Aerial cable confusion

Hank_Marvin

lol, well i have a director which i've found in the garden just now so either something has been thrown at it or it's just fallen off lol.
Will mention it to him when i see him out and about. Will keep an eye on the picture quality.

Moneymaker

A lot of so-called "high gain aerials" are poorly designed and poorly manufactured. They are so weak that even a pigeon resting on an element can break it. They are only suitable for use in a loft but try getting the seller to admit that! The strongest type are the log-periodic ones. They have no reflector and the better ones have quite sturdy director elements.

with a couple of directors missing will it degrade picture by much then?

Digital TV is all or nothing. You won't see any picture degradation. The first sign of problems will be picture breakup or no picture at all. What you are doing is reducing the margin so you could lose the picture in bad weather - but you won't know till it happens. If you want to prevent this possibility, replace the aerial with a proper, study one; not just "eye candy".