Satellite Dish/Aerial

SavvySaver24

Please excuse my ignorance here but I am getting confused with what I am finding online and hoping someone on here can help...

We are buying a house that has 2 Satellite Dishes on the front of the house. They are unsightly and we would like at least the redundant one removed. Who can ee get to remove this? I know it is our responsibility rather than the Service Provider but what sort of tradesman is equipped to remove these?

We will just be watching Freeview and Catch Up TV. We won't be having Sky TV (but will be having Sky Broadband). Am I right in thinking you DON'T need a Satellite Dish for Freeview and Catch Up TV but you DO need a TV Aerial?

I need to find out if there is already a TV Aerial in the house, or if it is just the Satellite Dishes, if there is no TV Aerial, does anyone have an idea of how much it would cost to install one?

Thanks!

Niv

You can remove the redundant dish yourself.


freeview does not need a dish and you do not need a dish to have sky BB.


Free sat however does need a dish.


No idea how much to get an aerial installed and suspect it will depend a little on your location in any case.

SavvySaver24

I am sure we probably could remove it ourselves, but we don't have a large ladder etc and are happy to pay someone. We just don't know who to pay ha. Could your average handyman do it?

Niv

SavvySaver24 wrote: »

I am sure we probably could remove it ourselves, but we don't have a large ladder etc and are happy to pay someone. We just don't know who to pay ha. Could your average handyman do it?

Well yea, in fact pretty much anyone with a ladder! As a SavvySaver would it not be more 'savvy' to borrow a ladder?

SavvySaver24

As I said, we don't want to do it ourselves... the reason I can afford to pay someone to do bits and bobs like this is bevause I am savvy with other areas of saving :-)

Enterprise_1701C

The question is do you want someone capable of actually determining which one is the live one?

You do not need an aerial if you do not have one, you can use Freesat. If your TV does not have Freesat on it you can get a box for £40 or so.

If you want someone to put an aerial up then that person might as well sort out your satellite dishes at the same time. A lot of handymen could do both, but you would be better off looking at someone that advertises as being able to deal with the aerial etc. To confuse matters we actually do aerials and satellite dishes (as long as they are not roof mounted or above the first floor) and we are a telecoms company.

Oh, and don't assume there is no aerial if you can't see one from the outside, it could just as easily be in the loft.

almillar

You can keep 1 dish and connect a Freesat PVR to it for free TV, plus catch up (catch up is via your broadband in all cases).
You can remove both dishes and install an aerial - hopefully under £150 for a standard-ish install.
Any satellite/aerial installer will be happy to remove dish(es) for you for a fee.

Head_The_Ball

Are both dishes the same shape and size and pointing in the same direction or is there a clear difference between them?

If you post a picture of them it might be possible to identify which is the one set up for Sky and Freesat and which is pointing to another group of satellites.

A Sky or Freesat dish will be pointing at 28.2 degrees east of due south.

You should be able to find nearby houses with a Sky dish to compare their orientation to your one. Or you can use a compass or a map to determine which of your dishes is pointing to 28.2 degrees east.

Wassa123

We have a sky dish that was there when we moved in.
I don't think even the old owners used it.
I could remove it but it's at the back of the house and I barely ever notice it to be honest.

We still have broadband, freeview, catch up without it fine.

Any handyman could remove it.

EmmyLou30

It just unscrews from the wall and you pull off the redundant cabling - basic man and a ladder job for a handyman. Previous owners left behind one on my house, we just removed it as we only want freeview which we get through the tv aerial.

datostar

EmmyLou30 wrote: »

It just unscrews from the wall and you pull off the redundant cabling - basic man and a ladder job for a handyman. Previous owners left behind one on my house, we just removed it as we only want freeview which we get through the tv aerial.

I took an old redundant analogue dish off the wall. Massive solid heavy affair. When I took the nuts off the wall bracket it left 4 big unsightly threaded bolts sticking about 3 inches out of the wall. Needed an angle grinder to deal with them. Handy things anyway for dishes that have been up a long time!