TV Antenna Site Survey

Installing TV Antennas is often can be as easy as pick a location that is the easiest to get to, put the antenna on and hope for the best.
Simple theory is: the towers transmit, the antenna receives, unfortunately reality is never so simple.
RF Signal is not spread equally above all areas on the roof space, and selecting the incorrect location for your TV antenna installation can result
in a poor signal, especially on Ten and ABC channels which are known to have a lower signal strength. The importance of doing a proper site survey to get the best signal
increases in poor signal areas such as Scarborough, and specific areas around Padbury, Duncraig and Kallaroo.

To conduct a proper site survey, a professional grade field strength meter is used such as from Unaohm or Roversat. Cheaper DIY meters do not produce repeatable results
and no contractor can be in the business as a professional antenna technician without high end measuring equipment, especially when back to back testing is required.
The specific antenna that will be installed for the customer is used. At every point of the roof, we conduct the following tests at 3 different heights

1. DCP (Digital Channel Power), a measurement of the signal strength being received by the antenna

2. MER (Modulation Error Ratio, a measurement of how clean and error free the signal is

3. Slope, a measurement taking into consideration the power of all channels in the band

4. Stability of DCP and MER, a measurement of how stable the readings are over a given period of time.

Without all four of these measurements being taken at many points in the roof before the antenna installation, the customer will never get the best reception possible.
As a step of planning and preparation, a significant amount of time and care is invested in doing this to get the customer the best results,
but also saves the customer money in the long run by reducing the need of costly relocation or modifications down the track which is what keeps
the majority of the TV antenna trade in business.

If there is a specific channel that is very weak in the area, especially one that the customer watches a lot we will often select a location on the roof
that is biased to giving this channel the best signal possible compared to stronger channels. Once the correct location is chosen, we will proceed to install
the antenna and fine tune for the best possible signal, giving you the best quality reception possible.