All posts by Tom Fletcher
Below are all of Tom Fletcher's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Marko
We need a post code to help you properly,but at the moment till switch over, analogue and digital are being broad cast together,fitting a booster simply over loads the digital signal,if you want to run more than one TV, you will get the best results having a mast amplifier system fitted.Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Sheffield. Jaydigriz
Sounds like the tuner in the sky box is on its way out a common fault with that make of boxes,
the only remedy is repair or replacement box,it mite be the dish slightly out of line, or the LNB intermittently faulty,or the F connections on the LNB,its difficult to tell unless you have the proper meter to check things out. Col
There's a bit more to it than that,you will need to set the dish very accurately to Astra 28.2A,the only sure way is to use a metre,also trees and thing in the way of the signal will affect the quality. Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Sheffield.
Gerald
Easiest way to find out is to go and buy a cheap freeview box and connect it up to your TV, if it works OK you know its your TV that is faulty, and if your Freeview box acts up you know its your aerial, or they are doing some work to the transmitter you receive you signal from. PS don't forget to look at transmitter information on this site.Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Shffield
Marie Dane
Go next door and ask your neighbours if they are having problems,the landlord should get in contact with the company who fitted the system to the flats in the first place. BrownRoss
Try doing a down load,that mite help.
Ben
The first thing to do is to do a first time installation,if that dose not work you will have to establish if there is a signal coming from the aerial. Ron Rogerson
Lots Of people are dumping sky,think its got to costly,that card will stop on for a while, but sky will switch it off as soon as they don't get there money for the subscriptions. Arthur
Sky will tell you anything to try and keep your subs going,the best way is to get a Humax recordable freesat box in your main room, and put the old sky box in a different room,if you have had Sky+ you will have had a quad LNB dish fitted at one time, so you should have two spare outputs from your dish to use.
Tom Fletcher.Alpha Aerials Sheffield.
Simone
No sky will switch the card of if you cancel you subs, you will only be able to watch the Free channels . Karl Lusby
I need a bit more information to correctly diagnose your fault,when you say not working,is the standby light on? or is it just not getting channels is there any messages being displayed,ie no signal or something like that. darren
I've found sometimes with freesat if the dish is not set spot on accurately with a meter they don't work properly and miss some channels.
Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Sheffield. A question for all the riggers out there, for last few years we have been busy fitting aerials and mast amps for the DSO,we always use a meter and good cable and a benchmark aerial as you do,when the DSO happens here in September they say that the power from the transmitters will be greatly increased after DSO,we get an influx of customers ringing us about problems with there freeview reception? are we responsible can we charge them for any work that we mite have to do,as many of them will be under our guarantees. Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Sheffield. Thanks for your comments lads,Brian I have only fitted amps when needed or when doing a multi room system,its just I can see a lot of narky customers wanting things done for nothing in a few months and I just wanted someone else's opinion on it, MF skinner
You need to look at the connections and things first, if you are running two TVs from one aerial there needs to be a good quality spliter box used,don't go buying boosters they don't work,sometimes the signal can be to strong causing overloading of the signal,if the cable is longer to one of the TVs the cable length can sometimes reduce the signal,the only true way to tell what is happening is to use a signal test meter.
Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Sheffield. There getting some stick on here Action, mined you I have followed up on some of there work and they are a bit of rip off merchants,the firm that are screwing our trade up at the moment are AVC there should be some kind of monopolies laws brought out,they send people with no experience on a few days training course and send them out to do a job that takes years to learn properly,some of the work they do is appalling,and when there contract is finished they will leave all this poor work for us to put right,the BBc should have spread the work around the established fitters,but like always in big busyness someone will have taken a back hander. Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Sheffield. I saw 3 of them today on lindsey ave parson cross they fitted a 15 foot pole a massiv blakes jbx aerial and a vision mast amp at the bottom of the pole""" mad absolutely mad we fitted a log pro aerial down the road a few weeks ago and got every channel spot on, you can see the dam sheffield mast from there,absolute nob heads if they came to my house I would have booted them out,I mean 3 of them to do an aerial,yes and 3 tranny vans parked on the road as well. One more point this AVC contract reminds me of the sky contract they handed to another bunch of idiots called cobra,all sorts of things went of there,they even set someone on who I sacked for trying it on with female customers,they did not last long,we were subbies to sky and cobra wanted us to do sky fits for less than half the money sky gave us. My old van has gone to the Congo to be a taxi,
I bought that van in 1992 a Mitsubishi L30 when it was just 2 years old for £1'200 and I have had it ever since the old thing gave me over 20 years of service with out any major problems at all it was a heart wrenching site to see it go on the back of the pick up truck apparently they are sort after in Congo for taxis I put it on Ebay and it was sold with in 5 minutes the buyer coming from London and paying cash the same night I wish I could have installed a camera in the van to see what happens. Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials , Ive used ssb's for years a 3 foot pole and a 10 element aerial are ok drilled into the bricks,if the chimney is solid enough there is no problems at all,I would not dream of putting a massive jbx aerial on one, though ive seen it done a few time, some chimneys are very dangerous and stepping off the latt ladder can be very dangerous if there is slimy green moss around, I drive past aerials I fitted on ssb's twenty years ago and they are still there not every thing the CAI say is true,talking about the CIA the phone book once printed me an advert and it said CIA member I got some funny comments from that one. Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Sheffield KB
I class you as a new comer you are still wet behind the ears mate, wait till you have been in the trade thirty odd years,I must admit though there is a lot of johnny come lately's in the trade hoping to make a quick few quid, may be when the DSO is over they mite go back to selling insurance or conning old people into having there roofs done or something,when I first started in Sheffield there were about five other aerial fitters around no Action aerials or any thing like that,wooden ladders and them lat ladders that go in the gutters were the norm, health and safety was never heard of then, fifteen quid was a good price for an aerial fit then.
Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Sheffield. Most aerials I have seen come down are when the lashing kit has not been fitted properly or the wire has rusted away,Im not sure if we are talking about the same things here,ssb stands for self supporting bracket,that's them things that you have to take a hammer and chisel to the corner of the bricks and they sort of grip in the mortar,not a very good idea them things in my opinion,the ones I tend to use are the wall brackets four big mungo bolts drilled into the chimney bricks,they are better and stronger than any lashing kit and a lot safer to fit especially on some of the large three and four pot chimneys, as for bricks and rubbish falling down in side the chimney and blocking the flue, most of the the flues have the pipe lining inside them don't know what its called though,I think its up to the individual how they fit the aerial but as long as it's safe and done properly it dose not mater what bracket you use. Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Sheffield. 
KB
I think if the chimney is solid enough and you drill into the bricks there should not be a problem,like I said Iv'e fitted them for years,how many lashing kits have you seen fitted that have rubbed the bricks away and damaged the chimneys? Iv'e seen more of them than damaged chimneys by using wall brackets,I don't honestly like lashing kits, I think they are dangerous dodgy things to fit on some roofs,if you have to fit a large pole and a big high gain aerial a lashing kit is always the best thing to fit though,but have you seen the new a small log pro aerial solutions are selling you would not need any big lashing kit for that,the days of fitting massive big poles and high gain aerials are long gone now with the digital signals being so good,Im getting perfect signals in some parts of Sheffield now with a standers 14 elment aerial that a few years ago you would have to fit a 20 foot pole and a massive aerial and mast amp just for the customers to watch a picture. Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Steve P
No ones on about drilling the flue liner, Mick was worried about stuff falling down the chimney when drilling and blocking the flue.I think the flue liner would stop that happening but what I know about building you could write on a stamp.Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials, 
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