TV Aerials
Hours of entertainment, news and sport. Your TV aerial has a demanding job to do. The kinds of viewing you can enjoy and the quality of the transmissions you receive all depend on the quality and placement of your aerial.
Now you may be excused for thinking that an aerial is just an aerial. After all, once they are up, they tend to be forgotten. But in fact, there are a number of different types of TV aerials that all have varying degrees of suitability depending on what you need.
The standard aerial is also known as a Yagi aerial. It is made up of a rod and a reflector which are mounted onto a pole, usually outdoors on top of your roof. The bulk of the aerial is made up of elements that spike out from a main rod. The more elements there are on your aerial, the more effective it will be as it can pick up better signal. A Yagi aerial works by picking up signal directionally.
If you happen to be in a poor reception area or are hankering for good digital television signal, you are far better off installing a digital high gain aerial. These have two reflectors instead of one and can have as many as 100 elements, which makes them more powerful as receptors. The power and size of the aerial you choose is going to depend largely on whether you live in a bad or good reception area.
There are other aerials such as grid aerials, indoor aerials and loft mounted aerials but these generally don’t work as well for the reception of freeview TV.
One of the best ways to improve your signal quality is to check how you have positioned your aerial. Generally the higher your aerial is the better and outdoors is ideal. Roof tiles and your plumbing systems can play havoc on your reception when using an indoor aerial. TV aerials tend to be directional so try to point yours in the direction of the transmitter. You will also want to check that there are no large trees, hills, tall buildings or other aerials interfering with your reception.
If you are uncertain, a good aerial installer will be able to find the best position for you and advise on which aerial will be best for your particular circumstances.
More details on aerials found at http://www.cai.org.uk/
Andy Firth runs a firm of TV aerial fitters in Leeds. His valuable help meant we were able to create this article for the site.