TV Aerial Failure

[Lawrence]

I've just had to have a three year old tv aerial replaced. The old one was a log periodic. I didn't realise until it was brought down that the clamp end shorted the two beams and that the coax passes along one of the beams and attaches to the beams at the far end. In mine the plastic cap at the far end had allowed water ingress and the centre conductor had rotted through and disconnected itself. It was replaced by a stand yagi. The log aerial was installed when the Waltham transmitter needed a wide bandwidth aerial, now they have removed channel 55 and A or A/B aerial is ok. So, why do we allow tat (this one was from Italy) to be sold here and when will they stop playing around with tv channels?

[Andrew]

I believe LOg Periodic aerials should always be installed with the front tilting up slightly to avoid the possibility of water collecting at the front where the coax connects.

[williamwright]

I used to wonder if it never rained where these things were made.

Bill

[John Rumm]

When they have sold off all the spectrum and there is none left for broadcast TV probably!

[Steve Walker]

TV is likely to shift to streaming and just be part of the internet. No need to allocate it specific RF spectrum then.

[Mark Carver]

Ch 55 (COM 7) is expected to cease in June. After that then the spread of channels from Waltham will be 29 to 37, (41 if you include the local TV mux)

[Dave Plowman (News]

No problem finding decent quality aerials. But you get what you pay for. Are you sure it was installed the correct way up if water got into the terminal box - or maybe even damaged during installation?

If your installer supplied cheap tat perhaps he didn't take much care either?

[williamwright]

No, a lot of logs (in the era when they suddenly became more popular) had a junction box that would let water in no matter which way up it was. I used to fill the cap with sealant then force it on. That worked.

Bill

[Dave Plowman (News]

I used a log periodic here. Purely because I like the look. ;-) The CP mast clearly visible from where it is - perhaps 5 miles away.

It's been up there for about 15 years. Came from Blakes.

[charles]

My uhf aerial has been up since we moved here in 1977. So long ago that I can't even remember the make - German - ah yes Fuba.

[williamwright]

The only problem with the Blake ones of that era was that you had to be careful which way up you mounted them. The 'wrong' way and rainwater would drip down the element screws and form a bridge between the booms.

Bill

[Andy Burns]

My Blakes LP rotted away where the steel bracket meets the aluminium boom

[Dave Plowman (News]

Yes - ISTR that from the instruction leaflet. Us amateurs tend to read them. ;-)

It's actually easily accessible here. Had it not been it would have failed by now.