One town, two worlds: the poble and the coast
For aerial purposes, El Vendrell is not a single place. On one side there is the town itself, with narrow streets, buildings of several storeys and associations that have had the same installation for decades. On the other, a few kilometres away, the seaside districts of Coma-ruga, Sant Salvador and El Francàs, full of seasonal flats, and behind them a ring of low-rise estates such as Els Masos, La Muntanyeta and Vendrellmar. Each has its own faults and they are best treated separately.
In the centre the usual picture is ageing communal installations: amplifiers fitted many years ago, tap-offs losing level and coaxial cable that has been joined on at every refurbishment. On the coast, salt rules. On the estates, each house has its own aerial, often put up by the owner and never looked at since.
Typical aerial faults in Coma-ruga and Sant Salvador
If your flat is on the front or second line, you will probably recognise some of these:
- Channels that pixelate when the wind blows or the humidity rises. There is nearly always a corroded connector or a cable whose sheath has cracked in the sun.
- A television that works in winter and fails in summer. In August, with every flat occupied, an undersized communal installation shares the signal badly between so many points.
- Channels lost since 5G arrived. Since the second digital dividend the 700 MHz band belongs to the mobile operators. An old amplifier with no 5G or LTE filter overloads and leaves some multiplexes blank.
- The aerial is off aim. Easterly storms shift masts and an alignment that used to work stops working.
Our approach in these buildings is to check from the mast down to your socket: the state of the UHF aerial, the filter, the programmable central unit or masthead amplifier, the distribution by floor and the sockets in each home. Where necessary we replace exposed parts with components meant for outdoor use. There is more detail on the TV aerials and satellite dishes page.
Associations in the centre: ICT, entry systems and cameras
In the blocks of the town centre and the newer buildings near Sant Vicenç de Calders station we work a great deal with residents’ associations. Recent buildings have an ICT communal installation, regulated by Royal Decree 346/2011, with its rooftop enclosure and a record on each floor; older ones do not. That completely changes how an installation is extended or repaired.
Besides the communal aerial, these associations often ask us for:
- A new door entry system. Entrance panels with worn buttons, audio that cuts out or handsets nobody makes any more. Moving to 2-wire or IP video entry lets you see who is calling and even answer from your phone.
- Cameras in entrance halls and car parks. An NVR recorder, IP cameras and remote access for the property manager or the chair, with the monitored-area notice and the handling of footage that data protection rules demand. It is explained under CCTV.
- A communal satellite dish. Some buildings want satellite without covering the facade in individual dishes; one shared dish and a multiswitch does it.
Second homes on the estates
In Els Masos, Masia Blanca and El Tancat there are many houses used in the holidays or at weekends. Here the work changes: individual aerials, sometimes with a dish beside them for channels from France, Germany or the United Kingdom via Astra 19.2° E, and indoor cabling that has grown through adaptors and joints.
It is also the area where remote monitoring makes most sense. A house left empty for months appreciates a camera you can look at from your phone and wifi that reaches the whole plot. If the connection does not stretch to the garden or the upper floor, we can fit wired access points or a mesh system; you will find it under wifi solutions.
One piece of advice: if the house spends the winter shut, ask for the check before the season rather than on the first day of your holiday. That leaves room to change whatever needs changing.
How we handle a call-out in El Vendrell
- You tell us the problem. What you see on screen, since when, and whether it affects one set or the whole building. A photo of the aerial or the amplifier cabinet helps a lot.
- Diagnosis with a field meter. We measure signal level and quality at the head-end and at the sockets, to locate the fault instead of swapping parts blind.
- A free quote. We tell you what has to be done and what need not be touched. Nothing starts without your go-ahead.
- Repair and final check. We finish by retuning and verifying the signal at every socket we have worked on.
From Salou we come along the AP-7 and arrange Baix Penedès visits together to make the journey count. If you have another property further north, we cover Calafell and Cunit, and on the way, Tarragonès towns such as Roda de Berà.