I do see the errors but if it works what's the problem?
This install is less than half a mile from my place. It has good line of sight to Winter Hill so the signal is very strong. I know folk who have aerials missing their deflectors and they still get a signal. So, yes, it will work here. So long as the aerial is pointing vaguely in the correct direction it's pretty difficult (but not impossible) to pick up something.
Did you notice that this was an electrician's install?
Electricians have to pass certain qualifications to do domestic electrical work, and that's no bad thing in my book. The problem I have is when they feel that being an electrician also makes them a competent aerial installer; and from the pictures it's clear that this one is not.
It wasn't something I mentioned in the opening post, but chatting with the spark it was revealed that he'd done a few other aerial installations. They'd all worked too. Sure, but for how long?
I may be wrong here, but I think the public perception is that sparks are a trusted trade because of the training requirements. So on that basis if the aerial install fails at some point is the householder likely to blame the spark or something/someone else? What do you think?
Aerials isn't the main part of my business. But when I do them, I like to think they're done right and to a standard that means the install will give the householder years of excellent service. I would agree that there's quite a few installers with a different ethos. I'm not the cheapest, nor the dearest, but I stand behind my installs and I'm confident that the householder won't have to spend money again with another aerial installer in two or three years to re-do the work. That's value, right there.
Our electrician friend can't make the same claim. Sam Ganges is right. The aerial isn't a strong enough design for outdoor use. There's no vertical supports on the deflector for a start. The aerial construction itself is "tin foil" thin aluminium, so a cheap "looks impressive" aerial that will fall to bits in a matter of months.
Apart from anything else, it's the wrong type of aerial for this area too. Some of Winter Hill's HD transmissions are at C31 and C37. This is where a Wideband Hi-Gain actually has very poor sensitivity. Boosting the signal for those HD channels with a standard wideband gain amp will be likely to over-amplify the stronger PSB and Commercial muxes where transmitter power is much greater and the aerial is working closer to peak efficiency.
Sam Ganges has alluded to some of the other physical problems.
The aerial is indeed touching the barge board, so a stiff breeze will have it hammering on the house and accelerate its early demise (every cloud has a silver lining
). It's perhaps hard to see in the pictures, but the cradle is attached side-on rather than from below. This will knock a couple of dB off the aerial's reception strength and so make the weaker muxes far harder or even impossible to receive. The aerial is indeed pointing at (and so shadowed by) the house next door. Again this doesn't help reception, and particularly the weaker muxes.
I can't say for certain, but based on previous experiences of electrician's installing aerials then my best guess is that he'll have used the cheapest cable too. 100m of RG6 - CCS - copper coated steel - for £25, rather than WF100. There's another couple of dB off the signal strength at the TV aerial socket.
There may be other issues as well. But the final two for me are aesthetic. For a start, this new install just looks awful; a real bodge. The aerial itself looks enormous against the roof line. Second, it's what it's going to look like as the thing disintegrates over the coming months.
How would you feel spending £100~£150~£200+ for an aerial install that doesn't deliver 90-100% signal quality in a strong TV reception area and having the aerial itself fall to bits within a year. Would you be happy if the spark turned round and said
"It works. What's the problem?"