Birds of a feather flock together and if your roof makes a convenient, comfortable roost you can soon find yourself surrounded by our feathered friends. This is great if you’re an avid bird watcher, less great if you’d rather watch TV. As well as disrupting the signal, birds on your roof can physically damage your TV aerial. This damage can be caused by the weight of larger birds bending the prongs on the antenna and the build up of dirt and debris from nesting and guano deposits.
Picture Problems
Probably the surest indicator of antenna trouble caused by physical damage and wildlife disruption is if your neighbours have good TV reception while your aerial struggles. Take a good look at your TV antenna from the ground and note if any of the prongs are bent or rusted, if elements are missing and if it is facing a different direction than your neighbours’. Once you’ve completed an initial quick survey from the ground, pop out and check your aerial at different times of day (especially at dawn and dusk) to see if it’s being used as a roost or perch.
If you live in the Brisbane, Caboolture or Sunshine Coast areas, you can also call out Picture Perfect for a free, no obligation quote and have us carry out a survey for you. With 20 years of TV tuning experience, there’s not much we haven’t dealt with.
Signal Solutions
In the past, the simplest solution to a bird problem was to move your aerial to a different location, but with the enhanced positioning requirements of the digital TV signal, this is a less viable option. Disturbance to your digital signal means no TV, not just snow TV.
At Picture Perfect, we will always check the condition of an existing aerial before recommending a replacement, but if your TV antenna has been badly affected by birds, you might consider getting bird spikes installed when your new antenna is fitted.
Bird spikes are made of either a UV-resistant polycarbonate or stainless steel. Steel spikes last longer and deter larger birds, from kookaburras and cockatoos to koels, and can cover areas up to around eight inches wide. On the downside, being made from metal, they can interfere with the digital TV signal if sited too close to the aerial.
Most householders will find the polycarbonate spikes perfectly adequate to deter crested pigeons, welcome swallows and other smaller birds. These are also very easy to fit alongside the digital aerial, don’t cause interference and come in an array of colours to blend in with your roofline.
Nurturing Nature
Deterring birds from landing near your TV aerial does not mean shunning wildlife altogether. Bird spikes have blunted ends so do no harm to birds, they simply act as a deterrent to make that perfect perch purgatory. Encourage roosting birds to settle in a more suitable place by installing nesting boxes, feeding stations and bird baths in a location that is more convenient to you. Then all you need to do is sit back, relax and enjoy watching your crystal-clear TV.
