If the picture is fine on a dry day but blocks up, freezes or says “no signal” every time it rains, the cause is almost always outside the house. The good news is that it’s usually a repair, not a whole new system.
Water in the cable or connectors
This is the most common cause on aerial (Freeview) systems. The coaxial cable from the TV aerial runs across the roof and down the wall, and over the years its outer sheath can crack in the sun and frost. Joints and connectors that were never sealed properly let rain in too.
Once water gets inside, it weakens the signal until it dries out again. That’s why the fault comes and goes with the weather. The fix is to cut back to clean, dry cable, fit sealed outdoor connectors and weatherproof the joint, or replace the run if it has deteriorated along its length. On exposed coastal roofs, such as those we see on TV aerial repairs in Clacton-on-Sea and Harwich, salt air speeds this up, so connectors there are worth checking sooner.
An aerial that has drifted off its line
TV aerials are aimed at a transmitter, and wind slowly works the clamps loose. A few degrees off is enough to leave a signal that copes on a clear day but tips over the edge in rain. It’s a common call-out across the Blackwater estuary, which is why our Maldon TV aerial repair page covers alignment in some detail. Realigning the aerial with a signal meter, not by eye, and tightening the clamps puts the margin back.
Satellite dishes: rain fade
Heavy rain weakens satellite signals slightly. A dish that is properly aligned has enough margin to ride out all but the worst downpours. If your Sky or Freesat picture fails in every shower, the dish has probably drifted, or the LNB (the part on the end of the arm) is ageing. Both are straightforward to put right. More on that on our satellite page.
What you can check yourself
- Does it affect every TV, or just one? One room points to a fly lead or wall socket near that TV. Every room points to the aerial, the main cable or the loft amplifier.
- Is the amplifier on? If you have a distribution amplifier in the loft or behind the TV, check it’s plugged in and its light is on.
- Look at the roof from the ground. A bent aerial, a loose cable flapping against the wall or a dish knocked out of position are often visible from the garden.
- Retune once. Retuning won’t fix a wet cable, but it rules out a missing channel after a change at the transmitter.
Please don’t go on the roof yourself. Aerial and dish work is done at height, and that’s our job.
When to call us
If the picture keeps failing in wet weather, it won’t get better on its own: water spreads along a cable, and a loose aerial gets looser. We test the signal at the TV, the socket, the amplifier and the aerial to find exactly where it drops away, fix that part and show you the readings before we leave.
Call free on 0800 559 3914 or book direct on WhatsApp, and tell us your town and what the picture is doing. You can also find your town’s own TV aerial repair page, with local transmitter notes: for example Colchester or Southend-on-Sea, or see every town we cover.
TV aerial repairs near you
Local reception notes, the jobs we do most and the right number to call in each town.