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
• Installation of radio or specialist aerials

It's worth discussing here a bit about television and it's future developments. The "normal" television that we all know gives us 4 or 5 channels for free (just a television licence required) and you just need a television set and an aerial to receive it. Also for over 10 years it has been possible to receive some extra channels via cable or satellite, which normally involves paying a monthly subscription. But now television is undergoing it's most fundamental change since the introduction of colour in the 1960's. It's going digital. So whether you like it or not, sooner or later you are going to have to make some changes to the way you receive your television pictures. It's not been widely publicised yet, but the intention is to turn off the existing analogue television transmissions by the year 2010 at the latest, and maybe as soon as 2006.

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.

Some parts of the country, and in particular some of the remote parts of the Highlands may never be able to receive digital television. 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. All is not lost however because it is actually possible to get all your existing channels plus many new ones for free quite legally from digital satellite. Contrary to popular belief not all channels on satellite have to be paid for. So if you want digital television, but cannot receive it through a normal aerial, then digital satellite might be your answer. Again I can advise you and perhaps install a system for you.

To discuss a requirement, or request a quote or estimate for a particular job please contact me by going to the Contact Information page.

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