Our existing chimney aerial has lost a few aluminium spokes (from overweight pigeons sitting on them, I expect) and recently, whenever it rains the Freeview signal goes entirely and the analogue picture gets grainy.
I checked around aerial suppliers and found they want more than £200 to fit a new one. OK, I wouldn’t crawl onto a roof for less than two grand as I loathe heights, but I’m in a skinflint mood and Mrs Nickbat eggs me on to do a DIY job.
We live on a hill and sidewall masts are not uncommon, so that's the route I choose. Well, if I’m going to risk life and limb, I may as well splash out on te latest future-proof technology, so a quick check on the internet reveals that the dogs whatsits of TV aerials is the Televes DAT 45 (actually the 75 is the top of the range, but it’s bigger than my house). Off I trot to my nearest discount suppliers and get one of these things for £42, plus a 10ft pole and bracket. The guy there says that I really need an optional Margin Rising Device, for only an extra £9. Does it need power, I ask? No, he says, just clip it on in place of the inferior version already fitted. OK, I bought it.
Get home, borrow a ladder, and fit the brackets. Drilled five 16mm holes in brickwork high up the wall (remember, I hate heights!). Aerial is big and bulky (but looks high-tech). Nearly fall off the ladder once, but succeed in getting it fixed. Rubbish reception. Try swivelling it, still no joy. In the end, I figure that maybe a nearby house is causing the poor recepton. Choose another less convenient site and go through the whole process again. Finally, I get full power on all Freeview channels…..except CBeebies and a few minor ones. This causes great consternation with my kids. Having spent hours going up and donw the ladder moving this sodding aerial about, I finally discover that the channels I can’t get (well, I get them , but they break up every couple of minutes) are all put out on Multiplex B at Crystal Palace. Apparently CP is a Group A transmitter, and the Televes is a wideband aerial.
What the...? Haven’t a clue what all this means or what to do next, but then I remember that, in the loft, I have a spare cheapo high-gain aerial that I bought about 15 years ago. I take off the Televes gizmo and stick up this old thing. It's getting late in the day now, so I point it vaguely towards Crystal Palace tighten it up and go indoors and bingo! I get all Freeview channels. Job done.
Moral of the story? Three, actually. First, don’t buy all this high tech aerial stuff. Second, remember what you have in the loft. Finally, don’t listen to the guy behind the counter when he says that the optional Margin Rising Device does not need power (get home to find that it does!).
I now have a Televes DAT 45 plus MRD that appear to be surplus to requirements…