03 / Service
Digital TV Antenna Installations
Antenna or aerial, it is the same job and we have been doing it for forty years. Fast installation whether it is a replacement on an older home or a first fit on a new build, anywhere in Sydney metro.
We only use premium Australian-made digital antennas that can withstand harsh Australian weather conditions. We provide both UHF and VHF antennas, sometimes called aerials, to make sure you get the best reception for your home.
Getting the install right
When looking for TV antenna installation there are many things to consider: the type of antenna you need, the location of the installation to ensure the best signal possible, and the cost. With more channels available than ever, some stations can become unclear or unwatchable if your current antenna is old, damaged, or badly positioned.
Sydney is one transmitter, and that changes the job
Almost every free-to-air channel in this city comes from Artarmon. That single fact decides most of what happens on an antenna install here: which way it points, how high it has to go, and whether the problem is too little signal or too much. Aiming an antenna at Artarmon from Blacktown and aiming one at Artarmon from Neutral Bay are opposite problems, and an installer who fits the same antenna and the same amplifier at both addresses will get one of them wrong.
So the install starts with a meter, not a ladder. We read what is actually arriving at your roof, then choose the antenna to match it. Out west that usually means more gain and more height. Close in it often means less: a high-gain antenna a few kilometres from the transmitter can overload a tuner and produce exactly the same breaking-up picture as a weak signal, which is why so many homes near the city have been sold a bigger antenna that made things worse.
What we install, and why it is not the cheapest one
Australian-made, and the reason is the weather rather than patriotism. A digital antenna is an aluminium frame with dozens of small elements and a plastic balun holding the connection together. The cheap imports fail at the balun and at the element crimps, and in Sydney they fail fastest within a few kilometres of the water, where salt gets into every joint. An antenna is a twenty-minute job to fit and a full call-out to replace, so the difference in price between a good one and a cheap one is recovered the first time you do not have to ring anybody.
The rest of the install matters as much as the antenna. Quad-shield coax rather than the thin stuff, F-type connectors that are crimped rather than pushed on, and a weatherproofed join at the mast. Most of the reception faults we are called to on other people's installs are not the antenna at all. They are a corroded connector or a splitter in a roof cavity that has been cooking for ten summers.
What happens on the day
- Signal reading at the roof and at each existing outlet, so we know whether the fault is the antenna, the cabling or the splitting.
- Antenna and mast fitted, aligned on the meter rather than by eye, and bracketed to something structural.
- Cabling run and terminated, existing points tested, extra outlets added if you want them while we are already in the roof.
- Every TV retuned and checked on the weakest channel, not the strongest. If SBS is clean, everything is.
- Roof left as we found it, offcuts and packaging taken away.
One person does all of that: Ray quotes it, Ray installs it, Ray tests it. There is no crew and no subcontractor, so the person who told you what was wrong is the person who fixed it.
Common questions
- How much does a new TV antenna cost in Sydney?
- Most Sydney installs land in a fairly narrow band, and the things that move the price are roof access, height, and how many TV points you want fed. A single-storey home with a straightforward roof and one outlet sits at the bottom of it; a two-storey with a steep tiled roof, a mast extension and four points sits at the top. We quote the whole job before starting, the quote is what you pay, and quotes are free.
- Do I need a UHF or a VHF antenna in Sydney?
- Both, in practice. Sydney's free-to-air services use VHF and UHF bands, so what goes on almost every roof here is a combined log-periodic or Yagi that covers the pair. The choice that actually matters is not UHF versus VHF, it is how much gain the antenna has, which depends on how far you are from Artarmon and what is between you and it.
- Will a new antenna get me more channels?
- Sometimes, and it is worth knowing why before you spend the money. If channels are missing because the signal is too weak to decode, a better-aimed or higher-gain antenna will bring them back. If they are missing because the TV has never been retuned since the last frequency change, a retune costs nothing and we will tell you that on the phone rather than sell you an antenna.
- How long does an antenna last?
- Ten to fifteen years inland, and noticeably less near the water: salt gets into the element crimps and the connector at the mast, and on the coast that shortens things considerably. Most antennas do not die suddenly; they lose a little gain each year until one wet evening the picture starts breaking up and it looks like a new fault.
- Can I just use an indoor antenna instead?
- In most of Sydney, no. Indoor antennas work in a small number of places with a clear line to Artarmon and nothing dense in between, and they disappoint almost everywhere else. Brick, foil-backed insulation and Low-E glass all sit between the antenna and the transmitter. We have written a full guide on where they do and do not work here rather than repeat it on this page.
- Will you walk on my tiles?
- Only where the roof takes it, and we carry the gear not to. Tile roofs get walked on the batten lines and older terracotta gets a board. If a roof is too brittle or too steep to work safely, we say so and quote the access rather than risk your roof or ourselves, which occasionally means an antenna goes on a gable or a wall bracket instead of the ridge.
Recent jobs
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Customer reviews
What customers say about Digital TV Antennas.
Ray from Creative Sound and Vision has been this afternoon and replaced the antenna and repaired where necessary. I would recommend him to anyone in need of such repairs.
Catherine E
East Lindfield, NSW
He suggested some non-cost options first. He checked the signal on our TVs and found them low, then explained the options. Highly recommended.
Graham
Northmead, NSW
Ray was polite, punctual and very thorough, working through the issues methodically to diagnose and solve the problems with my TV reception.
Andrew
Paddington, NSW