TV Antenna Upgrades for Multifamily
A property management company in Denver recently reached out to StreamWise Solutions so we could help them with TV antenna upgrades for multifamily. They had ten buildings, each with an old, very large antenna array on the roof. On some of the buildings they had two, very large antennas that looked straight out of the 1970’s. They looked right out of the 1970’s because they had been installed in the 1970’s. On one of those buildings, the wind finally had its way and knocked the antenna down.
Old Antennas
While the very competent maintenance staff could diagnose the antenna problem in the multifamily building where the antenna fell down, they were not so lucky in the other buildings. However, before we get to that, let’s talk about the longevity of antennas.
If installed and maintained properly on an annual basis an antenna can last for decades. In other words, its an asset to customer service that does not depreciate quickly. While old antennas may be unsightly and large, they still usually get some of the major channels. We know this because we have consulted with several property management companies that have older antennas. While we always recommend moving to more compact, better designed modern antennas with LTE filtering, we know that thousands of multifamily buildings across the US have functioning older antennas.
Old Amplifiers are the Problem
As mentioned above, the maintenance staff was able to diagnose part of the problem when the antenna fell down. The problems with reception in the other buildings could not be diagnosed internally which is why they called StreamWise Solutions.
On our first visit to site we were immediately taken to a resident’s unit. We tested the signal coming from the wall jack and the readings were not good. Its little wonder she and other residents were having problems watching the Broncos and local news for free.
Then we went up to the roof and tested the large older antenna. While the signal readings were much better on the roof they were not as good as we would expect from a newly installed antenna. However, they were good enough so the problem was not the antenna.
Finally, after poking around the outside of the building and asking many questions, we discovered a tiny room on the top floor. Inside this room was the antenna amplifier and it was old. How old was it? The phone number for support did not have an area code. In other words, it had been installed in the early eighties if not the late seventies when residents first moved in. While the power light was still on we could not diagnose or change the settings. And when we hooked up directly to the ancient amplifier, it actually showed very little amplification
Replacing Old Amplifiers
After testing on two buildings, we made a recommendation to the maintenance staff:
- Replace the amplifiers
- Replace the antennas
While we are confident the first option will cure many of the resident’s reception problems, we made the second recommendation because the old antennas look really ugly and can be seen from the street. They are an eyesore and a new, sleek antenna with LTE filtering does not cost that much. looks amazing, and will last for many years.
