Choosing the right company to upgrade my aerial ?

[crowds]

I have been calling around local aerial fitters trying to get the best quote and to a degree there has been some confusion but whats blatantly obvious is the fact that it's a cutthroat profession with all of them ready to slag the other off.
Of all the slagging and bashing one company said that they were csi approved (What crime squad has to do with it baffles me) and they quoted me £145 for a single room where as othere have quoted me the same for a two room.
How important is this csi thing ?
One quote I am considering is for £145 for two rooms and a three year guarantee. He never mentioned anything about being csi approved.

another thing that has bugged me is than one guy told me that the whole 21/31/42/whatever element aerial thing is rubbish and the amount of elements (unless really low like 5) didnt make a difference.

Crowds

[fernandez]

If someone told you CSI he's a con-artist, or you may have misheard and he said CAI

TV Aerial Installer Search - The Confederation of Aerial Industries Limited

This is always worth reading

FREEVIEW F.A.Q.s

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by crowds

I have been calling around local aerial fitters trying to get the best quote and to a degree there has been some confusion but whats blatantly obvious is the fact that it's a cutthroat profession with all of them ready to slag the other off.
Of all the slagging and bashing one company said that they were csi approved (What crime squad has to do with it baffles me) and they quoted me £145 for a single room where as othere have quoted me the same for a two room.
How important is this csi thing ?
One quote I am considering is for £145 for two rooms and a three year guarantee. He never mentioned anything about being csi approved.

another thing that has bugged me is than one guy told me that the whole 21/31/42/whatever element aerial thing is rubbish and the amount of elements (unless really low like 5) didnt make a difference.

The number of elements certainly affects performance, the more directors an aerial has the longer and thinner the reception pattern is, this requires more precise alignment but boosts the gain and improves the rejection of unwanted signals and interference

Crowds

You are right there are a lot of cowboys out there. (They usually chuck up el cheapo contract aerials they buy for peanuts and they have a performance to match the price). The csi thing is in fact the CAI (Council OF Aerial Installers), at least if you employ a CAI approved contractor you can be reasonably sure that they at least have degree of technical expertise and should use CAI tested equipment which is graded for performance. Two tips if someone tells you that a need a digital aerial show them the door, there is no such thing. (It's an expression for some reason that appears to have been coined for wideband aerials - It's true that for some transmitters you need wideband performance but such aerials are useless for other transmitters. Why don't you look up your post code on Wolfbane and post what it says. You should then get some reasonable advice as to what you need. Armed with this info you can at least be sure that your installer is installing the best type of aerial for the job.

[fernandez]

Originally Posted by grahamlthompson

The csi thing is in fact the CAI (Council OF Aerial Installers)

The Confederation of Aerial Industries Limited

As in the link given in post 2

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by fernandez

The Confederation of Aerial Industries Limited

As in the link given in post 2

Whoops Quite right

This link is worth reading

http://www.cai.org.uk/asp/about.asp

[crowds]

Thanks for the replies.
my mistake they probably did say CAI !
Wolfbane gives me the following...

http://www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd....=10&OS=s40+2sb

The quote i am thinking of going for was for £145 for a two room instalation, booster if needed and he mentioned the aerial used would be a 42 element...?!

Thanks again
Crowds

[aerialinstaller]

The CAI is a bit of a 'jobs for the boys' organisation. Anyone can set up an aerial business and join the CAI as no assesment of technical competence is required - merely 2 'customer references'.
We charge £130 for a full installation to 1 room - bracket, pole, aerial, cabling, tv set up if required.
There is cheaper out there and this would usually mean a 'contract' wideband aerial (around £3 trade cost) but some people are only driven by price so will go with that option.
If you are being supplied with an amplifier check if it is adjustable

[scribbler101]

A.T.V (Aerials And Television) Home Page

You're lucky to have what seems to be a top man locally. Is he one of your quotes? If not, I would certainly get.

As to price - coax is cheap so the man offering 2 for same price as others want one may just be offering good value. I could get 2 for <£140 locally in N Wales

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by crowds

Thanks for the replies.
my mistake they probably did say CAI !
Wolfbane gives me the following...

UK digital TV reception predictor

The quote i am thinking of going for was for £145 for a two room instalation, booster if needed and he mentioned the aerial used would be a 42 element...?!

Thanks again
Crowds

The wolfbane shows channels 34 to 52 for digital which is only 1 channel out from a group B aerial at the bottom end (35 to 53) that's the aerial I would use in this situation. WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T GET A WIDEBAND the gain at channel 34 will be awful. A typical high gain group B is shown here

ATV`s Choice Of Aerials

This aerial will give you a forward gain of around 9dB at channel 34 to around 14dB at channel 52. A typical wideband for comparison would be roughly 8dB to 12dB. A group A would have the best gain at uhf 34 at about 13dB but would be no use above channel 38. You can buy a higher gain group B but it's more expensive (gain 13 to 15dB)

see the xb16B here

ATV`s Choice Of Aerials