When the Local Birdlife Took Over the Aerial
Carlton River sits where the estuary opens out into Frederick Henry Bay, and the wildlife that comes with a spot like that doesn’t stop at the water’s edge. This home’s old antenna had become a favourite perch for the gulls and currawongs working the shallows below, and years of birds landing on the elements had gradually bent them out of true. The picture hadn’t failed outright, it had just quietly got worse in a way that was easy to blame on the weather rather than what was actually sitting up on the roof.
Spikes Fix the Roosting, Not the Reception
Someone had already had a go at solving it, fitting a full set of bird deterrent spikes along the antenna’s arms to stop the roosting. It worked, more or less, but by then the elements themselves were already out of alignment, and no amount of spikes was going to straighten metal that had been bent a fraction more with every landing over several seasons. We put in a fresh Yagi through the digital antenna installation, aimed properly from scratch rather than trying to coax a few more years out of gear the birds had already got the better of.
Mounting Clear of the Roof’s Other Fittings
The roof carries a whirlybird vent close to where the old mast stood, so we shifted the new mount slightly along the ridge to give both room to do their job, rather than leaving the antenna sitting in the vent’s airflow or the vent shadowing its aim. It’s a small adjustment, but the kind of thing that gets missed when a replacement just goes back in the exact spot the old one came out of.
The Result
A clean, properly aligned digital picture, on an antenna the local birdlife will find a lot less inviting to land on, and one that isn’t relying on a few plastic spikes to hold its aim in the first place.
If You’re in Carlton River
Living this close to the water means dealing with birds as much as bad weather, and an antenna that’s taken years of roosting won’t always show it until the picture’s noticeably worse. If yours has seen better days, our antenna maintenance team can check whether it just needs straightening up or a proper replacement. Give Michael a call, or request a free quote to get it sorted.