marcus holmes: Try removing the booster.

More N Glos problems here. I live north of Cheltenham and our reception has gone from v. good to rubbish on several channels, including ITV1. Is this a temporary problem? According to the above Ridge Hill has no problems, but the power is reported as down on mux 2 and A. What's going on?

Ian: Please can you see Freeview reception has changed? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice - the output levels are normal for this transmitter, they have been that way since 2003.

For Broadwas (WR65Nx) would I be best pointing at Ridge Hill or Malvern? (map)

John L Scott: Ridge Hill will provide the stronger signals.

are there weak signal problems with this transmitter, have always received great reception until 3 days ago, now have hardly any channela seems to affect ITV channels and channel 4, the analogue picture is perfect, but getting message NO SIGNAL on freeview channela. (map)

carol brimble: I don't think so, can you see Freeview reception has changed? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice ?

RIDGE HILL transmitter - Over the next week Ridge Hill main transmitter: TV (analogue) Liable to interruption, TV (digital) working normally, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) Possible weak signal. [DUK]

We have had excellent signal from this transmitter until Friday night when it went very weak. I have two boxes, one is BT Vision which is fine and the other SAGEM box is not so good. This seems consistent with other comments. I wonder when it will improve?

Ed Lennox: Please can you see the Freeview reception has changed? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice page?

free view signal has always had a tendency to break up, i have two boxes a sharpreceiver recorder and a Techwood this week we have lost chanells 1 to 5 on freeview completley.
if there is no problems with the transmitter what has gone wrong??

is the ridge hill transmitter down we had a excellent signal all day 4 6 10 then at night the signal just went checked all connections there fine still same saturday morning.Live in stonhouse.

graham parker: No, there are no problems with the transmitter, can you please check the Freeview reception has changed? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice page?

flight: Can you please see the Freeview intermittent interference | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice page?

i have tried the analogue signal and that is ok, i have checked all connections they are all ok, i have tried retuning my digi box and chanels 1 to 5 do not tune in

graham parker: You are missing channels on multiplexes 1 and 2, but you can get A, B, C and D all OK?

Briantist i have'nt a clue as to multiplexes 1 and 2, but you can get A, B, C and D all i know is the channels on the digi box start at BBC4 channell 9 on the remote

It's now Sunday evening and muxes A and B have not been providing sufficient signal strength to open channels on my BT Vision box all weekend. Muxes A to D have been providing their usual mediocre, but resolvable, signal strength here on the South Wales border.

graham parker: In that case, please now look at Two frequency interference
| ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice ?

Trevor - Just to say I get a very weak signal from Ridge Hill on all multiplexes and it has been very stable over the timescale of your problems.

Since they finished their DSO work on the RH transmitters about a month ago, I am getting very much improved reception.

Regards

Brian - Thanks for the input. Problem was still ongoing at lunchtime today. Muxes 1 & 2 are giving a signal strength of 35% (usually 70+%) and a quality strength of 0-10% (usually 100%) according to my BT Vision box. Muxes A-D seem to be behaving normally. I'm located halfway between Hereford and Abergavenny, right on the Welsh border. In the past, Mux A has been flaky for days at a time due to its lower power and probably weather conditions but I have never lost the 5 main channels in the 8 years I've been receiving a digital signal. Luckily I also have a steerable dish here so it will be parked on Astra 28.2E whilst the problem persists.

Trevor Neal: Can you tell me your postcode please? Your problem might be interference, rather than weak signals.

Postcode is HR2 0JA in the village of Ewyas Harold, Herefordshire.
Regards, Trevor. (map)

Trevor Neal: You seem to be in an ideal reception spot, so if you are having problems it is probably down to the weather degradation of your aerial, cables and connectors.

You can't receive signals from any other transmitters, so that isn't going to be a problem for you.

Trevor Neal: First, however, can you please check the list on the Freeview reception has changed? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice page?

@ Briantist - I'm using a chimney-mounted Antiference 16-element wideband yagi with impedance matching balun secured to a 10ft. mast so I'd be surprised if it was passing the lower ERP of Mux A on 786MHz yet rejecting the higher ERP signal of Mux 1 on 730MHz. The coax is double-screened WT100 with soldered Belling Lee termination. I inspected the aerial/connection about 10 weeks ago and it looks as new as the day I installed it.
It is interesting that both Graham Parker and A Flight both report the same phenomenom commencing Saturday June 5. I'd love to hear if their problems are still ongoing.

Trevor Neal: How do the analogue channels look from Ridge Hill?

@ Briantist - Analogue transmissions are unaffected, I just won't allow them to contaminate my Samsung 55" LED backlit TV ;-))).
This morning Muxes 1 & 2 appear to be back albeit on reduced power (BBC1 & 2 signal strength now 45% with signal quality at 100%). I guess nothing can be taken as given until RH officially switches over in Oct. 2011.

Trevor Neal: I was asking because you can sometimes spot obvious interference on analogue.

I'm not sure why you put the word "officially" about the Oct 2011 date, this is when ALL of the existing services are turned off and seven new high power services start.

My freeview signal seems to be very intermittent at the moment. For most part it is non-existent and returns unexpectedly. It's off again today. I live in the Ludlow area and have had no problems previously with freeeview.

Colin: Hi, can you please see Freeview intermittent interference | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice ?

It is nothing to do with interference since my brother who lives on top of the Clee Hills loses his signal at the same times as me?

Colin: Great, I know neither of your postcodes so it will be almost impossible to suggest anything else.

Found a problem with my freeview recorder - wouldn't retune and kept locking up on the menu screen. Since this was connected via a pass-through cable to the TV retuning the latter was ineffective. Thanks for trying to help though.

Colin: OK, please ask again if there is anything else.

Why is it that where I live in Cheltenham our signal is rubbish. I T HAS GONE FROM no signal on ITV C4 ETC TO NO SIGNAL ON BBC AS WELL, THIS IS ALL DESPITE HAVING AN AMPLIFIER ON BOTH SETS. As my wife says everyone is more or less forced to go digital only to get this rubbish

It is all probably too late now as digital changeover completes for Ridge Hill on the 20th April 2011 but ever since RH reduced its power from 5kW to 2kW many years ago, I had trouble with unreliable signals in Cheltenham Sandford Mill area. This was until about 2 years ago I thought enough was enough and changed from a reasonably high gain wide band aerial to a Televes DAT45 (now updated) with an MRD amplifier.

The high level of directivity like the DAT45, adequately orientated, will not receive impulsive noise from the street. On the other hand, the MRD avoids the amplification of the noise that would enter via the cable if it were situated on the mast. All this assumes the MRD amplifier is powered; if not, you get a lower gain without the noise cancellation effects.

After installing this with the power supply, I went from a variable rubbish signal on most multiplexes with lots of impulsive interference to a very reliable one which I distribute round the house. At the time, the cost was around £50 as I erected the aerial myself.

Televes describe the range

“DAT RANGE - Antennas that are especially designed for terrestrial digital TV reception. Fully shielded diecast junction box featuring F connector, including the MRD device. The DAT HD is designed to function either in automatic or passive mode.
Do not worry about signal strength, just align the antenna and the BOSS-Tech device will automatically adjust the output signal to the optimum level (*).
Whether in automatic or passive mode, the DAT HD antenna offers exclusive funcionality to maximise the reception of the DTT.
(*): The automatic mode is activated with a 12-24 Vdc power supply not supplied."

It worked for me anyway.

Why am I currently) receiving BBC1 (Wales) instead of BBC1 (West Midlands), on freeview. My location is West Malvern WR14 4BW.

Ben: Please see Digital Region Overlap | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice for details.

I was receiving freeview signals with no problem for some time, distributed via a powered splitter in the loft to various rooms in the house. When the heavy rains started a few weeks ago the digital signal deteriorated and I thought perhaps there was a problem with the aerial or splitter but the equivalent analogue channels are fine. Any ideas?

Dave: I would start by bypassing the splitter by connecting the input and a single output together (use a "barrel" connector).

If the problem goes away, the splitter is on the blink. If not, then there may be (water or other) damage to the aerial or cable.