend the cable around tight corners you may want to consider 90 degree coax connectors.

Be prepared to drill holes in walls, studs and rafters to route your coaxial cable to its final destination. These holes will also serve as support for the cable. Where the coaxial cable enters the house, be sure to caulk or seal up the hole around it.

If you encounter existing electrical cables along your path, do your best to keep away from them. The shielding of the RG-6 cable will provide protection from electromagnetic interference EMI , however, if you have to cross an electrical cable, do so at 90 degrees. Now is probably a good time to test your coaxial cable and connections. Rather than explain step-by-step how to perform this test.

Pickup yourself up an inexpensive digital multimeter and watch the video below:. Again, another overlooked aspect of proper TV antenna installation is grounding. Remember, a metal antenna, connected to a metal antenna mast is essentially a giant lightning rod.

It still amazes me the amount of people who approach us for a TV aerial installation price and expect you to turn up and measure to see what you need when all that is really needed to know for us to give a fairly accurate estimate is the address of the property so we can look at the property on Google Maps — what on earth did we do before Google Maps?

First you would have to attend the property to access and build the quote. By making every appointment into two you would have to charge more for your installations as there would be even more dead time in your business. Another reason is that almost every aerial installation would be a different price. Because of this aerial companies nearly always have a standard price, they just sometimes differ on what they class as a standard installation.

You will also see that we allow for up to two hours with our installations as although we work efficiently I believe this is a fair amount of time to get the work completed.

I used to work for a company that allowed 1 hour per installation. Pack the ladders back on the van, write a detailed bill, collect payment and be on your merry way all within an hour!

The purpose of me telling you about this is not to have a moan, well maybe a little but if for whatever reason the job over run the hour we were expected to charge more for the installation, something that the customer was rarely ever made aware of prior to the appointment. Essentially this is an installation which utilises the following a benchmarked TV aerial with integrated balun or a log period design, galvanised brackets and hard ware which are a decent size when in relation to the size of the antenna and mast height, an aluminium mast of at least 1.

This is perhaps the one thing that will affect the price of your installation the most. This can even have an affect for areas near to each other like you would expect to pay more for a TV aerial installation in Brighton than a TV aerial installation in Hastings.

If you are in a strong signal area then there is a good chance that you could get away with an install that is much quicker and much easier. The installer may be able to install the antenna in a position that could save on time and materials such as in the loft for example or outside at gutter level.

If you live in a weak signal area there is a good chance that your aerial installation may cost more. Higher gain aerials, longer and higher masts with bigger supporting bracketry, amplifiers all may be required to get you a good TV signal. Which again could add to the bill. More on that below. By far, the most critical factor for TV antenna placement is height.

The higher you can get the antenna either inside our outside of your home, the better your TV reception will be. For outdoor TV antennas , the best locations are on your roof or garage. Alternatively, a balcony or other outdoor space can be a great location to install your TV antenna, especially for those living in condos or apartments. Indoor TV antennas are easier to position and install and are designed to blend into your decor.

Try a spot near a window or patio door. An antenna - Depending on your location relative to the stations you want to watch, a set of rabbit ears might do, but you might need a rooftop or attic antenna.

Since digital broadcasting replaced analog signals, I assume you are using the UHF section of the antenna, even though it also has a VHF section. Did you need to do anything special to guarantee the aim of the antenna toward the broadcast tower? Reply 9 years ago on Introduction. I also installed a rotator that allows me to change the direction of the antenna.

The rotator is powered and controlled remotely via another cable to a control box in your room. In my search I also found a direct approach with a crank in the attic.

I posted the picture in case someone dares do the same thing. Thanks for the response. My parents had a Tennarotor brand name back in the s and s. I had forgotten about them. I have not had one since.

I once saw someone's home brew crank setup. I remember one person being on the roof aligning the antenna while someone else was near a window with the TV in view shouting back and forth when the picture was good. Question 1 year ago. I took down my old antenna from the roof.

I would like to identify all the parts. I mean, which section of the antenna is VHF? Which is UHF? And what section of it is FM? I guess, I would need to replace all the ohms converters for new ones, as well as the coaxial cable. Everything is toasted since antenna has been on the roof for over a decade or more. The black pieces or isolators are also toasted. But with some glue I can fix them Any recommendations or suggestions are welcome.

The benefits of outdoor antennas are pretty impressive. I agree with you, some indoor antennas don't have good receptivity. That's exactly the reason we want to get an outdoor one. It offers way more options! Reply 6 years ago on Introduction.