Television and Satellite TV aerial installation

I am able to offer a range of television and satellite TV aerial installation services including:

• Installation of normal television aerials
• Installation of television aerials for Digital Television reception
• Multiple television installations and distribution systems
• Repairs and upgrades to existing aerial installations
• Site surveys to establish availability of digital television at your location
• Satellite dish installations or alterations including multiple satellite systems
• Instalation and supply of "Free to View" digital satellite systems
• Installation of radio or specialist aerials

A quick overview of Digital Television

Digital television is how television is evolving. As well as the existing 5 channels you get now, you will get several extra channels. There are two ways to receive digital television, either "Terestrial" which means with an ordinary television aerial, or from "Satellite" for which you require a satellite dish and a receiver.

Digital Terestrial

The new Digital television service was launched in October 2002 under the name of "Freeview". As it's name implies, it is still completely free. This new service gives you the existing 5 channels, plus another 19 new ones, making a total of 24 channels available. You will however need some extra equipment to receive this new digital television.

To use your existing television, you will need to add to it a "set top box" or "digital TV adaptor" These can be bought now for under £100 and the price is certain to fall. The new digital tuners will eventually be built into all televisions, so in the future you won't need to buy a seperate box, instead televisions in the future will automatically come equipped to receive digital television. Unfortunately though it's only the largest and most expensive sets that have the new tuners built in so far, so for most people the best route to digital television at the moment is a set top box to go with your existing television.

You will quite likely find your existing aerial is not adequate to receive digital television. There are many reasons why, but mainly because the new digital signals are weaker, and are broadcast from fewer transmitters than the existing analogue signals. I can help you here by bringing my own digital set top box and testing it on your installation to assess if it is adequate, and to recommend any upgrade work needed.

Many parts of the country may never be able to receive terestrial digital television, particularly many parts of the Highlands. It is unclear what, if anything, the government will do to help these people when the time comes to switch off the existing analogue signals. However these people can still receive digital television via Satellite.

Digital Satellite

Until recently the best way to get digital satellite television was to have a Sky system installed, these continue to be available, even for non subscribers. But you are forced to pay a Sky installer to fit the system for you, and there are certain restrictions such as having to keep the receiver connected to a telephone line.

There is now a worthwhile amount of free digital television stations available from satellite to make it worthwhile installing a "Free to Air" digital satellite receiver instead of a Sky system. Although the costs are roughly the same, you do not have to connect your receiver to a telephone line, and you are free to use any installer you like, or install the system yourself if you want to.

I am happy to quote a cost for installation of your own system, or to supply and install a complete Free To Air satellite receiving system.

To find out more, or request a quote, contact me via the Contact information page.

To find out more about digital television in general, take a look at my other website how.to/digitaltv