Saturday 18 February 2012

The good old TV Aerial

Is the humble tv aerial something only us installers notice.
They are part of an houses decoration,dutifully dragging the entertainment for the dwellers,making ideal perches for the local; bird population




Atlas aerial systems
Supply and install of TV aerials and satellite systems TEL:07891903013
125,East Bawtry Road
south Yorkshire
S60 4LQ

Thursday 16 February 2012

Television from the 60

This is an amazing picture  of black and white set fro the  60's around 1961.
Back in the day it was the 42" plasma of its day.


Atlas aerial systems
Supply and install of TV aerials and satellite systems TEL:07891903013
125,East Bawtry Road
south Yorkshire
S60 4LQ

Monday 6 February 2012

Analogue versus digital


The new world of digital television can be fraught with many problems,which at times make you long for the good old days of analogue with its ghosting or shadowing as many people call it.
Analogue was always very forgiving depending very much on your point of view of what makes a watchable TV picture.
Analogue pictures were always very forgiving ,they could be grainy caused by low signal level and still be totally watchable,or suffer from interference scattering across the picture due a local traffic,or local TV transmitters,what constituted a good signal was purely a matter of opinion

Digital totally changes the state of the playing field.
Digital signals are composed of information which if it cant be read it causes the picture to freeze or break up intermittently,as the TV set or freeview struggles to cope with lack of information.
This error correction technology as long been in use in your CD player,to correct errors caused by dust or finger marks.
Try playing a dirty CD and see how the player copes with it mostly by jumping or skipping parts of the track.
Exactly the same happens in the visual for a TV picture.
A digital TV signal is measured not just by level but also by quality,a good high level can have a very low quality causing the picture to break up,low quality is literally a voltage generated by for instance corrosion on a connection.

One of the biggest causes of this can be poor quality co ax cable,which did a fine job for analogue but is a total disaster for the digital,age and the weather takes a heavy toll on the TV aerial.
Digital co ax now as to be of a minimum quality to avoid these drop outs or at least reduce them to the point where they aren’t intrusive,another of the causes for a low quality signal is corroded connection on the aerial itself,or water entering down the cable,or even a poorly fitted co ax plug or a co ax cable being to close to a mains lead.
Some of the newest TV’s such as Panasonic also have a built in meter for measuring bit error rate or the amount of bits or digital data that as been introduced,ideally this should be zero,but that can difficult to attain,around 1 or 2 is the best


If you have a distribution amplifier either behind your TV set or buried in your roof this could well be an older unit that isn’t up to the job of carrying delicate digital signals,anymore than 4 years old then you can point the finger of blame at this,or the masthead amplifier you have either in your loft or on your TV aerial mast,have a quick glance at your aerial to see if it as a box with wires protruding out of it.
Trees can also disrupt the signal,literally depending on what species they are or the size of the leafs themselves,so if during windy weather the picture breaks up more often have a look to see if your aerial is pointing through trees,obviously more so during the summer,an higher mast is the way around this.

Take the time to dig out your TV s signal meter system to give you a better idea of what exactly your signal state is this is usually found under menu set up, and then manual tuning,look for the signal display,then signal quality.






Atlas aerial systems
Supply and install of TV aerials and satellite systems TEL:07891903013
125,East Bawtry Road
south Yorkshire
S60 4LQ

Sunday 5 February 2012

Tv s and a social life




The humble freeview TV aerial,sitting there doing its job,un thanked and unloved,year in year out.
Its home the rooftop, is a tough old place. Subject to all the weather, wind, rain, snow, ice storms delivering that vital signal to your TV screens. The news, top gear, the world cup, all end of soap operas it delivers them all.
In its rooftop lair your humble Aerial is slowly deteriorating,seals are breaking down, its brackets are being eaten away by rust, weakened further by occasional gale force winds.
How long will an Aerial withstand all these forces being thrown at it? 5 years,10 years.
The biggest factor is the quality of the parts used, when it was attached to the chimney. Flimsy brackets,non galvanized brackets will succumb in 5 years or less.
On the other hand high quality parts have been known to last up to 30 years, and some 30 year old Aerials are still in use delivering crisp signals, without flapping around in the breeze, or threatening to end up embedded in the roof of your new car.
The risk of getting injured from an Aerial falling off a roof is slight, but it has happened and even killed people,when high winds have pushed failing components past their limit, turning that benign array of rooftop metal into a lethal flying object.
In the days of analogue television when digital existed only in engineers heads, snowy pictures could be watched quite happily. Even an Aerial hanging for dear life, entirely by its co -ax lead pointing skyward could, deliver a snowy picture, watched quite happily below by the resident huddled up on the sofa below.
Digital is not so forgiving in its signal needs. Snowy analogue pictures lead to digital pictures breaking up, or not appearing at all,no longer can that flapping aerial be left or put up with, banging on the chimney or wall on a windy night, disturbing your sleep.
Many will take delivery of a nice new digital television and blindly plug it to the Aerial socket with no knowledge of digital sensitivity.
Only when the wobbly Aerial on the Roof finally forces its way into their thoughts, after teeth grating television watching, accompanied by picture,cracks on audio and total loss of soap operas takes its toll on the viewer, do they finally look at the Aerial with severe eyes and stop blaming the £500 Television.
Sometimes a variety of amplifiers are bought by the the new TV owner, in a vain attempt to remedy the problem, and to calm down his wife, who is by now suffering from stress, not knowing,who is trying to kill whom in the world of EastEnders, or who be might up for winning the yet another talent competition,and the renting of DVDs will only plug the gap for so long.
www.atlasaerialsystems.co.uk for more information

Atlas aerial systems
Supply and install of TV aerials and satellite systems TEL:07891903013
125,East Bawtry Road
south Yorkshire
S60 4LQ