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Brian Butterworth published 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!
Help with TV/radio stations?
In this section
Monday, 30 April 2012
T
Tina4:03 PM
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
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T
Tina4:04 PM
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?
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jb389:03 PM
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.
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jb389:08 PM
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.
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Tuesday, 1 May 2012
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Big Mart11:03 PM
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.
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Big's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
M
Marjorie9:53 AM
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?
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Neil Bell6:01 PM
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.
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Big Mart6:16 PM
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
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Big's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Neil Bell6:56 PM
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!
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Gary8:14 PM
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
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