data
TV aerials and satellite
A digital aerial fitted costs £100 to £250, and a satellite dish £120 to £300. Most call outs are not installations at all: they are an existing aerial that has turned in a gale, a corroded connector, or a cheap splitter fitted years ago that has finally lost the last of the signal.
What this covers
What it costs. A digital aerial fitted is £100 to £250 and a satellite dish £120 to £300. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Fitting and aligning a digital aerial
- Distribution amplifiers feeding several rooms
- Satellite dishes and communal systems
- Diagnosing pixelation and lost channels
- Extra TV points on an existing feed
What is involved
An aerial installation is a survey before it is a fit. The installer checks which transmitter serves the postcode, what its polarity is, and whether the house has line of sight to it, then picks the aerial group and the mounting position from that rather than from what is already on the roof. A high gain aerial in a strong signal area overloads the tuner, which looks identical on screen to a weak signal, and that mistake accounts for a good share of second visits.
Feeding more than one room is where quality shows. A passive splitter halves the signal at every leg, so four rooms from one aerial through two splitters arrive with a quarter of what left the roof. A distribution amplifier feeds each room at full strength and costs less than the second call out. Cable matters too: double screened satellite grade cable rejects interference that the thin brown coaxial in an older house does not, and interference is increasingly what the picture is competing with.
Pixelation that comes and goes is almost always signal rather than the television. Rain fade on satellite, a tree in leaf on terrestrial, a corroded connector at the mast head, or a neighbour's new equipment. The useful diagnostic is whether every set in the house has it at once, which points at the aerial or the amplifier, or only one, which points at that room's cable or its plate.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask which transmitter the installer is aiming at and why. Ask whether the price includes the bracket and the pole or only the aerial. Ask whether multiple rooms are fed by an amplifier or a splitter. Ask what happens on a return visit if the picture fails within a few weeks, because weather moves aerials and the first winter is the test.
Common questions
Why does my picture break up when it rains?
On satellite that is rain fade and it is normal in heavy rain, though a dish slightly off alignment fails far sooner than one aimed properly. On terrestrial, weather sensitivity usually means water getting into a connector or a cable at the mast head.
Can one aerial feed four rooms?
Yes, through a distribution amplifier. Through passive splitters it can also feed four rooms badly. If rooms were added to an installation one at a time over years, splitters are usually why the furthest one struggles.