News: Feedback | Feedback
Site settings
For an enhanced Freeview reception
prediction please enter your
full postcode, a national grid reference or
a UK latitude and longitude pair. 
Most popular
On other sites

Feedback

Changes to feedback page

Changes to feedback page
Published on by on UK Free TV
For the last six years, I have answered many thousands of personal emails that you have sent to UK Free TV.

Sadly, I am unable to offer this personal service at the moment.

Until I can restore this service, please can you leave any questions you have on an appropriate page, where they will be answered as soon as possible, or below, if you can't figure out where to ask.

I look forward to your questions!



In this section


Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom

firstFirst comments prevEarlier comments  ◊  Later commentsnext Latest commentslast

Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Dave Lindsay
Saturday 28 April 2012 12:06PM
jb38: With apparent clear line of sight as Mary has, surely the likely prediction would be 100s right across the board (or near 100s), except where signals from distance station(s) may interfere. Therefore is it not likely to be the case that the lower scores are as a result of other transmitters?

It would surely be useful if the Digital UK Tradeview predictor would indicate which station(s) it thinks may degrade reception as the level to which they will do in practice surely depends on factors such as the design of the aerial and its location such as if there is an obstruction to help block the unwanted signal.

Also, the fact that Mary has a high gain aerial surely reduces her chance of interference, particularly where it originates from outside the main acceptance angle. Or is the true in a way, except for where there is a reflection of the unwanted signal that is in the direction to which the aerial faces.
Dave Lindsay
Saturday 28 April 2012 12:35PM
Briantist: There are some pages which appear to have the comments turned off, yet there is a box to make a comment.

I've just posted on this page but the comment is not showing:

www.ukfree.tv link icon Compare Freeview and Freesat TV | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

The comment I made was the fact that "ITV3 (CI)" is showing as being available on Freesat but not full Freeview. I gather this has something to do with ITV3 being available on PSB2 on the Channel Islands.
Mary Middleton
Saturday 28 April 2012 12:46PM Henley-on-thames
jb38 & Dave Lindsay: what can I say? I am blitzed with useful information and totally gobsmacked by your technical authority!

the aerial splitter is outside the house, the aerial is mounted on a 10ft mast on the chimney stack, the cable runs down the front of the roof into a box on the wall, from this 2 cables emerge, one goes down and in through the sitting room wall, the other goes across the front in in through the bedroom wall

the invoice says it's a DMX52WB Digital Aerial connected with low loss digital coax cable and 1402 transformer splitter

the connection to the Panasonic DVD/telly with the coax loop was done by the installers, who took a lot of trouble to tune it for me and did get rid of a lot of extra channels, but of course the numerous re-tunes required by the digital switchover have lost all that

thanks for the guidance on manual tuning, I have the Bush tv manual and will look through that for the equivalent procedures

one simple-minded female question: why did I never have any problems before all this digital stuff started? I never wanted 130 channels of rubbish tv!

ok, another one, if the tv/dvd recorders are self-tuning, shouldn't they automatically find & set the best signal out there?

and another one, why does the Digital UK advice service always blame the equipment and 'moisture entering the aerial cable'? nobody there even mentioned tuning options so I am grateful to all you experts out there for the ideas



Dave Lindsay
Saturday 28 April 2012 2:36PM
Mary Middleton: Prior to switchover, the digital signals were on lower power and hence weaker and there was therefore less places where they overlapped. It also meant that some areas weren't served, which is why the power of the signals had to go up. The problem of overlap and receivers picking up neighbouring transmitters was also present in the days of analogue.

It is more a case of how well a receiver deals with such a situation when it performs its automatic tuning procedure, which goes on to answer your next question. Some leave a lot to be desired and may have worked fine in the lab when presented with signals from one transmitter, but that's often not what it's like in the real world. The simplest scan the frequencies and use the first ones they find, putting any subsequent duplicates in the 800s. This is fine only in those locations where the desired transmitter is the first to be found (lowest frequencies out of all those present). Others go on strength and others seemingly have little logic attached to their decision process of which channels may be the "desired" ones.

Based on what you've said, your receiver does not even check to ensure that it is picking up all services from the same transmitter, even if it may not be the "right" one.

More recent sets are better and ask the user which "Region" they wish to use where multiple ones have been picked up. They are essentially asking "which set of channels from which transmitter do you want to use?" The transmitter is not identified by name, but by the principal area it serves. This should hopefully mean that all the main channels that it has stored are those of your chosen transmitter and the "others" will be put in the 800s.

Because of all of the above, I don't trust automatic tuning to pick up the right set of channels and always check that they are indeed coming from the desired transmitter (by checking the signal strength screen). When you repeatedly retuned, what was probably happening is that the procedure was picking the same signals to go with which, as it turns out, are wrong. So you (well your receiver was!) were probably achieving the same wrong result.

With any technical fault finding, there can be different causes for the fault. Moisture in the cable is one possibility, although due to the likelihood of the above, I would tend to check that everything is tuned correctly first.

Once you have it tuned correctly, then make a note of what you did. You may wish to print this out for future use if you have a printer.

If you continue to have issues with reception, then they will not be down to receiving signals that the aerial was not installed for. Therefore, the tuning is correct and should not be adjusted.
jb38
Saturday 28 April 2012 5:25PM
Dave Lindsay: The terrain indications seen on sites such as Magalithia and also I notice having recently been added to this site, may well be OK for reference purposes to give an idea of whether or not any major obstructions exist between two given points such as a hill of any great magnitude is concerned, but its folly to take the indications seen as the gospel as they only show obstructions of a fixed nature where it involves a hill and "not" even anything man made, or even worse that of one of the biggest causes of poor and erratic reception in the UK, namely forests or other types of situations where dense patches of trees are in existence, and as far as Mary's location is concerned you don't require to look far in any direction to come across some, as I have done on test views at points between Nuffield and each of the stations.

I consider that all info gathered from these indicators / or predictors whether it be for terrain purposes or DUK's reception predictor has to be treated with caution, although in the case of DUK's trade view predictor if it indicates poor reception in a particular area and this is coupled to a number of reception complaints from that area, then it can be reasonably safely assumed that the forecast is correct, but though when a terrain check is carried out in the same area and one observes a clear line-of-site being indicated, then in this case it has to be assumed that the reception problem is caused by vegetative reasons, which means that terrain forecasts are not reliable if used for reception purposes.

By the way, I have the service manual for that Bush and which also shows its menu facilities before that actual service info, and to say its limited in tuning flexibility is being nice about it, as I couldn't see any manual tuning being offered (only on analogue) and no reset options on the set either, not the best of models for an area where a particular station is required to be singled out.
Richard
Sunday 29 April 2012 9:58AM
Hi All,
Does anyone know if there are any plans to improve DAB and DVB coverage, particularly in the Skipton transmitter area?
The list of DVB channels available in Barnoldswick is significantly smaller than I am used to.
Also Barnoldswick is in a DAB dead spot. I spent a lot of cash on DAB kit in all the hype and it's now useless! Does anyone know if this is likely to be improved in the near future?
Aside from these comments, does anyone agree with the following observations...
1. DAB is a pain because they didn't take the trouble to synchronise it with analogue audio. This means that you can't put radios on in 2 or three rooms so you can keep listening as you move around the house - unless you buy all your DABs in one hit! What a pain.
2. DVB is generally much clearer than analogue but...on very dark screens or very gradually changing colour fields you get square edged pixel fields which detract from the picture. Moving water is also horrible - water doesn't form square edges often! In this respect digital interrupts and spoils my viewing where analoge never did. I don't want to be a dinosaur but since my viewing is now disturbed by the transmission method and wasn't before, DVB is worse!
Mary Middleton
Sunday 29 April 2012 10:55AM Henley-on-thames
jb38 & Dave Lindsay: I had thought for some time that the reception was equipment related because the upstairs setup works fine with the cheap Tesco tuner, and what you've said confirms that

jb38: you're right about the Bush tuning, I got the manual out and couldn't figure out how to find out what channels it's tuning to, I guess it's just a very primitive tuner

since I always watch the Bush telly via the Panasonic box unless I'm recording something on that, it's a minor problem

but is this a silly question: since the Tesco tuner upstairs seems to work so well, could I attach another one of those to the Bush and tune it through that? the thing only costs about a tenner
Dave Lindsay
Sunday 29 April 2012 12:14PM
Mary Middleton: You can use a separate set-top box for the Bush TV, connecting it with a scart lead (or HDMI if both have it). Indeed, as your TV can you display HD pictures, you could attach a HD receiver so you can watch the four HD programme channels (you will need to use a HDMI lead to link that receiver and TV).

However, despite the Bush's tuner being so basic, I think that there is a good chance of getting it tuned entirely to Oxford if it gives a percentage or UHF channel number as it scans. This is due to the spacing of the channels which mean that unplugging the aerial trick is a possibility. If it doesn't give a percentage or channel number as it scans, and it is just a bar that goes across the screen, you can have a guess, but it will be more tricky.


When a tuner scans, it looks at channel 21 through to 69.

Oxford's lowest channel is 53 which is BBC One etc.

Hannington's highest is 47 which is Yesterday etc.

So your target is to get it plugged in somewhere between the two. If the signal strength screen gives the channel number, then having completed the scan, you can check each of the following are correct:

BBC One = C53
ITV1 = C60
ITV3 = C62
Pick TV = C59
Yesterday = C55

In October next year C62 is expected to move to C50, so the gap between the two which is your "target" for getting it plugged in, reduces.

You may have to do this a number of times before you get it right. If you get the aerial in too late and it misses BBC on C53, then try again but plug it in sooner. You may find that if you get it in too soon and it scans 47 from Hannington it puts them in the 800s and chooses to go with the Oxford equivalent. The next channel down that Hannington uses and which it may pick up if plugged in too soon is C45 which is its BBC.


Finally, this may be helpful, the programme channels are broadcast in groups of which there are five for standard definition services. See under the heading "After switchover configuration" here:

www.ukfree.tv link icon Freeview multiplexes | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

So when I gave you the channel numbers above, I referred to the first service in each of these groups. BBC Two and other BBC standard definition TV and radio are on the same channel as BBC One, for example.
jb38
Sunday 29 April 2012 1:25PM
Mary Middleton: With regards to your suggestion, the positive way of confirming if the coax connection between upstairs and the lounge is OK is simply by trying the Tesco purchase in the lounge, or alternatively and the best test! trying the lounge TV up stairs, as should it be found the TV doesn't work good upstairs either, then this can mean that either the Tesco boxes tuner is more sensitive than the TV's and that's why it picking up the stations, or that the problem is possibly with the actual TV's tuner.
jb38
Sunday 29 April 2012 2:16PM
Mary Middleton: This is said in addition to advice given by Dave Lindsay regarding the tuning info.
sarah
Sunday 29 April 2012 9:38PM
in the living room we have sky plus, in my room i'm getting a tv for my birthday, i was wanting sky too, do i have to pay for a whole new sky package or could i get a free box as were already with sky, i do not want too have to watch the same channels at the same time in the living room, if you know what i mean! thankyou, please reply soon, in need of the answer!!:)
jb38
Sunday 29 April 2012 11:21PM
sarah: Irrespective of the Sky+ subscription existing for the living room box you can use a normal Sky box (or Freesat box) in your bedroom if there is a spare outlet port on the dishes LNB, as you will require a cable to be run from the dish to your bedroom.

If there isn't a spare outlet, then the LNB can be easily changed to a quad (4 outlet) version as these are only around £10.00 or so from numerous e-bay sources and are simplicity to fit.

You can check on what channels you would see without a card being inserted simply by removing the card on the Sky+ box and going through them all.
jb38
Monday 30 April 2012 7:43AM
sarah: Just to clarify on a point as I think I misinterpreted what you were actually meaning, if its the case that you want to have the "same selection" of channels as in the living room but don't necessarily want to watch them at the same time as in the living room then that's different, and so whoever has the contract with Sky would require to take out a Sky multi-room package at £10.25 per month, the box being provided free so long as its the first time this has been done.

Details on the link.

www.sky.com link icon Sky Multiroom - Watch a different Sky TV Channel in every room
Peter Dixon
Monday 30 April 2012 9:15AM
Could someone tell me if it is possible to copy items from the Sagemcom DTR94 series to another unit, say a DVD writer with its own hard drive?
Helene Widmer
Monday 30 April 2012 1:06PM Midhurst
Hello!

Just lost Film4 for not apparent reason. Had it from the start, just re-tuned channel list as I got the usual message that I should re-tune.... next thing I know Film4 has disappeared altogether! Did a complete re-tune as well but to no avail. My postcode GU29 9QA, please help! (V frustrating as I had just sat down to watch one of my favourite films... started 5 minutes ago now...boo...). Thank you to anyone who can help!
jb38
Monday 30 April 2012 1:22PM
Peter Dixon: According to the manual the DTR series only has HDMI and scart outputs and not a USB socket for transferring recorded data such as found in Humax devices, albeit that anything transferred from USB on a Humax to an external hard drive can only be played back via the Humax again and nothing else.

So it appears that the only way of recording from the Sagemcom is onto an HD DVD recorder that also contains a hard drive, and transferring the programmes recorded on the Sagemcom via either an HDMI coupling (if an HD programme) or just the usual scart lead.
jb38
Monday 30 April 2012 1:24PM
Peter Dixon: I am of course referring to the DTR94 series, I just forgot to add the number.
Tina
Monday 30 April 2012 4:03PM
I have an old skybox having upgraded to sky+ but no viewing card for the old box. Can I still use the box as a freeview set top box and would I need a viewing card. If I do, where would I get one?

Thanks
Tina
Monday 30 April 2012 4:04PM


I have an old skybox having upgraded to sky+ but no viewing card for the old box. Can I still use the box as a freeview set top box and would I need a viewing card. If I do, where would I get one?

jb38
Monday 30 April 2012 9:03PM
Helene Widmer: As you are located at only 3 miles away from the transmitter it would be very easy to suffer problems caused by an excessively high level of signal, so if you are not already doing so you should try a test using a set top aerial and carrying out another retune with this installed, giving an update on the results.

By the way, if you cannot access a set top aerial then a short piece of with (about 12") pushed into the inner part of the aerial socket should be suffice for a test.
jb38
Monday 30 April 2012 9:08PM
Tina: You do not require a card to use an old Sky box albeit that you will not be able view Pick TV, and of course your BBC news will default to London and not regional.

By the way you cannot use it for "Freeview" which requires a normal aerial, and you will still require the box to be connected to the dish.
Big Mart
Tuesday 1 May 2012 11:03PM London
Anoraky questions here !

Firstly what do the numbers 1060i (I think) mean?

Why is there not any teletext on the HD channels?

When BBC1 is broadcasting regional opt-outs they are not carried by HD. Can they not do this? Also the caption says that the regional programme is on Channel 101/1. Channel 101 is Teletext Holidays !

Thank you.
Marjorie
Wednesday 2 May 2012 9:53AM
I live in Belgium, on the coast, I'm extremely unhappy because from thursday the 3rd of may ITV will disappear from our screens no more Emmerdale or Coronation street, is there any way that i can get ITV reception?
Neil Bell
Wednesday 2 May 2012 6:01PM
Hi Big Mart, the number 1080 refers to the number of lines in one full tv picture, the "i" is short for interlaced. What it means is that the television displays first all the odd numbered lines and then all the even numbered lines. This in turn fools the eye into thinking that the refresh rate is twice as fast as it really is which helps reduce any flickering sensation.

Teletext was a service devised originally by the BBC which used some unused lines at the top and bottom of the screen on analogue broadcasts to transmit information which was not at that time "on tap". Now that we have electronic programme guides, the red button service, various services on mobile phones and widely available broadband so that the same information can now be obtained more quickly and in a better format the powers that be probably feel that we don't need teletext any more. As far as I'm aware the BBC has now ceased its Teletext service - I say "as I'm aware" because I flew out here to the Czech Republic on 18 May - the day they switched off analogue broadcasts in London. As I understand it teletext type sevices on digital tv broadcasts do not use "spare" or "unused" lines on the picture but instead were developed to satisfy the demand built up by the popularity of these services on analogue tv. e.g. here in the Czech Republic they still have teletext but on an entirely digital tv service.

I presume the reason the BBC do not transmit all regional BBC1 programmes on HD is lack of money. I can't remember how many regional flavours of BBC1 there are, but it is a lot - I can receive them all on satellite broadcasts when I'm at home but they only transmit one version of BBC1HD. I think ITV are much the same although I did find an HD version of STV amongst the free to air channels. As to the channel number for BBC1SD it obviously varies according to the service you use. On Virgin cable BBC1 is on channel 101 and on freeview it is on channel 1 etc.
Big Mart
Wednesday 2 May 2012 6:16PM London
Neil Bell: Thanks for the info. I had presumed that when we went digital they no longer transmit lines for the picture. Of course it was 625 lines (I can also recall 405!!). Sometimes, I have noticed that it is a lesser figure than 1080. Does that mean I am not getting a full signal?

I miss Ceefax. One main reason was that it was always possible to check your watch to the second ! But I used to like their newsflash (which got discontinued anyway), that if there was an important story it would come up on the screen. But I suppose times move on. I think there are areas that haven't retuned yet, and they are probably still getting the Ceefax service.

So really what the caption should say is that regional programmes are on Virgin 101 and Freeview 1 - what about Sky and Frestat ?!! I think their caption is misleading.

Cheers
Neil Bell
Wednesday 2 May 2012 6:56PM
Hi Marjorie

I don't have any practical experience on the reception of UK tv broadcasts in Belgium so the following are just some thoughts and suggestions that you could try.

I presume (although you haven't given any info to confirm this) that your problem has to do with the analogue switch off in the UK and that your current tv is an analogue model.

As far as I'm aware:

A The Belgians use the same (well at least for SD broadcasts) DVB-T system for digital broadcasts as in the UK.
B Digital broadcasts in the UK use much the same frequencies as the analogue broadcasts they replace.
C They say they will broadcast digital signals at greater power.

For these reasons logic would suggest that if you currently receive analogue UK broadcasts then you ought to be able to receive UK digital broadcasts in Belgium. Plainly your aerial will point in a different direction to your Belgian neighbours so you need to do some further investigation:-

1 Try asking your Belgian neighbours if any of them have a small digital tv that you could borrow to try out using it with your aerial. Obviously you'd have to do a retune before and after.

2 Have a look locally to see if anyone else has their aerial pointing out to sea in the same direction as yours and ask them if they've cracked it.

3 If that fails try asking local TV shops if they can help you receive UK digital broadcasts.

4 You might find it just as easy to install a free to air satellite receiver set top box and dish and use this with your existing tv. Belgium is very close geographically to the UK so you ought to be able to use a standard small size dish.

Good luck!
Gary
Wednesday 2 May 2012 8:14PM
Hello, for the last few months i have racked my brains to find a solution to my problem!!,i have trolled through countless websites and generally spent hours looking but to no avail. I recently moved into a new house and in the first few days i decided to try and sort the tv reception out. the new property is a 1st floor flat so when i went up the loft i found what i think is a ' Philex SLx pro aerial attached to one of the roof uprights. Despite buying new coax attaching and re-attaching(12 hrs in total) i had no signal whatsoever. Tried adjusting the angle of the aerial aaaarrrggghhh its done my head in 8=). I should say that the aerial has a small amp on the side( about the size of a matchbox), does this need a power supply in order to work??. I eventuaaly got fantastic reception with a small indoor aerial(im guessing about £5 in value) which i lodged onto one of the struts with cable ties,now i have 2 tv's running from it with perfect picture quality and sound. I still wanna resolve the issue with my loft aerial though if anyone has any ideas.

Thank you so much. Gary
Gary
Wednesday 2 May 2012 8:17PM
Update for my aerial issue...... i should say that i live in stoke on trent and am about 1 mile from the nearest transmitter.

Many thanks. Gary
Dave Lindsay
Wednesday 2 May 2012 8:57PM
Gary: I Googled and the results suggest that "Philex SLx Pro" is in fact a model or range of distribution amplifiers.

If the aerial has an amplifier mounted on it, then this will need to be powered in order for any signal to come out of it.

I found this manual for the SLx6 which is the 6-output distribution amplifier. On its input (the one you connect to the aerial) it can supply the power to the aerial's amplifier.

If you have good line of sight to the transmitter (is it Fenton??), then I wouldn't think that an aerial amplifier was necessary.

With your set-top aerial, confirm which you are tuned to. For each of the following, bring up the signal strength screen and see what UHF channel it is tuned to:

BBC One = C24
ITV1 = C27
ITV3 = C25
Pick TV = C22
Yesterday = C28

These channel numbers are those of Fenton. If any are different, then let us me and I will identify which it is that you are picking up.
Dave Lindsay
Wednesday 2 May 2012 8:59PM
Gary: Sorry, I missed the link to the Philex manual:

http://www.philex.com/ass….pdf
Neil Bell
Thursday 3 May 2012 12:33AM
Big Mart

Yes I too can still remember 405 line tv! I think a smaller number than 1080 just means they are transmitting a lower definition signal but don't quote me on that because I'm not certain!

I still use the text service on Czech tv to get the weather forecast without having to wait for my laptop to boot up and can even access it in the UK on their website www.ceskatelevize.cz link icon Teletext ČT — Teletext — Česká televize on page 171 etc but I use wwp.greenwichmeantime.com link icon GMT: Greenwich Mean Time - World Time / Time in every Time Zone for checking my watch wherever I am.

I don't think the reference to channel 101 or 1 is that misleading. The point surely being that you need to retune to your local BBC1 SD channel to see the local news. I've moved BBC1 HD to the channel 1 position on both my satellite boxes and on freeview with BBC1 London SD in the channel 2 position so its easy to move up a channel for the news and down again afterwards. I even have some of the regional flavours of BBC1 saved in a favourites list on my satellite boxes so I can watch the local news in e.g. Cardiff or Glasgow if I want but then I'm probably a bit of a sad case! Alas here in the Czech Republic I don't have a satellite receiver so can't watch any BBC programmes.
Dino
Tuesday 8 May 2012 10:36AM
Sandy Heath VHF 31
I live in a town in a dip. Since Christmas 2011, Sandy Heath VHF 31 is intermittent 10-30% signal (mostly 10%) which means Freeview programs such as CITV (for the children), Quest, etc are unavailable or broken up with intermittent sound and picture. All other transmissions on 21 (HD), 24, 27, 48, 52 have a 75% signal. I have a signal amplifier which improves ALL the signals by 25% in general, except for VHF 31 which appears to regularly remain on 10%. Does anyone know what is wrong with Sandy Heath VHF 31 please? Will the 09-May re-tune resolve it, or are we likely to loose more channels?
Dave Lindsay
Tuesday 8 May 2012 11:03AM
Dino: The change on 9th May will mean that the transmission power of CITV, ITV etc (which are currently on C31) will go up and move to C51.

You may or may not need a signal booster after then. The important thing about digital signals is quality. So long as there is enough signal strength to produce a "good" quality picture all the time.

Siting a booster behind the TV set where it only feeds a single receiver (or where more than one is daisy-chained) can cause issues. If this is what you have, then come 9th May I suggest that you remove it and see how you go and not make an assumption that it is needed.

Different receivers have different scales. But "if" the strength is 50% and quality is reliably at 100%, then you have the best picture you can get.

Contrast this with analogue where the signal strength needed to be as good as it could be in order to improve the quality of the picture.
alex patterson
Tuesday 8 May 2012 11:24AM
For the past 3 years I have had perfect reception from a moderately powerful loft Aerial being only 6.5 miles from Blackhill transmitter.

Yesterday I lost ch 10 and today the picture is either blacked out or breaks into pixels.

Thhe same applies to a TV in the living room from a second loft aeriel which is every bit as good.

What is wrong please?
Mark Fletcher
Tuesday 8 May 2012 12:51PM Halifax
Alex Patterson.If you leave a full post code preferably or a nearby location where you reside we should provide more valuable assistance to you.
Mike Blackmun
Wednesday 9 May 2012 3:39PM Reading
My postcode is RG5 3LQ. Purchased a new TV aerial anticipating the changeover and had no problems prior to the changeover on either of my TVs. However since changeover, cannot get channels 4 and 5 on the television I have in the kitchen with a digibox, but signal OK on my HD television in the lounge.
jb38
Wednesday 9 May 2012 5:16PM
Mike Blackmun; Your problem can be caused by variety of different reasons, but with problems of that nature its always best to carry out a factory reset on the box, also called "default setting" or "first time installation", then follow this by carrying out another auto-tune.

Should this not make any difference then try the offending box on the aerial used by the lounge TV, coupling the box into the lounge TV via a scart lead and selecting that scart input on the TV's input selector menu, that is "if" the box doesnt switch the TV over automatically.
william
Wednesday 9 May 2012 8:58PM London
hi everyone, i am not having a great time with our TVs since the switchover;

we had a communal aerial installed for our whole maisonette, and since we started using that aerial we've had perfect reception, without any scrambling... until the damned switchover.

i've bought an attenuator, which hasn't helped at all; it almost never happens on the BBC channels, interesting, but on the ITV channels, channel 4, film4, channel 5's channels, CITV etc. sky news gets a little scrambling too.

what on earth is this? wasn't the switchover supposed to IMPROVE the signal? it's extrememly frustrating trying to watch a match or a film and have the signal break up into big blocks of frozen image during crucial moments. if someone could help, please let me know what i can do, thanks, william
Sandra E Lucas
Saturday 12 May 2012 4:59PM
can you explain why when the sun hits the outside aerial why l get bad signal on my BBC channels ????????? Thank You From Mrs Lucas.
Ant
Sunday 13 May 2012 10:43AM Haslemere
A friend of mine has bought a house off a relative who left her with a freesat service through a basic Sky digibox. She would like to upgrade to a box which will record, pause, rewind etc. I suggested that she get a Sky+ box for this. If she bought a refurbished Sky+ box from Amazon or somewhere like that, would she be able to use the same card? If not, how should she go about getting a new card without having to tke out a new subscription to Sky for a year? The only other alternative would seem to be to buy a Foxsat HDR box or an equivalent at a much higher price. Any advice gratefully accepted.
jb38
Sunday 13 May 2012 1:05PM
Ant: A Sky+ box without a subscription being in force is in effect just an ordinary Sky box and nothing more than that, Sky permanently retaining access to the boxes recording or playback facilities and only allowing its use if a subscription is taken out by the user, which I believe is £10.00 per month although this best checked on with Sky as the figure is not necessarily up to date

Another problem could exist though regarding the dish that's already installed, being that if its an old standard Sky installation then the LNB on the dish will only have a single output and a twin output is required for recording purposes, with this being applicable whether it be Sky+ or a Freesat HDR and so the LNB on the dish would require to be changed to a dual type, although its better to fit a quad type as that would give two spare outlet ports as well as the fact that a quad block kit can be obtained for as little as £10.00 or so from various e-bay outlets, this making it somewhat short sighted to fit a dual type as its always handy to have a spare outlet should one fail, the only other thing being required is a suitable length of satellite grade coax.
Neil
Sunday 13 May 2012 1:44PM Basingstoke
Chris
Monday 14 May 2012 9:21AM Westgate-on-sea
Hi,

I hope that this is the right place for this. I use Freesat as opposed to Freeview and I receive TV using a Technisat HDFS receiver. Until recently I was able to receive the day's EPG but as of the last month or so When I look in the morning to see what is on in the evening all I get is the message "No Programme information available" and I often get this message up to an hour before a programme starts.

At first I thought it might be a problem due to maintenance or engineering work but the problem has gone on for so long that I think it must be something else. The question is, what?
Liam Boyle
Monday 14 May 2012 8:02PM Peterborough
Hi,
I am having a few problems since retuning, as advised by the latest on screen message. My postcode is PE3 8LD and I am tuned to the Sandy transmitter (but see below).

Problem 1.
My main tv is a recently purchased Samsung LED model. The aerial is external on a 3 metre pole and was replaced when I went digital. I also have a signal booster. I can get all the channels I should.....but, I now get BBC Look North, from Belmont presumably, instead of BBC Look East which is a complete mystery bearing in mind the aerial points at Sandy, in exactly the opposite direction to Belmont. Am I getting a signal off the back of the aerial? If so, what is the point of aligning it?

Problem 2.
I also have a Sony receiver/HDD recorder and can not now get channels 8,10,27,30,31,38,39,44,47,60,62 and 72. I have cleared out the original channels and replaced them with the retuned ones. There doesn't appear to be any manual tune option with this item.

Problem 3.
I have a secondary Matsui idtv, about 3 years old, which runs off the same aerial as the main tv. This also has it's own booster. I cannot now get channels 10,11,16,19,20,23,25,27,29,30,31,36,37,38,39,43,44,46,49,60,62,72and 82. However, and this is really odd, I do get Look East on it!!

Please use both sides of the paper and show your workings....... : )
Liam
Liam Boyle
Monday 14 May 2012 8:09PM
Sorry, forgot to say that I have completely reset the Matsui tv and reloaded the channels
L
Dave Lindsay
Monday 14 May 2012 8:31PM
Liam Boyle: This one isn't going to be easy.

Refer to the Digital UK Tradeview link beside your posting for the channel numbers used by Belmont and Sandy.

They are neighbouring or a few apart. In some cases a workaround is to unplug the aerial lead for part of the scan. E.g. if all the channels you want are in the 20s, and there are troublesome ones in the 40s, you could unplug the aerial at 30%.

If you can reduce the level of amplification then that might help as it will reduce the level of the unwanted signals and hopefully the Sandy signals will still be strong.

If you can, the answer may be to wipe what's stored and manually tune the five standard definition services (and one HD mux if applicable).
Adina
Tuesday 15 May 2012 12:23PM
Hi all, took your advice and re-tuned with aerials unplugged. Waited with baited breath but frustratingly still no improvement. Other than robbing the post office to acquire the £150-£300 cost of new aerial fitted and facing Crystal Palace, any other ideas on how I can gain better reception from SE2 area. Just moved from somewhere where the reception was brilliant and now a little piece of me dies each time I switch on the T.V and attempt to try and watch something. Missed that dancing dog and everything! Thanks guys.
Dave Lindsay
Tuesday 15 May 2012 12:58PM
Adina: I looked at your earlier postings and noticed that your aerial is pointing to the Woolwich transmitter.

This is a Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) transmitter only which means that it carries only BBC, ITV1, ITV1+1, ITV2, C4, C4+1, E4, More 4, C5 and the four HD services. If your receiver picks up any of the Commercial channels (ITV3, Pick TV, Yesterday etc) then they are being broadcast from another transmitter and therefore are being picked up with the aerial being in the wrong direction and wrong polarisation so reception may be hit and miss.

What you need to do is ensure that you are tuned to the Woolwich transmitter for the services it broadcasts and not another transmitter such as Crystal Palace.

One reason that your TV may tune to Crystal Palace is because its signals are at the low end of the band of frequencies used for TV. So when it performs the scan, it "might" simply go with the first one it finds. Not all receivers do it this way.

If your aerial faces Woolwich, then what you need to do is go to BBC One and bring up the signal strength screen. Hopefully it will say what UHF channel (equivalent to frequency) it is tuned to. For Woolwich it will be C60 and for Crystal Palace it is C23. Do the same for ITV1. For Woolwich it is C57 and Crystal Palace is C26. If the receiver picks up HD services, then they are on C53 from Woolwich and C30 from Crystal Palace.

If any of these are wrong, then you need to correct them. Because Crystal Palace is at the low end of band and Woolwich is at the high end, you should be able to have the aerial unplugged for the first part of the scan to avoid Crystal Palace; say plug in at 60%. Then check again to see that BBC One and ITV1 are tuned to the channels used by Woolwich.

You will be missing the Commercial channels; those which Woolwich does not broadcast. If your receiver has manual tuning, you may be able to tune in those from Crystal Palace, although you should be mindful that reception of them may be poor because the aerial is facing the wrong way.

For the Commercial channels from Crystal Palace, ITV3 is on C25, Pick TV is C22 and Yesterday is on C28. The programme channels are broadcast in groups, so for each of these three channels, there are others; I've just given you the first service carried on each channel.
Adina
Tuesday 15 May 2012 1:18PM
Thanks Dave(whose surname is spelt EXACTLY the same way as mine, lol) , I will try that right now. You have really enlightened my thinking on all of this. Just one thing, Although I receive bad reception from all the trash channels I love (being transmitted from CP) which apparently I shouldn't be able to receive anyway, would having my aerial facing CP enable me to better receive them as well as all standard channels or should I stick with Woolwich and try to pick up better signal persevering with that?
Selia
Tuesday 15 May 2012 2:04PM
Hello, i have started to watch a programme on pick tv called four weddings today at 1pm 15/05/12. I am utterly disguted by one of the contestants who claimed she did not want a wedding which was too pikey. I wonder if she had used any other ethnic group such as indian or black it would have made it to the final cut, i think not. This word is racist and is against the law to use it in that way. I am a proud english gypsy and find the word intolerable.
jb38
Tuesday 15 May 2012 5:24PM
Liam Boyle: Most people located to the North of Peterborough use Waltham as their first choice for reception and with it also being indicated on the reception predictor as such, albeit the penalty there is that the regional news is centred around the Nottingham / Derby areas. However on the technical side the only snag that you might experience is problems caused by the forest of trees located to the W/NW of you, as Waltham's signal comes from roughly that direction.

With regards to receiving a signal from Sandy as well as Belmont and vice-versa, some aerials do not necessarily show that terribly much of a difference in signal strength when turned at 180 degrees from a signal source, and with Sandy being located at 175 degrees from you and Belmont being at 004 degrees then what you have said isn't that surprising.

I would though try a few tests to see what you can pick up from Waltham, although if your aerial is facing Sandy then although Waltham will not be exactly on your aerials dead spot, that is at 90 degrees from the signal source that its pointing at, it is however only about 36 degrees or so away from it as Waltham is located at 301 degrees, although for a test it wouldn't do any harm for you to clear the channels stored on your TV by carrying out a factory reset, then go into the TV's manual tuning screen and punch in mux Ch61 which is BBC from Waltham, if it comes up then try the test again using mux Ch54 which is Waltham's ITV, although its not really a good test because of your aerial facing nearly South.

If by the way, its you that has a large tree smack right in front of your garden then your signal from Waltham would have greatly benefited from the aerial having been mounted on the right hand side of your house, as the signal path would have been clearer in that position.

Selia
Tuesday 15 May 2012 6:15PM
Selia: Meant to ask if anyone knows how or who to complain to.
Many thanks



Please post a question, answer or commentUK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.







Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.