Dangerous digital rip-offs

I have just got back from a job at a set of four council-owned old
peoples bungalows. They are in a clearing amongst large trees in a
very low-lying village (not far from the previous photos). I had
recently become aware that they had each sprouted large new aerials
but hadn't taken much notice as I was late, as usual, for another job.
Anyway, the first I knew was a phone call from and old fellow, after
the recent high winds, to say that the old lady next doors' aerial had
blown down and that I was to phone her on his number during the
evenings as she would be with him watching his TV. He also said that
they were not happy as the aerials had cost so much and they were
having no joy in tracking down the installer.
A past customer of mine in the village had suggested that he should
phone me.

When I arrived, I found a sorry sight. There were four semi-detached
bungalows each with their own single chimney. Or rather three had
chimneys and one didn't.
The one without a chimney had a pile of bricks along side it and an
enormous Televes DAT 75 triple boom multi element on a 16ft mast tied
to the drainpipe at one corner.
The next bungalow had a chimney and screwed to it was a single 2 prong
12" x 12" wall bracket. This held two 6 or 8 ft masts joined together
with a pair of clamps and another DAT 75 with cable draped from it and
looped down the mast.
The third bungalow, where I was going had most of a chimney with a
large horizontal split and no sign of an aerial. (Another DAT 75 later
found lying on the back of the roof).
The fourth chimney was largely intact and had another DAT 75 half way
down a 16 ft mast, again on a 12 x 12 wall bracket, screwed to the
chimney and more untidy cable.

The owner of this last one saw me coming and turned out to be the one
who had phoned me. He was the talkative type but didn't hear too well
so communication was a bit one sided. He went on to tell me that all 4
bungalows had always had a lot of trouble with reception and could
never see much especially in the summer. He had then bought a freeview
box from a local small TV shop, expecting magic results. Of course he
got nothing! Returning to the shop, they arranged for their aerial
installer to call to sort out the problem.
His old lady neighbour had taken a different approach, 2 or 3 years
before and had a sky dish fitted on her chimney and taken out a
"Family Pack" subscription so that she could watch Channels 1 to 5.
(More on this later). The other two bungalows were too close to the
trees, according to Sky and couldn't see the satellite so they were
stuck with terrestrial reception.

The aerial installer arrived and proceeded to "install" the aerial
mentioned before and facing it towards Hannington. This gave
absolutely unwatchable results with multi, multi ghosting on analogue
and therefore on the VCR but, to the customers delight, a "purfek"
picture with the "digi'ul" !!
Mr Talkative was delighted (even if it did cost £500 !!) and he told
his other three neighbours.
The old lady next door was delighted that she would no longer HAVE to
pay Sky to get channels 1 to 5 (!) and the aerial installer even
volunteered to take down her dish when she booked her own £500
installation.
The other two neighbours followed suit although one did cost a bit
less, presumably because the two joined together masts were retained!
The next part of the story was totally predictable. The signals
started to break up. ("Them was still perfek, you know, it's just that
summat had come a bit loose," he told me)
The "installer" was called back and he "tightened" the aerials. Things
went from bad to worse and apparently the "pikchers was still "purfek"
but "them was too bad to watch"!!
The installer came back and had a brain wave. He faced all four
aerials in the opposite direction to pick up Hannington as a
reflection from the hills, still through the trees. Analogue still
totally impossible but digital ok, sometimes, on some channels. And
that's where the aerials had stayed for some months.....until the winds
of the 18th Jan....

I found my customer's aerial lying on the back of the roof complete
with 16ft mast and 12"x12" single wall bracket and 50mm !!! coach
bolts and plastic plugs still attached. The top two courses of the
chimney and the concrete slab top had split off and rested on an
angle. The roof tiles had miraculously survived. It was the first time
that I had actually handled a DAT 75 aerial and it was remarkably
heavy.
I spent some time showing my customer and her neighbour why the
problem had occurred and saying what I thought! I don't think Mr
Talkative really understood the seriousness of it all and how
dangerous each installation was. He was more interested in telling me
that his picture had never been as good and that he wanted me to put
the old ladies' aerial back with longer bolts and that they wanted to
keep the aerials as they were as they had cost so much. At this point
he had to go off for a doctors' appointment, which was a bit of a
relief as I could concentrate on the job.
As it happened, once he had gone and the actual customer was allowed
to speak for herself, she was perfectly alert and communicative and
she told me that she had never been happy with such a large aerial on
the chimney and would I be able to fit it on the end wall? This was
going to be a much more sensible and secure idea but I had my doubts
that there would be any chance of getting a usable signal. I explained
that she could have a small dish and have all the main channels free
after buying a £20 card and she couldn't believe that the other
installer had not told her this. This would, of course, have been a
wasted visit for him. She had given her old Sky box away and the
"aerial man" had removed the dish and left it in the back garden. To
keep everyone happy and to satisfy my own curiosity, I did test the
terrestrial signal at every possible spot around the house and garden
but it was obvious that if I did reuse the aerial, I would be in for
constant callouts and hassle. To cut an even longer story short, I
explained that I would find a good used Sky box and install her dish
out of all harms way on the gable end of the bungalow and order a
Freesat card for channels 4 and 5.
I returned the following day and completed the job. Much to her
delight, the customer was back to her well-known Sky menus and one
remote handset rather than two, and she couldn't believe how many
channels she could get without any subscription.

Her neighbour, Mr Talkative, watched with interest as I did the whole
job and I reinforced my opinions about the aerials, the previous
installer, the dangers involved and the likely unreliability of the
signal etc, but he still chose to keep his aerial, as it was, tall
mast screwed to the chimney with 50mm bolts and plastic plugs and
cable flapping as he "didn't want to waste the money that he had paid
for it" !!! I wonder if the council would feel the same?

The other two neighbours came out from time to time to inspect
progress but made no mention of their plans so I thought it best to
leave them to check on the results with my customer and make up their
own minds.

"widgitt" wrote in message
ps.com...


I have just got back from a job at a set of four council-owned old
peoples bungalows.

(snip)

My goodness that's a tale! And it isn't ended yet. Please let us know what
the neighbours do. Did you take any photographs?

Thanks for taking the time to send such an interesting post.

Bill

"widgitt" wrote in message
ps.com...

Snipped for brevity

"His old lady neighbour had taken a different approach, 2 or 3 years
before and had a sky dish fitted on her chimney and taken out a
"Family Pack" subscription so that she could watch Channels 1 to 5.
(More on this later). The other two bungalows were too close to the
trees, according to Sky and couldn't see the satellite so they were
stuck with terrestrial reception."


"I explained that she could have a small dish and have all the main
channels free after buying a £20 card and she couldn't believe that
the other installer had not told her this. This would, of course, have
been a wasted visit for him. She had given her old Sky box away and
the "aerial man" had removed the dish and left it in the back garden.
To keep everyone happy and to satisfy my own curiosity, I did test the
terrestrial signal at every possible spot around the house and garden
but it was obvious that if I did reuse the aerial, I would be in for
constant callouts and hassle. To cut an even longer story short, I
explained that I would find a good used Sky box and install her dish
out of all harms way on the gable end of the bungalow and order a
Freesat card for channels 4 and 5.
I returned the following day and completed the job. Much to her
delight, the customer was back to her well-known Sky menus and one
remote handset rather than two, and she couldn't believe how many
channels she could get without any subscription."



Surely it's time for channel Four and Five to take the plunge and breakaway
from Sky, especially as BBC and ITV have already done so and don't appear to
have suffered any serious consequences, despite all of the 'copyright' doom
and gloom people were predicting at the time.

Without viewers being forced into using a Sky receiver and card, cheap stand
alone digital satellite systems could sell for little more than a 'decent'
Freeview receiver does now from virtually any electrical retailer or aerial
fitter.

BTW does anyone know exactly what the proposed Freesat line up will actually
consist of (for instance will it have its own separate EPG) and when it will
start?

Am Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:37:02 -0700 schrieb widgitt:

When I arrived, I found a sorry sight. There were four semi-detached
bungalows each with their own single chimney.
....
To cut an even longer story short, I
explained that I would find a good used Sky box and install her dish
out of all harms way on the gable end of the bungalow and order a
Freesat card for channels 4 and 5.
I returned the following day and completed the job. Much to her
delight, the customer was back to her well-known Sky menus and one
remote handset rather than two, and she couldn't believe how many
channels she could get without any subscription.

Would it be an option in that case to share the one satellite dish between
the four bungalows? You just need to install a quad LNB instead of the
standard single LNB, enough high quality cable, three more used skyboxes
plus card and... well an agreement between the elderly neighbours that this
might be a cost effective solution. You can even sell those DAT75-monsters
in the bay :-)

Andreas

"Andreas Schulze-Bäing" wrote in message
...
Am Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:37:02 -0700 schrieb widgitt:

Would it be an option in that case to share the one satellite dish between
the four bungalows? You just need to install a quad LNB instead of the
standard single LNB, enough high quality cable, three more used skyboxes
plus card and... well an agreement between the elderly neighbours that
this
might be a cost effective solution. You can even sell those DAT75-monsters
in the bay :-)

We tried that and the trouble is if you take them apart the plastic breaks.

Bill

On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:06:39 +0100, "Bill Wright"
wrote:


"Andreas Schulze-Bäing" wrote in message
.. .
Am Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:37:02 -0700 schrieb widgitt:

Would it be an option in that case to share the one satellite dish between
the four bungalows? You just need to install a quad LNB instead of the
standard single LNB, enough high quality cable, three more used skyboxes
plus card and... well an agreement between the elderly neighbours that
this
might be a cost effective solution. You can even sell those DAT75-monsters
in the bay :-)

We tried that and the trouble is if you take them apart the plastic breaks.

Bill

My old DAT45 was like that. The plastic seems to get brittle in the
sun. It's still on my dad'd old house. The new owners ain't removed
it yet.

Marky P.

"Marky P" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:06:39 +0100, "Bill Wright"
My old DAT45 was like that. The plastic seems to get brittle in the
sun. It's still on my dad'd old house. The new owners ain't removed
it yet.

They won't need to.

Bill

I wonder if the "Inglar" antenna that is advertised in Wotsat (right at the
back in a tiny quarter page advert) is any better than the Televes re
friable plastic sensitive to UV cooking.Made in Slovenia and probably
exported a lot to Germany therefore and unlikely to be crap.

www.inglar.si

On Aug 24, 10:51 am, Andreas Schulze-Bäing wrote:

Would it be an option in that case to share the one satellite dish between
the four bungalows? You just need to install a quad LNB instead of the
standard single LNB, enough high quality cable, three more used skyboxes
plus card and... well an agreement between the elderly neighbours that this
might be a cost effective solution.

Andreas

Unfortunately that's not a viable option.
You would run into some serious electrical safety issues by doing
that.

Adjacent houses are almost always on different phases of the 3-phase
supply.
This is to balance the load on the cable that runs down the street.
The result is that there will be 415 volts between the live pins of
mains sockets in adjacent houses.

Anyone installing a system like this in the UK could find themselves
in hot water if there was a fault in one house that caused damage (or
worse, an electric shock) in another house.

If you need to do this, say for instance in a block of flats, you
would need to employ the services of someone like Bill to install a
professional distribution system. In this case of a few old people,
it's probably not cost-effective.

Sorry, Ian.

In article om,
wrote:
On Aug 24, 10:51 am, Andreas Schulze-Bäing wrote:

Would it be an option in that case to share the one satellite dish
between the four bungalows? You just need to install a quad LNB instead
of the standard single LNB, enough high quality cable, three more used
skyboxes plus card and... well an agreement between the elderly
neighbours that this might be a cost effective solution.

Andreas

Unfortunately that's not a viable option.
You would run into some serious electrical safety issues by doing
that.

Adjacent houses are almost always on different phases of the 3-phase
supply.
This is to balance the load on the cable that runs down the street.
The result is that there will be 415 volts between the live pins of
mains sockets in adjacent houses.

Not nowadays. True, that used to be the case, but the 'balanced load'
requirement vanished years ago. A local development of 2 dozen bungalows,
built over 20 years ago was fed from one phase only. I'm sure there are
plenty of similar situations in other places.




--
From KT24 - in "Leafy Surrey"

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.11