Things on my mind (1)

[Bill Wright]

Whilst having the bonfire that I have to have because the council won't take all our rubbish I chanced upon a small directory, one of those that comes free.

Of course I looked at the 'Aerials' section. I have in-depth knowledge of all the local aerial firms, and I can tell you that every single one of those with display adverts should, in my opinion, be avoided by the consumer. The larger the advert the worse the advertiser! It seems that the better people don't advertise as widely as the others.

What should the poor customer do? I really don't know, but looking around at the rooftops in this area there's going to be a rich harvest of work for all installers when there's a gale.

Bill

[philipuk]

I wonder with digital tv how many people could get away with an antenna in their attic anyway. Even a coat hanger antenna high up in an upstairs room gets all the channels here on the south coast with the strong signal from Rowridge.

There's the likes of Checkatrade etc. but the best bet as always is word of mouth.

Philip

[Jethro_uk]

I used RatedPeople - roofer from there was shit. I used ChekaTrade - roofer from there was telling me how bad RP was, and how CheckaTrade was the way to go. They were shit too.

The only recommendations I seem to get are firms *not* to use.

[Bob Eager]

We have done that (fairly high gain antenna, a Televes). There's a preamp on it and it's fine on digital. Not pointed at the recommended mast, though...I plotted out the bearing of the alternative and although it's lower power and slightly further away, it works better.

Never any problems apart from the occasional co-channel interference that screws up a couple of muxes. We're in East Kent and the antenna points roughly south, so not surprising.

Might put it on the roof one day....

[tony sayer]

In article , Bob Eager scribeth thus

Assume its the right aerial frequency band?..

Asking for furrign bovver if you ask me;!....

[Bob Eager]

Yes, I checked that very carefully. In fact the initial checks were like- for-like as I used a wideband antenna.

I know. It's very very rare though.

[David Lang]

Both are simply paid for advertising and worthless.

[Indy Jess John]

My local council publishes a booklet of trustworthy tradesmen, and all they ask is that anybody who chooses a tradesman from the book sends in feedback of what they thought of the job that was done, so that it is possible to check that standards are being maintained.

An elderly neighbour of mine asked me to have a look at her "hot water" because sometimes it wasn't running hot. I had a quick look and found that her gas multipoint had a pilot light burning, but perhaps one time out of three the main burner didn't try to light when a tap was turned on. I called a plumber from the council booklet and he was excellent. He told me which part was failing, he told me which part was going to fail soon, and he asked me if he should replace both or just the failing piece (and of course I said do both, but it was good that the choice was offered). It was a reasonable price and he did a full service as well as the repair and he left the place spotless.

If your council does something similar, it seems to be a good place to start.

Jim

[Chris French]

I put an aerial in the loft in the old house and that worked fine (pre digital I guess). We could see Emley Moor mast from the house (leeds).

Not that we'd notice if our current one blew down, since all our viewing nowadays is really iplayer/netflix/downloads etc.

[Brian Reay]

Funny you should say that. I'm a bit of an aerial (or antenna) spotter being a radio amateur and I often notice various aerials which I think look 'dodgy' as regards standing up to a gale etc. However, they generally do. There is one close to me which I've been expecting to come down for years but it hasn't. The pole must be 15 ft long, fixed to a chimney, fixings maybe a foot apart, some token guys. Another couple are even longer on gable ends, no guys, fixings far to high up the brick work. All are in a valley which tends to 'funnel' the wind along it. I've got a 40ft mast which rattles like mad sometimes but it has over a ton of concrete as a base and is made for the job. If high winds are forecast I lower it.

[Bob Martin]

No amenity tip nearby?

[News]

Difficult. Our local amenity tip comprises two dust carts parked side by side, one taking garden rubbish, the other taking anything else, within reason. Within reason excludes the obvious such as paint, oil, batteries, tyres, fridges, TVs, monitors etc., which have to be taken to a larger tip 25 miles away.

We're in a village, and I can understand the LA not providing full facilities in every village, but a 50 mile round trip does encourage fly tipping. I just pile stuff up until I have enough to fill car and trailer, to justify the trip, but not everyone has enough space.

[whisky-dave]

Can't you phone them up to collect it. I think I can have 2 or 3 free collections a year for such large items. Remember not everyone has a car or can use a mini-cab to take their crap to the skip.

[Bill Wright]

They won't let me use the van and I'm not going to put dirty things in the car.

Bill

[Another John]

WON'T let you use it? All the councils (all three of them :) ) that I know have arrangements for vans; my best mate has a van instead of a car, and, on application, has been issued with 12 free permits for the year for the occasions when they want to visit the tip.

J.

[newshound]

At ours, you have to book it in first, have to bring ID, and can't use tip at weekends.

[Another John]

Occasionally (just occasionally) I have sympathy with governments who want to centralise everything.

*I* dunno: they issue national requirements to pursue a national policy (e.g. waste processing and recycling), and then (apparently) let every bloody council (let the number be 'n') decide how best they're going to do it, and thus create 'n' committees made up of Tom Dick and Harry each decide for themselves how this scheme will be carried out.

I was at one o'them there scrap yards the other day ("metal recycling plant"?) First time I'd been to a scrapyard for about 25 years. All the same dodgy looking faces, all the same dodgy looking pickups, all the same dodgy looking "scrap"! Very impressive operation though, and much better payment system. However railway lines (for example) are still losing their cables, I understand.

John

[News]

To be honest, I don't know. I just save enough until I have a car or trailer load, or am going in that direction anyway. The only problem item in 13 years is an old oil fired boiler, and that sits in a hidden corner of the garden because it is so bloody heavy :-)

[harry]

DIY of course. Installers'd be eating grass if they had to rely on me.

[whisky-dave]

Maybe differnt councils have differnt methods/ideas, here's mine.

Vans are only allowed on Wednesdays and Saturdays If you intend to bring a van, please call 020 8509 3664 the day before visiting so the height barrier can be opened for booked vehicles