Moved house, no TV aerial just an old Sky Q dish - worth installing replacements?

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Hello

I'm looking to get some thoughts. We moved to a new house a couple of months ago with no TV aerial on the house and just a badly installed Sky Q dish that looks dreadful on the front of the house. We're not Sky customers so although our TV has Freesat there are no channels we want to watch (we have a 4K Samsung and a 1080P Plasma still going strong).

We do have BT Fibre broadband, so have been streaming all TV since we moved in. I'm currently considering upgrading to 300mb internet via another provider as BT don't serve our town with FTTP yet.

It's a 3 level Victorian Semi, so very tall which means that installing an aerial might need scaffolding (which we'll be putting up in the spring to do some maintenance on the roof).

In these days of more streaming, I'm not sure it's worth the cost/hassle of installing an aerial or a replacement satellite dish, so I thought I'd get the views of the forum

Our teenage kids mainly watch Youtube or play Spotify on the TV and my wife and I use the iPlayer a lot, Netflix and Prime Video plus the Eurosport player.

Curious to know if people think it's worth the spend either for more viewing options or for selling the house on one day?

I do plan to remove the present badly installed Sky dish as I can't use it anyway and won't ever be a Sky customer.

Thoughts welcomed.

Many thanks
 
Presumably you don’t pay for a tv licence so why bother incurring extra costs if you don’t watch it, you’re not missing anything.
 
Presumably you don’t pay for a tv licence so why bother incurring extra costs if you don’t watch it, you’re not missing anything.
If he’s using iPlayer, he should have a TV licence though
 
Down to personal preference and content you watching.
If you own house just rip sky dish and cables out if not planing using any SAT. Although you have to pay tv license fee for using iPlayer. Probably would rather invest in decent router with mesh system if not planing running CAT cables direct. TV wifi chips usually poor and cant reach far across multiple walls/levels. Would not bother with cheapo stuff if you have many devices.
 
$ky Q dish/lnb is wideband so won't suit most legacy type satellite tuners. That style has two outputs only.
The latest freesat-branded (mad by Arris) stbs and pvrs, however, will work properly with the Q wideband lnb.

If the dish is low enough to d-i-y remove then it's not rocket science to install a new one or the existing dish properly. It does need clearline of sight to the satellite, though (so may need to be at the front of the house to be diy. Plenty of (free) apps to check that with a smart phone camera.

Terrestrial UHF TV: What channels should I get? will allow you to get reception predictions for your location; click on the <detailed view> button at the bottom for details of transmitter, aerial pointing direction (bearing), distance, and interference / quality of reception (green good, amber fair, red poor and blank even worse).

Neighbouring houses aerials and pointing direction may give a clue as to how easy reception is?

Loft aerials can work for many, if there is space. But not if the space has been converted to habitable rooms (foil backed plasterboard or insulation kills radio waves).

I'm close enough to a main high power transmitter for room aerials to work in the bedroom(s); but the transmitter network is designed around the use of external, directional, aerials at 10 metres above the ground (two-storey rooftop height).

Do get quotes for any work from at least two local firms (preferably not the 'nationwide' types). Recommendations from neighbours, friends, family and work colleagues are worth a million Trustpilot or similar website reviews.
 
Thanks All for the thoughts and feedback.

I do pay my TV Licence and do use the iPlayer.

Thanks to @Rodders53 I've worked out I'm 8-10 miles from my nearest TV transmitter if we do decide to get an aerial. The reception quality doesn't look amazing from the Freeview assessment. Decent but not stellar.

The present dish looks ugly and was not installed well (cabling), so I'd like to remove it anyway.

I'd not consider a loft ariel and I think there might be space but not lots as our house uses most of the roof space for the 3rd level. There is a small loft of the right side of the house for an aerial.

I have brough my mesh wifi from our old (and smaller house) - BT whole home, so I might be another couple of discs to get better coverage.

Given it's a Victorian semi and has had cavity wall insulation I'm not sure it's realistic to install network cables throughout the house (but that's just an assumption).

We will definitely have scaffolding up in the first half of the year so if we're going to do it, that's the perfect time.

Thanks again.
 
You can get all the live terrestrial channel if you use a.fire stick , not on android/google.tv.
 
I've worked out I'm 8-10 miles from my nearest TV transmitter if we do decide to get an aerial.
The reception quality doesn't look amazing from the Freeview assessment. Decent but not stellar.

I'd not considered a loft aerial and I think there might be space but not lots as our house uses most of the roof space for the 3rd level. There is a small loft of the right side of the house for an aerial.
What transmitter?
I'm a similar distance from Sandy Heath but have clear line of sight, so all my predictions are 100/100 green (COM7 is only 99/100 to be accurate).

A very nearby postcode would allow me to comment more accurately on your numbers? (School, shop, pub etc.,. within 100m or so ideally).

If the right side of the house is nearest the transmitter then it might work... problem is physically getting cables from there to the rooms you want.
Same as network cables.
All cables can be routed from place to place, but possibly disruptive.
An aerial installer will have the same issue, but for speed/cost reasons will tend to just tack them to walls and whack holes through the wall.
 
Hi @Rodders53, I can't find a nearby postcode that shows the same potential reception (they're all worse). So here's a snip:

reception.JPG


Our loft is on the side of the house towards the transmitter but we're on the lower side of hills between us and it. The transmitter is Heathfield in East Sussex.

If reception for a traditional aerial isn't ideal, perhaps a replacement Freesat dish might be a better idea? Or just to stay with Fibre broadband and streaming off a Mesh wifi (as I have now - it just needs extending).

Thanks for your thoughts
 
Yes those numbers aren't especially wonderful, but let me explain what they mean:

Each prediction is based on a 100 m x 100 m square. 10,000 sq m area.
The S(erved) number (first of the two for each frequency) is the percentage of locations within that square that meet the planning standard for signal level and where interference from other transmitters will be less than 1% of time.

The M(arginally served) - second - number is the same but where interference will be between 1% and 50% of time.

Although less accurate as it is postcode level only see what field strength Wolfbane predicts at 10 m agl (default) and a couple of metres higher/lower. (A starred number indicates no line of sight/diffracted, so do mention that star). Also how far? and what direction (towards France or not?) is useful. wolfbane.net

Always worth asking neighbours about their TV reception and looking at the aerials they use (if visible).

Freesat may be more reliable but has no Channel 4 HD and your HD mux is the best reception predicted. (green)
 
It tells me lots for the postcode centre:

You'll need to find that via google or bing or streetmap, on a map to see how close it is to your home... Rural postcodes can often cover a large area. Mine have covered just a close of 14 dwellings in the past, and 6 currently.

Heathfiled is only 6 miles away, and should be line of sight (no star) and 68 dBuV/m field which is pretty strong from a 20kW erp transmitter. That means you should probably be able to use a fairly small loft aerial to feed one or two TVs with passive splitting.

Of course your local topography may make the measured on site numbers radically different - but the transmitting aerials are high up on the mast, which is on high ground itself. So you may 'see' the white aerials from your rooftop on a very clear day? mb21 - The Transmission Gallery

NB Wolfbane hasn't been updated for the currently transmitted frequencies but the field strength numbers don't change much (and lower frequencies travel better so would only be greater anyway).

Loft aerials - A.T.V. Poles, Brackets, Clamps & Aerials is worth reading, and advises on the aerials that could be used. Your biggest hurdle is going to be the coaxial cable routing from the loft area!
 

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