TV Aerials

There has been a lot of discussion / confusion in the press about if there is such a thing as a digital aerial, well to be precise, there is no such thing as a digital aerial.

The problem is that they are still often referred to as digital aerials!

Are people being conned into buying an aerial they don’t need? I will try to explain the confusion and what you do and do not need.

TV transmitters transmit the frequencies for both analogue an digital services on 11 different channels, 6 at the moment for digital and 5 for analogue, the digital channels will in some cases be close to the analogue frequencies and in some they will be spread through out the bandwidth.

If you live in a very good reception area and the analogue and digital channels are close together you should be able to receive the digital channels on your existing aerial. If you live in a good reception area and the channels are far apart unless you have a wideband aerial it is unlikely that you will receive all the channels.

This is the main confusion, people call a wideband aerial, a digital aerial.

After the switchover if you only want to receive the public service channels i.e. BBC1 BBCC2 ITC CH4 etc it may be that your existing aerial may work. However there is something to understand, in the majority of area's a wide band aerial will be required to receive all of the digital channels. Also interference on a analogue aerial is represented by small white dots, most people see these as a result of ignition interference from motor bikes or lawn mowers. This same interference when viewed on a digital TV results in break-up and pixilation of the picture. To counter this problem your aerial should be fitted with double screened coax and all connections should also be screened, if your existing aerial is over 5 years old it is unlikely that it is either wideband or double screened.

Although areas vary if you live in Northampton and want all of the channels you will probably need a new aerial.

If you live anywhere and your aerial is over 5 years old you will most probably encounter signal break-up of some kind.

So how can you be sure that you will get the right advice on the right product and then only what you need? Simple, only use a company that is either a member of the CAI, RDI or approved by trading standards, or you could contact a company recognised by all three, don’t be confused, chose Northampton Aerials and “Buy With Confidence”