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My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound o

My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound or the channel line up is wrong

My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+
published on UK Free TV

To deal with the problem you must clear the channel list completely and then rescan - if your box has it in the menus, please the 'installation menu' to do an initial scan or a reset to factory settings or First Time Installation. You MUST delete the entire existing list of channels. On most boxes this technique can be also be used:

Try this:

1) unplug your Freeview box (or idTV) from the mains;



2) unplug the aerial from the Freeview box by disconnecting the cable from the 'RF in' socket;



3) wait 30 seconds;

4) plug Freeview box (or idTV) mains back in;



5) do a complete scan for channels - it will fail without the aerial. (This may be in the installation or initialization menu, and is distinct from any 'add channels option'). Once this is done your channel line up should be empty;



6) reinsert aerial by reconnecting to the 'RF in' connection;



7) do a complete scan for channels again.



The Freeview channel line-up provided by six "multiplexes" - each of which carry five or more TV channels, radio channels, text services and EPG data. In this diagram each ROW represents a multiplex. If you are still missing a whole multiplex (ie everything on the row) you may need to replace your aerial with a wideband type, purchase a larger aerial or you may have interference from a VCR, games console, Sky Digibox or similar.



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Comments
Monday, 2 July 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:44 PM

Chris Morris:

Belmont transmitter is in Lincolnshire.

In hot weather Tropspheric Inversions occur and disrupt the transmission of RF signals. That has happened every year since we started using UHF transmissions in the early sixties. As it is a perfect natural phenomenon that is well diocumented there is nothing anyone can do about it.

Your comment about amplifiers is potentially misleading. That the signal is digitally encoded has no bearing on the signal strength, which is what an amplifier is all about. If you have too little signal, the picture and sound break up. Likewise, if you have too much signal the same happens, but for different reasons. Ideally you want the signal strength to be between 60% and 85%, the quality is not relevant to this.

Put your post code into the Digital UK Coverage Checker at Digital UK - Coverage checker and you will see that your reception should be good and reliable. You could also check that your aerial is correctly aimed using the bearings given on that page. If recption is not good, then you may have a problem with the connections between the TV and aerial, so they should all be checked.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
S
Shane Durrant
11:43 PM

Chris Morris: I have exactly the same problem from the same transmitter and have exactly the same aerial bought just the other week.
I'm just 16 miles east of you in syderstone. I couldn't get all the channels I wanted from the Talcolneston transmitter so I bought the Labgear pro wideband, fitted it in the loft facing Belmont, with new cable (wf100) and all new connectors, all good for the first day or so, full signal strength and quality then all of a sudden break ups and no signal especially on all HD channels. So I bought a masthead amplifier and again good after re-scan then signal quality just goes even if strength is above average. Got a signal finder so I know the aerial is facing the right way but these constant signal drop outs have got me baffled too.
I've come close to binning the new aerial to be honest cos I thought it was a dud. Don't know what to just can't maintain constant signal quality especially on 530mhz and 570mhz which are the HD channels the BBC use from Belmont as can't get BBC News HD from Talcolneston which is why I bought the new aerial in the first place, so your not alone in this dilemma.
Anything that can fix this would be a great help or i'm going to have to re wire my old outdoor aerial which is still facing Talcolneston, or call out a pro to put the new aerial outside but that might not fix the issue then that means another call out if that doesn't work.

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Shane Durrant's 5 posts GB flag
Shane's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 3 July 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:25 PM

Shane Durrant:

Please be patient as the prolem you are describing is exactly what happens in hot weather. The atmosphere undergoes a temperature inversion which causes RF signals, like TV and radio, to travel further than normal and causes loss of signals and/or intereference. There is also an effect called Tropospheric lift which gives similar effects and is perfectly natural. There are no cure for these effects which are perfectly natural and have been known for over 50 years (and it's nothing to do with Global Warming either).

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 4 July 2018
S
Shane Durrant
9:29 PM

MikeP: thank you for the reply. I never had this issue on the old aerial which i've had since the digital switch over, but this aerial may be more sensitive to interference and i'm not going to argue with professional advice so I will wait for this heat wave to pass. I have one other question, do you know if roof mounted solar panels would affect a loft mounted aerial receiving a signal? The Tacolneston transmitter is south of me and the solar panels are south facing, when I turned the aerial to face Talcolneston after getting signal break ups from Belmont I couldn't get a signal at all from Talcolneston, my old aerial is outside so I don't know if the solar panels would cause disruption or not as I never took them into account with my intention on facing the loft aerial north west.

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Shane Durrant's 5 posts GB flag
Thursday, 5 July 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:06 PM

Shane Durrant:

The simple answer is Yes! If the aerial is trying to 'see' through the panels they will absorb some of the RF signal making it much weaker when it reaches the aerial - if it gets there at all. Solar panels are electrically active devices and so will act both as a reflector for some RF signals and an absorber for others. They act as if they are a partial Faraday Cage, see How Faraday Cages Work | HowStuffWorks and https://en.wikipedia.org/…age. Note that some explanations claim a Faraday Cage has to be earthed, but that is not scientifically correct.

It is best to have TV and radio (even DAB) aerials outside and well away from any electrically active devices - such as solar panels. So it is better to have the aerial positioned away from the panels and not even looking across their location (that can cause phase related fading). That is one reason for not having such panels.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:21 PM

Shane Durrant:

As regards the atmospheric variations, you were lucky as most people suffered it ever since UHF transmissions started in the sixties. I worked at the time for a TV manufacturer in a responsible technical position and we were well aware that it would become a factor before the BBC started transmitting BBC2 on UHF, it was the first of the 625 line transmissions that also later gained the ability to broadcast colour transmissions.

It is a very well know scientific factor in RF transmissions. Do you remember the problems with Radio Luxembourg transmissions on 208 metres? It kep[t fading in and out, especially evenings and worse in warm weather. That was entirely due to the way the atmosphere affects transmissions at certain frequencies, which is why some UHF multiplexes are affected whilst others are not - but that will vary depending on the exact nature of the inversion at the time.

.

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
S
Shane Durrant
9:06 PM

MikeP: Thanks again for your response. I spoke to my mate today who lives locally and it turns out he had the same issues and knows a little about electronics and said it would interfere with the signal. My loft is too small to put the aerial away from the solar panels, I cannot believe I was foolish enough to not take a solar system into consideration, when buying a loft aerial so i'll send it back as it's new and go back to my roof mounted aerial facing Tacolneston which it was receiving fine. Teach me for not doing enough research, lesson learned.

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Shane Durrant's 5 posts GB flag
Saturday, 7 July 2018
M
Michael Williamson
6:50 PM

I'm having problems with the west runton transmitter sometimes got a picture sometimes not

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Michael Williamson's 1 post GB flag
Sunday, 8 July 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:34 PM

Michael Williamson:

It is almost certainly due to the weather, high pressure and high atmospheric temperatures cause a natural effect whereby signals travel further than normal and cause interference. Sometime that is enough to disrupt normal reception. DO NOT RETUNE.


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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
D
DONALD KIRKBRIDE
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:38 PM

re getting paramount network which started on july 4th on freeview/youview i regret to say that my you view box did not do an automatic retune to find this channel and despite uplugging the ariel and doing a retune so that everything was wiped unplugging the you view box putting the ariel back into the box then plugging it back in and doing a fresh retune it still wouldnt tune it in
i take from that that its only full transmitters that have this channel and relay transmitters which cupar has post code ky155en freeview/you view users wont get it

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DONALD KIRKBRIDE's 37 posts GB flag
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