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.

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
Mick
Tuesday 15 May 2012 7:29PM
Hi
I am considering a Bush Freeview+ Digital TV Recorder - 500GB to replace my defunct DVD recorder. However, I will miss the option to watch recorded DVDs on another set/player in a different room unless I can connect the other tv to the digital recorder aswell. Is this possible?
jb38
Tuesday 15 May 2012 8:14PM
Mick I am not quite sure as to what exactly you want to do as if your DVD recorder is now defunct then its out of the equation, and so is the Bush you are referring to a PVR? that being a self contained Freeview+ digital recorder that cannot record from anything other than its own internal Freeview tuners, nor does it have any DVD player facilities.

If you have a number of DVD's that you want to be able to view then a cheap DVD player is all that you require, as this could be coupled into your TV as well as the Bush, or even connected into any TV so long as it has a scart socket.

Maybe you could clarify on these points.
Liam Boyle
Wednesday 16 May 2012 8:32AM
jb38.
Thanks for that. Pre-digital I was tuned to Anglia but when I converted to digital, the installer lined me up with Waltham. I had it changed back to Sandy to receive Anglia again. It seems I will have to go back to Waltham : (
L
Dave Lindsay
Wednesday 16 May 2012 10:47AM
Adina: How did you get on?

If your aerial faces Woolwich, then the best you can hope for is that the Public Service channels (those which it broadcasts) are good. You may need to do some work (as I suggested yesterday at 12:58) to get your TV/box tuned to them rather than their counterparts from another transmitter. You could add the Commercial channels from another transmitter (probably Crystal Palace), knowing that they may be poor or unavailable when you wish to watch something on them (but there's nothing more you can do with an aerial facing Woolwich).

"If" you have an aerial installed that will receive from Crystal Palace, then you will be able to pick up all of the Commercial channels (they are the channels that which Woolwich doesn't broadcast). As the Public Service channels that Woolwich does broadcast are the same as those of Crystal Palace, then there is no need for the Woolwich aerial and you would therefore receive all channels from Crystal Palace.


A predictor cannot say for certain either way whether reception is possible or not at a particular location as there are many factors involved. Such a system should is more a guide than gospel.

Whether you can receive from Crystal Palace and what sort of aerial (size) you will need can really only be determined by an installer testing whilst on site.


The reason you have this problem (where you can't get all channels from your native transmitter) is because those that you don't get are operated on a purely commercial profit-driven basis. The operators decided that the cost of broadcasting from 1,000 or so small "filler-in" transmitters like Woolwich wasn't justified by the benefit. This leaves a small proportion of the population unable to view them at all, and some others able to do so if they choose to spend money on changing their aerials.
Alan Thompson
Wednesday 16 May 2012 5:58PM
I can receive digital tv OK.Recently purchased via e-bay Digifusion FVRT 90 digital recorder-works well,however cannot watch one channel & record on another!It was explained to me that I needed a recorder with twin tuners to do this.So purchased 2nd hand a Marks&Spencer TDR100 with twin tuners!!Set it up via instruction booklet,rec`d a channel(radio?72?)for 2seconds and then NO SIGNAL message.Unplugged waited re connected & exactly same thing happened again!!!Frustration!!When I reconnected Digifusion box again no problems perfect reception/record,but of course stuck with just one channel to record!M&S helpline unable to help also Digital Changeover Service the same!!Is there some simple explanation/solution??Can someone kindly put me right??Thanks.
jb38
Wednesday 16 May 2012 9:32PM
Alan Thompson: That M&S TDR100 is a TVonics model DTR-FP1600 and which very limited information is known about except that it dates back to 2008, but when you purchased the box did you carry out a complete reset on it to return it to its original default settings?

I would also have requested that you carry out a test by manually tuning in a BBC channel and checking the result, then trying the same test on ITV as I would like to know if you can get these two, but though I am unable to provide the mux channel numbers involved without knowledge of your location, i.e: a post code or one from nearby.

By the way I do have the manual for the box, and when this problem happens can you hear the hard drive running if you place your ear near to the top of the casing?
claire khan
Sunday 20 May 2012 12:11PM
I want to have a tv in my bedroom to watch freeview but there is no rooftop ariel connection in my bedroom, my neighbour upstairs watches freeview with the ariel from the sky dish outside how? does that mean i can just plug the sky ariel into my freeview box and the tv will work ?
jb38
Sunday 20 May 2012 8:02PM
claire khan: Its not actually Freeview as such that she watches if her cable comes from a Sky dish albeit she is calling it that, as its most likely "free to view" from a Sky box she is viewing as you do not require to have a subscription for that, and so if you have a dish feed in your house all you would require to do is pick up an ordinary second hand Sky box and you do not even require it to have a viewing card inserted into the slot, as it works without it.

You could actually watch Sky in your bedroom if a coax was run from the Sky boxes RF1/2 output socket to your bedroom, but further details about how to set that up would be given at a later date depending on what you decide upon.

By the way if it is a dish feed that you have then the plug on the end of the cable should have a hexagonal part that turns on it and NOT a normal coax push in plug.

If you had mentioned your location (pref: post code or one from nearby) I could have assessed the level of signal you are liable to receive on Freeview, just in case you are within range of a transmitter whereby you could use a set top aerial.
Rog
Tuesday 22 May 2012 9:09AM
Why is 198 kHz Radio 4 not shown on the page where you claim ALL AM and FM frequencies are shown?
Recently variations of signal and sound quality , 'beeps' during programmes, tales of doom in the press and general anti- LW spiel and you add to it by apparently not recognising the transmissions !
alan thompson
Tuesday 22 May 2012 1:41PM London
Thanks for reply.I live in London Nw8 7NN.Not sure how I can follow your instructions re tuning the M&S TDR100 via BBC/ITV but will attempt,but as I said earlier there is a brief flash of something & then no signal sign
jb38
Tuesday 22 May 2012 8:54PM
alan thompson: Now that I am armed with knowledge of your location another very possible cause of your problem could be applying, that of you receiving an excessively high level of signal to the extent that is saturating your tuner, as you are only 9 miles away from Crystal Palace.

Without actually knowing what type of aerial you are using I would like you to try a test using a set top aerial, if that is you can borrow one, but if not then use a short piece of wire (about 12 - 24") or so pushed into the inner part of the aerial socket then give your receiver another re-tune, giving an update on results, as "if" this rectifies the problem then an attenuator will need to be placed in line with the aerial socket.

Briantist
Wednesday 23 May 2012 8:28AM
Rog: The information about Long Wave transmitters is not in the Ofcom database, and the service will be shut down when they run out of valves.

"We accept that some trade-offs are also required in the way that radio services are distributed

In line with this approach, we agree with the plans to not re-invest in Long Wave technology once the current infrastructure, which relies on technology that is no longer being manufactured, has reached the end of
its life. Although this is unlikely to happen for several years, we welcome the Executive's commitment to make the existing programmes provided on LW available on other analogue BBC radio stations, so remaining as accessible to listeners as they are now. "

downloads.bbc.co.uk link icon http://downloads.bbc.co.u….pdf
Lesley
Wednesday 23 May 2012 5:01PM
Transmitter is Sandy.I`ve retuned Digibox and DVD recorder after May 9 ,and am now unable to get programmes in the channel 51 bundle. I`ve gone to `factory settings` for both, but no success. Aerial is fairly new and was working fine!
Any advice, please.
Big Mart
Wednesday 23 May 2012 6:55PM London
jb38: Apologies for not being touch regarding trying my recorder at a friend's house. He has just come out of hospital himself.

Add to that an elderly relative has just been admitted to hospital after a fall.

Life is fun !!
jb38
Wednesday 23 May 2012 11:42PM
Big Mart: Don't worry about that as its no problem whatsoever, and I will keep a look out for an update from you when its more convenient for you to make one as I fully appreciate your position as far as commitments are concerned, as I have problems similar to yourself with my own relatives.

Regards / jb.
jb38
Thursday 24 May 2012 9:05PM
Lesley: Its impossible for anyone to offer advice on your problem without having knowledge of your exact location, pref: post code or one from nearby, as only a post code will enable access to the reception predictor so that the levels expected in your area can be assessed.
Nedbod
Friday 25 May 2012 12:38AM Macclesfield
Any idea when Freeview Channel : 4 SEVEN is due to start. Tried ringing Channel 4 but they didn't seem to know ?
Mark Fletcher
Friday 25 May 2012 1:28AM Halifax
Nedbod.Barring any further delays,4seven is now scheduled to commence on the 236th anniversary of USA independence day,Wednesday 4 July 2012 !
Bob Munday
Friday 25 May 2012 7:58PM Battle
Hi,

I am having problems with the Hastings transmitter that is due to have first stage of switch over on the 30th May.

I have hardly any TV at all now, even on analogue. Digital programmes are pixilating all the time, please do you know if this will be any better after the switch over?
Mark Fletcher
Friday 25 May 2012 11:22PM Halifax
Bob Mundy,Battle.If you use the correct equipment the answer is yes !
KMJ,Derby
Saturday 26 May 2012 1:24AM
Bob Munday: The prediction for reception from Hastings is not that good at your location, due to possible interference from Eastbourne and Rowridge which will be using the same frequencies as Hastings post DSO. If this does turn out to be a problem, as you are predicted to have good reception on all six muxes from Heathfield after switchover it might be a good idea to set your aerial for reception from Heathfield after 13th June 2012.
betty_chienne
Saturday 26 May 2012 1:04PM Kingston Upon Thames
Dear Dave and jb38,
Just wanted to give you an update and ask another (probably very daft!) question following your kind advice to my question of 19/04/12 at 10.18pm.

I bought a new set top box as suggested (Goodmans GDR11) with built in modulator to replace the Thomson and Maplin equipment. Following the usual tuning procedure resulted in only being able to pick up Channel 26/SDN multiplex, so I tried the tip of unplugging the aerial and inserting a piece of wire instead. This did the trick of getting the other multiplexes that I actually wanted (i.e. BBC) added. So the other problem was obviously my close proximity to the Crystal Palace transmitter.

I'm overjoyed that I won't have to part ways with my beloved Hitachi Instavision, but have a question: what do I do now? I assume that the answer will be 'get a set top aerial to replace the piece of wire', but your confirmation would be much appreciated!
Dave Lindsay
Saturday 26 May 2012 2:39PM
betty_chienne: I have just found out that your post code resolves to a block of flats.

Is it a communal aerial system? If it is and it turns out to be at fault, then it is the responsibility of whoever maintains it to provide rectification.

From your test, it would seem to be the case that the signal coming out of the aerial socket is too strong for your receiver to cope with.

This sort of thing can particularly affect communal aerial systems because they often have amplifiers in which make signals bigger. Now that the signals going in at the aerial end are bigger than they were before 18th April, it stands to reason that the level of signals coming out of aerial sockets will also be bigger (if no changes to the system have been made). In some cases, the (higher level) signals coming out of aerial wall sockets may be too high after switchover.
jb38
Saturday 26 May 2012 3:16PM
betty_chienne: Many thanks for your update and pleased to hear that the wire aerial test was successful insomuch that somewhat proved that you are indeed receiving an excessively high level of signal.

As far as the final situation is concerned, and apart from what Dave Lindsay has mentioned, but you could just do as you have said and purchase a non-amplified simple set top aerial, although another trick that you could try using the original coax feed is to take the coax plug off the end of it and pull the braiding back over the centre core insulation so that more of it is showing, then take a single piece of wire and wind it around the centre core insulation giving it about six turns or so and securing it in place with a piece of masking tape or sellotape so that it doesn't unwind, then plug the single wire into the aerial socket.

By rights two pieces of wire should really have been connected to the coax plug that was removed, and with the coax plugs outer connected to the coax cables outer screen, likewise the middle of the plug connected to the wire that's wrapped around the middle core of the coax, the reason for this being that there is less likelihood of picking up interference.

By the way, "if" by any chance the signal is still to strong then take one turn off at a time until you achieve the desired result, as what you have done is make a type of attenuator.

Apart from trying that procedure you could just purchase a variable attenuator of 0 to 20db and place that in line with the aerial socket, is just that there has been instances where even a 0-20db did not reduce it enough, this being why I mentioned the wrapped wire technique as it doesn't cost anything.
Shelley Glover
Saturday 26 May 2012 7:07PM
we got a free sky dish and box 18 months ago. Over the last couple weeks the box will not record, and when it trys to record, it knocks the channel off, and all other channels. Leaving a message no satellite signal being recieved. When we looked at the back connections to the sky box we found they were only held in by electrical tape. Phoned sky, they said " tough " out of warrenty, and we had got the package from a third party, there " agents2 as they call it, and because to that we dont have any rights. We had no idea that we were dealing directly with sky. Now, we got some connections ourselves, but they are too small for the wires, and the right connections are no longer available. Has anyone else, got a box about 18 months ago, without the " proper" connections, this is a real health and safety issue.
Bob
Saturday 26 May 2012 7:27PM Battle
To Mark and KMJ, thank you for your replies. I will wait and see what the situation is after the 13th June and if necessary set aerial to Heathfield as you suggest.
jb38
Saturday 26 May 2012 9:41PM
Shelley Glover: On the rear of a Sky box apart from the black two pin mains connection that's used in all sorts of devices as well as a Sky box, the only other connections are two "F" type threaded connectors that the hexagonal rings on the "F" type coax plugs screw onto, then of course there is either a scart lead or maybe an HDMI type if the Sky box is an HD type.

So using what has been mentioned for reference could you please indicate what connections you are meaning? as the only possible one I can think of is the "F" type used on the coax, as these come in about four different sizes and with all being obtainable, this being why you should cut about an inch off the end of the coax and take that into a shop to make sure that any "F" connector plug you might look at can screw over the cable.

jb38
Saturday 26 May 2012 11:38PM
Shelley Glover: I did of course mean to add that as far as health and safety issues are concerned this only applies to the two pin plastic mains plug, as any other connections seen involve very low voltages in the order of approx 18 volts maximum on the "F" plug threaded connector stubs.
Endrit
Sunday 27 May 2012 12:37PM
I was thinking to buy A freeview box and use it
in Kosovo to get local channels such as RTK, RTV 21, will it work?
Briantist
Monday 28 May 2012 9:24AM
Endrit: Assuming you can get a suitable signal, a Freeview box ("DVB-T") should work in Kosovo.
Glenda Wheeler
Monday 28 May 2012 11:30AM
Hi after all the complicated questions above I hope mine is relatively easy for you.
I have just set up sky hd box all is good. I have done all the necessary changes ie RF on and ch68 retuned 2nd tv in bedroom and have a good sky picture hurrah. Picture is by splitter and coax cable.
My problem is when I go to bed and switch off lounge tv the picture goes off in the bedroom. It did'nt before. Been at it days now any ideas?
Briantist
Monday 28 May 2012 5:03PM
Glenda Wheeler: I presume you are not turning the Sky box off when you turn off the main TV?
NottsUK
Tuesday 29 May 2012 12:00PM
Briantist: A new transponder has been switched on, on Astra 1N. It is 10993, 22000, H. The channels on it are,
ITV1 Meridian TV North,
ITV1 Anglia TV West,
ITV1 Yorkshire TV East,
ITV1 Central TV South West,
ITV1+1.
At the moment they are all encrypted.
They are also transmitting, encrypted, from Astra 2B 12402, 27500, V.
Hopefully when the channels are switched off on Astra 2B the encryption will be switched off on Astra 1N.
mike brett
Tuesday 29 May 2012 1:11PM
Hi, I have two feeds from satelitte
(long way away due to mountains up here)
and a konig multiswitch with quad input trying to run sky+ and one freesat cant seem to get correct configuration or do I kneed a duel multiswitch ?
thanks Mike (Isle of Eigg)
Les Nicol
Tuesday 29 May 2012 4:04PM
Mike There can be several issues here.
A. The cable you are using from the dish - it should be of Top Spec eg:- WF100.

B. You don't specifiy if the LNB is a Quatro or Quad and whether the Konig is quatro only compatible or whether this a quatro/quad capable device.

C. If there is a long cable run from the dish the multiswitch may need to be pre-amped with a Konig matching amp.
Les Nicol
Tuesday 29 May 2012 4:10PM
Mike - If you can come back with a little more info posed by A B and C then I can further direct you on this one.
Lorraine Birch
Tuesday 29 May 2012 6:55PM
My tv says 'no signal' and when I rescan it says 'no channels found'. My DVD recorder is ok so I can record what I want to watch and play it back. Confused!
Briantist
Tuesday 29 May 2012 7:23PM
NottsUK: Thanks for that. I expect they will go in the clear as soon as they can.
p
Tuesday 29 May 2012 10:06PM
Hi Please can you tell me why is psychic today on 652 freeview finishing and will it come back?

x
jb38
Tuesday 29 May 2012 10:44PM
Lorraine Birch: If your DVD recorder is a Freeview device and your TV's aerial feed is looping through it, then try a test re-tune with the aerial going straight into the TV.
Faye
Tuesday 29 May 2012 11:24PM
I have just seen the advert for Big Brother.
You are not seriouse!! more rubbish !! why can't you find something worth while watching
instead of this rubbish it's a total waste of electricity.
Mark Fletcher
Wednesday 30 May 2012 2:07AM Halifax
Bob,Battle.My pleasure to assist you !
Glenda Wheeler
Wednesday 30 May 2012 7:53PM
Hi, sorry for delay in answering. No I did not turn off the sky hd box.
Thanks for your help but I haved worked it out. Just for your info. I source tv to scart (which I keep so I can video and record dvd)then just unplug hd cable. tv in bedroom stay's on sky then hurrah. It is obviously not professional but it works for me. Many thanks
david
Thursday 31 May 2012 5:56AM Hastings
when trying to use your terrain map i get the following error message -

'Your browser (3) does not support the canvas element.'

i am using IE version 8, on a windows PC, and i always install all the latest updates from microsoft ( which are constant ! )

any advice please as to how to fix this bug.
P.Slater
Thursday 31 May 2012 9:26AM
Heathfield changeover
For what it's worth, this might help.
Elderly neighbour asked me (30/5/2012)if I could have a look at her TV as she had lost BBC1/2 on her LG TV with built in Freeview receiver. Did automatic re-tune and pulled in over 100 TV, including her missing BBC1/2. Did the same on my Philips DRT200 set-top box, but no BBC1/2, despite a channel count of over 100 TV. After several attempts, gave up and did a factory default followed by channel search - all OK with BBC1/2 back. So built-in receiver just needed retune, set-top box needed full first time installation. Watching with interest to see what happens on 13th June.
L. George
Friday 1 June 2012 10:27AM
ITV channels have all disappeared since I changed to digtal. BBc channels are all working fine. How can I get ITV channels again?
Dave Lindsay
Friday 1 June 2012 10:37AM
L George: If your receiver allows, try manual tuning.

Where abouts are you and what transmitter are you using? Or if you don't know which transmitter, a location and direction of the aerial should suffice.
Graham.F.Lewendon
Friday 1 June 2012 10:51AM
Re Mick
Tuesday 15 May 2012 7:29PM
Dear Sir
Sorry to be this late seeing your posting but have just cobled together a replacement windows XP pc to replace one that died (Mother board & PSU) IE:- salvaging bits from two machines so the last week all spare time went on that task. Whats sleep?
May I surgest an alternative option.
Its all in one box so nice and tidy!
If funds allow have a look at the range of DVD / Bluray recorders by Panasonic each comes with a hardrive and I suspect twin tuners (I don't know if they make a single tuner version) freeview / freesat depening on which tech you choose the DVD recorder versions should cheaper than the BD recoder option and you can edit out parts of programs on hard drive befor archiving to DVD / BD I have only used versions that include option to record to both DVD and BD so can not say if following is true for the DVD only decks but the decks I have used that support BD and DVD also had HD free to air tuners (Free view :- BBC 1- BBC HD- ITV HD-CH4 HD) (Free Sat :- BBC 1- BBC HD- ITV HD-CH4 HD NHK News HD) and Wedding TV HD if you view via the other channels tuner menu option but you'll have to trawl through lots of test and trial outputs to find it) Staiting the obvious now maybe but the BD recorders come with bonus of also playing bluray discs! some are even 3D ready if a 3D set is used plus will even record own 3D from 3D Camcorder to BD via HD
Good luck & happy bargin hunting
NottsUK
Friday 1 June 2012 8:39PM
Briantist: A spare transponder is being used on Eutelsat 28A by GLOBECAST/ITN Jubilee. The parameters are, 12524, Horizontal, DVB-S, QPSK, 26700 symbol rate.
There are six channels on the transponder named Standup 1 to Standup 6.

John Collins
Saturday 2 June 2012 11:23AM
If i stop my Sky subcription can i still use my sky+ box to record the free channels.



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.