Roof Aerial Advice Please

Friendly_Drooc

We have a fairly large aerial on our roof and, for the past couple of weeks, the oblong plate has become loose and rattles against the metal of the aerial, so much so that we have had to sleep in the spare room cos can't sleep because of it.

We have Sky and don't use the aerial but I don't really want it removed because if the Sky box stopped working (hope thats not tempting fate) then we could watch TV through the aerial.

Does anyone know if the the aerial will still work if the oblong piece of metal is removed?

Thanks.

ormus

if your going up there to remove it then you may as well repair it!
it normally just fits onto a plastic clip thingy. there may be a small screw also.

without a reflector the aerial may or may not work, depends on the signal strength etc. also it maybe ok for analogue and useless for a digital signal.

my tv works ok when i put my finger in the aerial socket!

Friendly_Drooc

Hi Ormus

Thanks for your reply re the plastic bit that we can use to mend it, have you any idea where we can buy one of these and are they one size fits all ?

I rang a local aerial man last week because to ask if the plate could be removed, he came out this Wednesday, and quoted me:

To remove the plate and fix a new one in it's place would be £47

but

he'd had a look at my aerial and the wiring and, given it's condition, it may be best to get a complete new aerial and wiring at a cost of £120

When I said I didn't use the aerial as we had Sky and only wanted the plate removed, he said I may as well get it all removed and that would cost me £36

The difficulty is that the chimney onto which the aerial is fixed is fairly high (too high for OH to get to) so need aerial man to fix it.

I think I'll give this particular aerial man a wide berth though !
He should be on rogue traders !!!

ormus

if you dont want to get on the roof yourself, then the 36 quid removal charge sounds like the best bet.
you could always fit an aerial in the loft in the future if required?