TV antenna installation - should it cost this much?

[yanpa]

The large chain store from which we purchased a TV kindly sent someone round to give us a quote for installing an antenna so we don't miss out on all the gurume shows and psychedelic talent explosions. Which came to a tad under 39,000 yen, broken down as follows:

* 18000 yen for antenna (20 element U antenna) and installation thereof
* 5000 yen for the use of a ladder
* 16000 yen for a "booster" device - "ブースター取付U又はV(30db)"

Which strikes me as a little on the expensive side, on the other hand my experience with this kind of thing is zilch. Is this a vaguely realistic amount, or are they taking the piss?

[Mock Cockpit]

Mine was 30,000 from memory, local shop. That was 8 years ago though so demand might explain the extra cost.

[Coligny]

Dun't know... It's suff I do mahself... (have ladder, will travel...)

If you need a booster, you might want to think aboot putting it behind a UPS. In the clinic most TV have backup power, but without powering also the booster their was no signal reception.

SIDENOTE: it seems that the amurikuns since their upgrade to digital can now also use reliably rabbit ears antennas for DTV reception, does it work also in Japan ? because sure as hell, lots of stores sell indoors TV antennas now, or new digital antenna for balcony.

Did you check rakuten ? because there seems to be a huge amount of crooks and liars around the DTV business... For the bunker the maintenance company called mum to tell her she needed to upgrade her antenna if she wanted to receive DTV after the switch and she must act quick because there was going to be a lot of demand. I told her it sounded weird and asked her to just wait and see. If the antenna is not good we will have a blackout after the switch (and dad would have kilded me)... So as you can guess... we still have TV on the 30 years+ antenna and boosters without problem...

I think for DTV the antennas are called full seg antenna as opposed to 1seg for mobile and cheap cars

Judging by how good tv reception is now inside cars even without the 2-twin spread spectrum antennas on the back, I doubt you need something out of an old james bond movie...
Time to ask the neighbours I think...

[Coligny]

I'm not really structured in my thought process these day...

[wuchan]

old antenna

new booster

signal converter for old TV. (modern flat screens dont need this)


That's all you need. If your old antenna is totally fucked, you probably want a new one.... or lots of aluminum foil.















truthfully, 5万円 for getting people to come to your house and do shit for you is pretty standard no matter what you are doing.

[Coligny]

wooosh...

[Taro Toporific]

SIDENOTE: it seems that the amurikuns since their upgrade to digital can now also use reliably rabbit ears antennas for DTV reception, does it work also in Japan ?...

Yes. In the States, I have run all my digital TVs on crappy rabbit ears antennas (but I have a clear line-of-sight to the transmitter that is less than 25km away).

Here in Tokyo, as stop-gap measure until I found a cheap rabbit ears antenna, I used a metal coathanger. The coathanger worked fine for over a year and I never bothered to replace the coathanger antenna with an "expensive" rabbit ears antenna. (Late last year my condo building was given free basic TV service from JCom, so I don't use the coathanger anymore.)

[Coligny]

From DIY abortion to TV antenna... there is nothing the coat hanger can't do...

[yanpa]

If you need a booster, you might want to think aboot putting it behind a UPS. In the clinic most TV have backup power, but without powering also the booster their was no signal reception.

Bit pointless if the TV has no UP... I'm really not that desperate to guarantee reception, if there's an emergency keitai 1seg will do...

SIDENOTE: it seems that the amurikuns since their upgrade to digital can now also use reliably rabbit ears antennas for DTV reception, does it work also in Japan ? because sure as hell, lots of stores sell indoors TV antennas now, or new digital antenna for balcony.

In Germany after they converted to digital, a simple telescope antenna attached to the digital convertor box was enough, but then we had line-of-sight to the TV tower a couple of km away. I looked at room antennas but they were pretty bulky, also I want a setup for all the TV outlets in the house.

Did you check rakuten ? because there seems to be a huge amount of crooks and liars around the DTV business...

I poked around, antennas look like they'd set you back 6,000 ~ 7,000 yen, boosters anything from 2,000 to 30,000. Problem is I don't really know what I'm looking for. Booster should be something capable of pushing the antenna signal to all outlets.

Time to ask the neighbours I think...

It seems they're all on cable...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

truthfully, 5万円 for getting people to come to your house and do shit for you is pretty standard no matter what you are doing.

I have to confess -- and I'd hate to be taking away someone's job by doing this -- but I would eagerly go to anybody's house and take a shit for a mere 2万円 (plus transport), which shows that I'm gaining some business acumen. (They'd probably need a pretty strong fan after I'd visited, though...)