Aerials on estate houses: a signal that comes and goes
El Catllar has a small village and a great many private estates spread among pine woods, gentle hills and the Gaià valley. That changes the kind of fault we meet. There is almost no communal aerial work here: each house has its own, fitted decades ago in some cases, and each one suffers differently according to the ground around it.
Three problems come up most. First, aerials aligned by eye that worked with the old channels and lost some multiplexes after the second digital dividend in 2020, when the 700 MHz band went to mobile networks. Second, houses on a slope or behind a rise, where the signal arrives weaker and calls for a masthead amplifier set correctly, not the most powerful one, which simply overloads. Third, pines that have grown up in front of the aerial and partly screen it.
We look at the cabling too. Plenty of estate houses were extended over the years and the coaxial was joined on room by room. Every badly made joint takes signal away, and the last aerial point pays for it. Replacing sections and using proper tap-offs usually sorts it without a new aerial.
Another situation typical of these estates: the aerial went on a roof, and afterwards a floor, a pergola or a shade panel went up in the way. It does not always need raising; sometimes moving the mast a couple of metres to a spot with a clear view is enough. We decide that by measuring at several points on the roof, not by intuition.
If you also want foreign or sports channels by satellite, we can mount the dish on the same mast or on a separate bracket. More on the service under TV aerials and satellite dishes.
Wifi that reaches the whole plot
In an estate house the router usually sits in the hall or the living room, while the actual use happens somewhere else: the study upstairs, the porch, the pool, the room in the garden. Thick walls and distance do the rest.
Where the house allows it, the best answer is a cabled access point in each area. Where cable cannot be run, we build a mesh system with the nodes placed deliberately, measuring coverage before deciding. Powerline adapters, which carry the connection over the electrical wiring, work well in some houses and badly in others; we test before recommending them. It is all explained under wifi solutions.
Cameras for houses left on their own
Part of the housing in El Catllar is used as a second home or stands empty during the working day. That is why we are so often asked for CCTV: IP cameras at the entrances and in the garden, an NVR recorder inside the house and access from your phone. We position the cameras so they record your property and not the public street or the neighbour’s plot, and we remind you about the video surveillance sign that data protection rules require.
What a visit in El Catllar looks like
- We listen to the symptom. Which channels fail, since when, whether wind or rain makes it worse.
- We measure. With a field meter at the aerial and at the sockets, to establish whether the problem is up top, in the cable or in the television.
- A free quote, no obligation. We tell you what needs doing and what does not, before starting.
- We repair and check. At the end we measure again and retune with you there.
Travelling out from Salou
From our base in Salou we reach El Catllar in about twenty-five minutes, going round by Tarragona. We cover the village and every estate in the municipality, and carry on inland and towards the Baix Gaià coast. If you have another property nearby, we also work in Tarragona and in Altafulla.