With many of the new build properties in Preston, you may notice that most will not have an externally mounted TV aerials fitted to their chimneys, gable ends or anywhere on the outside of there buildings. The reason for this is a simple one, the architects of the housing estate felt that externally fitted aerials are unsightly and felt that it is aesthetically pleasing to require the new owners to have their TV antennas fitted internally, namely in the loft.

So, this is a good question and one that depends on quite a few different factors, they are;

1. Location of the property
2. The type of insulation within the loft
3. The number of TV points the TV Aerial is feeding

Location
So, there a few factors to take in to consideration before installing a TV aerial in a loft. Looking at where the house is, in respect to where the TV transmitter is, if it is visible, even if its 20 or more miles away, and yes sometimes they can be seen from that far of, then the chances are that the signal will be strong enough to be picked up from within the loft. Fitting TV Aerials in a loft in Preston should in most cases will be OK, since it isn't that far for the signal from Winter Hill to travel to get to the antenna. If though, the house sits in a valley and by looking around, you see other houses that have externally mounted aerials, but on very tall masts, the chances of getting a good enough signal in the loft are very slim indeed.
In either case, unless it is obvious that there is going to be no chance , it is always best practice to connect up the aerial to a meter and test before installing, whether there is going to be a good enough signal first.

Loft Insulation
Most homes will not be insulated with the kind that will block signal. However, to clarify, I am not talking about the loft insulation that one would lay down on the floor of the loft. The kind I'm talking about is the foam boards that have an aluminium foil outer cover that are used to line the roof itself. With this kind of insulation covering the inside of the roof, there is no way on earth that a TV signal will be penetrating that.

Number of TV Points
So, the thing with loft aerials is that by fitting them in lofts rather than externally, you can lose up to 50% of the available signal, and in any case there is always going to be a reduction of signal went fitting an aerial in the loft. So, depending on the quality of signal and strength of it will in some cases restrict the number of aerial points it can feed. 
A way around this would be to install some kind of amplified signal booster to evenly spit the signal and even boost it, so that it can be distributed around the home to the TV points, delivering a signal both strong enough and clean enough to be able to watch uninterrupted television.

​As previously mentioned, carrying out an aerial installation in a loft for most properties in & around the Preston area, should be fine. Unless it has the wrong kind of insulation or the house is positioned behind some geographical obstacle such as trees or a hill, then the will be enough of a digital signal to be received by a loft aerial. For more info on this subject feel free to give me a call.  

Having issues with your TV Reception? Well if you receive your TV through your Television Aerial/Antenna, then it could be due to the interference coming from the new 4G transmissions. 

What is 4G? Well simply put, it is the new super fast wireless service for mobile phones, a great addition to mobile phone service, but in some areas, because it is transmitted so close to some Freeview channels it can cause interference, as reported on the cai website.... 

Having said this, if you are getting reception problems with your Freeview TV, then the only way to know is to call out a professional TV Aerial Engineer. He would need to us a spectrum analyser to determine if your TV reception is having problems due to interference from 4g or because of other issues. 

Working in the Sun, a day in the life of an Aerial Fitter

Although we were working on probably the sunniest day this year, & not to mention is was bank holiday Friday I've got to say I actually enjoyed it. I mean, what's better than working outside on a day like this I thought. We were fitting both new wideband (digital) TV Aerials in Kendal, and also a couple of satellite dish installations. When the sun is out and it is warm with not much of a breeze, then this becomes one of the best jobs there is. Working away with the sun on our backs was a real pleasure, not to mention the view.

Ever noticed that in some areas such as Blackpool there are loads of homes with 3, 4 or even 5 aerials heads onto one mast? Why is it that they need so many TV Aerials in Blackpool? The truth is over time when a home owner needs another aerial point in the house, a cheap and inferior way to do this is to put a single aerial head onto the existing mast and run just one cable off of it. 

When you need to mount your aerial in your loft space, then in most areas you will be limited as to which TV aerial to choose for the installation. There is a noticeable difference in both signal strength and interference when installing an aerial outside a building. With the advent of digital TV the transmission is now wide band and the need for a strong signal with low interference is needed more than with analogue. If possible have a TV Aerial Installer fit your aerial on the outside of your property as it gives you the best chance. However, due to building regs in your area it may be necessary to install your wide band aerial(digital aerial) in the loft.

You can lose up to 50% of the signal strength by placing it in the loft and it also increases the interference or noise. This is why choosing the right TV Aerial in the first place can save you a lot of time and expense. At Julian Voigt Aerial & Satellite, 9 times out of 10 we will pick the log periodic TV aerial as this is design to pick up wide band signal (for digital TV) like a high gain aerial, yet because it has no need of a back reflector it picks up much less interference. This provides the perfect TV Aerial for receiving digital TV when installed in your loft.

What is also essential is an aerial meter to make sure of the best position for the TV aerial to be installed. With the meter you can read both the reception of the signal and also the level of quality & interference or noise. So when you want to receive a perfect digital TV picture from your aerial in the loft always go for a log periodic.

Have you every wondered why some properties have 3, 4 or more TV Aerial heads all on one mast? With each aerial feeding into a separate room of the house. 

With many aerial installers in Blackpool, and plenty of other regions around the UK, rather than looking to provide the best digital solution for their customer, they look to do what suits them. When a customer rings up to have another TV point into their home, and just look to install a cheap contract aerial on the same mast and to run the aerial cable into that room. 
Looking at this picture to the left, you can see that not only is it unsightly looking on a property, but it is an accident waiting to happen. It wouldn't take much of a strong wind to take this whole TV Aerial rig down.

Here at Julian Voigt Aerial & Satellite having full qualified as TV Aerial & Satellite Engineers, being Rdi Approved too, we only employ best practices when providing an install to multiple TV points in the home.
If the customer requires 2 or more TV points to be installed, then we will fit a quality digital aerial, such as a log periodic. These new style digital aerials are fantastic for attracting a strong signal. Once we have got the strongest signal, we then install an outdoor splitter at the nearest point to the actual aerial. Once the signal has been split we run off the splitter box the cables, ensuring we use quality cai approved cable to reduce any signal degradation. As per the pictures below. The end result is a neat looking digital aerial on a mast feeding multiple TV points instead of multiple aerials on a single mast. For more info on TV Aerials click here

What's the best Indoor aerial or outside aerial for home or caravan? Best Loft Aerial?

Aerials designed for indoor use square measure typically poor performers as a result of they're tiny and have few "elements". Size matters - do not let anyone tell you that it doesn't! Most "indoor aerials" have very little or no gain however makers attempt to hide this truth by incorporating a "high-gain booster" then jactitation that the aerial has, say, "a twenty dB gain" once really it's nothing of the kind.

The booster gets the signal on top of the brink of the digital tuner however it is a terribly abuzz signal that (if it gets an image at all) is probably going to suffer from "dropout" and "freezing".

This type of aerial with unsupported reflector stubs is helpful solely as a loft aerial. it's simply bent by birds and wind, thus i do not suggest it for outside use unless it's a sort that encompasses a robust supporting frame or a mesh style.

Note that this one is incredibly short thus, despite doable claims to the contrary, it's a really low gain and is helpful solely during a robust signal space. Length is most vital.

The Vision "Focus" V10-040 log-periodic in situ.

It has no reflector and isn't simply broken by birds or wind.

It’s possible to compress more signal strength from your Freeview set up utilising a boosting or amplifying kit, supplied you have the right know how for the job
If you don’t have the perfect aerial in the best reception area, attached by flawless cable to a flawless TV set, the chances are that your digital aerial may need a hand with the signal in the style of a ‘booster’ or aerial amplifier.

Why use an amplifier? You won't be amazed to hear, an aerial amplifier is often mistakenly used when the strength of signal at the TV or receiver is too low. Although, an amplifier will not make a poor antenna better and it’s seldom much use amplifying the signal if the yield from the aerial itself is too low. You can check this by connecting up your TV or receiver as close to the aerial as likely, utilising a very short extent of cable.

If you find that the signal coming from your aerial is still really weak, then the only option is to install a new high gain aerial with quality cabling to draw as much signal as possible.

What an amplifier is designed for is to compensate for the drop off of a medium to strong signal coming from your aerial through a length of cable to your digibox or TV. So it helps to keep the signal strength strong all the way to your receiver. However, it doesn't differentiate between what is pure digital signal and noise, so just as the signal is kept strong throughout its journey through the cable, so is the noise.

The actual Amp should go as close to the Aerial as you can get it. You must not put the Amplifier near the receiver or TV, because at that point it will boost the noise level at that point. To illustrate, its like turning up the volume of an analogue radio with bad reception. By turning up the volume, you only get louder crackling and hissing not a clearer sound.
By boosting the signal at the source, then the signal travels the cable at a higher level, and any noise picked up on the journey interferes less with the overall signal at the TV end.