After over two years of intermittently lousy to non-existent TV reception, which had been
'looked-at' by a serviceman but not fixed satisfactorily, and after having spoken to several
neighbours and friends, some of whom had issues and some of whom did not, I concluded
that a nearby stand of 5-metre conifers was probably attenuating my signal (cos something
certainly was) and decided that an antenna swap to a new and better (more gain) antenna
which I had to hand, was the way to go.
So, after borrowing a ladder, I got up on the roof yesterday afternoon to effect the antenna
swap. Before doing so, I decided to check the 'old' (5 years) antenna to see if it was actually
faulty in any way. Lo and behold... where the coaxial cable screws onto the antenna, there
is a little sealed box. Inside this box is a small printed-circuit, with two wires leading to the
co-ax socket, and the PCB itself is held to the antenna itself by two small nuts and washers.
Or rather, it is supposed to be. Mine wasn't. Not even close. Flopping and flapping around all
over the place, the nuts weren't even finger-tight. Not a hope in hell of a decent, continuous
electrical contact.
So, I cleaned the crud off the contacts and tightened both nuts, then arranged the co-ax etc
so as not to put any strain on them in the future. Re-positioned the antenna slightly so the
trees were no longer in the line-of-sight, pointed it actually at the repeater tower instead of
off into the wild-blue where it had been pointing (set by the 'expert' who had attended at the
request of the landlord to replace a dead booster and address reception issues approx. 2½
years ago) and now have the best reception I've had since moving here, especially on the
ABC and SBS and their sub-channels, which were always the worst reception-wise (see pic).
Two neighbours in the complex share the same antenna, and both of them are very pleased
with the fact that they can now get all channels again, and I'm stoked that I've finally been
able to actually watch an episode of Dr Who without having to download it.
It's still not perfect, so the hi-gain Yagi may still end up being installed yet.
Shame I'm not a c%$t, or I'd send the bloody landlord a bill for the $100 I'd normally charge
for doing a similar job...