Faults that take out the whole building
In an apartment block the aerial is communal: one system serves dozens of flats. When something fails on the roof or in the head-end, everybody loses television at the same time and the chairman’s phone does not stop. These are the symptoms we see most, and what they usually mean:
- Nobody has digital television: a failed power supply or amplifier unit, an aerial that has come down or turned, or a break in the main run.
- The same channels missing in every flat: a head-end set for the wrong frequencies, or an aerial that no longer covers the whole UHF band.
- Drop-outs at certain times of day: 5G/LTE interference overloading the amplifier.
- The lowest or highest floors seeing a poor picture: unbalanced distribution, unsuitable tap-offs or tired cable.
- A whole riser with no signal: a damaged floor tap-off or riser box, often because of damp.
We arrive with a field meter and measure on the roof, at the risers and in the affected flats. That tells us whether the problem is reception, amplification or distribution.
Head-end and amplifier unit
The head-end is the heart of the installation: aerials, filters and the equipment that amplifies and sets the level of every multiplex. In older buildings we routinely find single-channel amplifiers that no longer match the channels in use since the second digital dividend, which in 2020 handed the 700 MHz band to mobile operators.
Depending on the state of it, we suggest readjusting, swapping modules, or fitting a programmable head-end unit, which sets the gain channel by channel and makes future frequency changes easy. We add an LTE/5G filter where there are phone masts nearby, and leave the output levels documented.
ICT: what RD 346/2011 says
Buildings put up since the late nineties must have an ICT communal installation (Infraestructura Común de Telecomunicaciones), now governed by RD 346/2011. It covers the ducts, risers, head-end and distribution network down to the network termination point in each flat. Where the ICT is well built, repairs and extensions are far simpler: there are ducts to pull cable through and risers you can reach.
We survey a building’s ICT when complaints keep coming back, when the residents’ association wants to add satellite, or when the signal levels at the sockets are not what they should be. In older buildings, with cascade distribution, we look at whether it is worth rebuilding part of the network.
Communal satellite dish and multiswitch
The Costa Daurada has plenty of blocks with a lot of overseas owners. Without a shared solution, the roof fills up with individual dishes and the facade with cable. A communal satellite dish tidies that up: one or two dishes on the roof, a multiswitch that distributes every polarity and band, and an output for each flat. Each owner uses their own receiver without affecting anyone else.
We design the system around the number of flats and satellites (Astra 19.2° E, Hotbird 13° E or Hispasat 30° W, among others) and combine it with the terrestrial aerial, reusing the existing ducts where we can. If what you need is a dish for your own home, see TV aerials and satellite dishes. And for the background on satellite, there is satellite dishes for better TV quality.
Working with chairmen and property managers
A communal fault needs a decision from the owners, so this is how we go about it:
- The call from the chairman, the property manager or a resident: what has failed, since when, and in which flats.
- Visit and diagnosis, with access to the roof and the telecoms cupboard.
- A written quote, separating the urgent work from what can be planned.
- The work itself, arranged to leave the building without signal for as little time as possible.
- Final measurements at the head-end and at sockets on several floors.
If there is no way in to the roof, we sort that out with the property manager before the visit so nobody wastes a call-out.
What affects the quote
- Where the fault is: a power supply or a connector is not the same as a complete head-end.
- Number of flats and risers.
- Condition of the distribution: whether the existing cable can stay or sections need replacing.
- Satellite: how many satellites and how big the multiswitch has to be.
- Access to the roof and the risers.
We always give the quote before starting, with no obligation.
Making the most of the visit
If the block also has trouble with the entryphone, we can look at it on the same call-out: see door entry and video entry systems.
Where we work
We look after apartment blocks in Tarragona, Salou, Cambrils, Reus, La Pineda, Torredembarra, Calafell and Cunit, and across the rest of the areas we cover, working out from our base in Salou.