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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, 15 July 2024
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

1:30 PM

Martin: Restore UK is the organisation charged with alleviating interference to TV reception from mobile phone masts that have begun operating on frequencies previously used for TV (on what was previously the top end of the TV band of frequencies). They notify properties they think could have an issue by sending a postcard. I checked by entering your postcode and it says they haven't sent you a postcard, so it would seem that we can rule that out: https://restoretv.uk/post…ure/

At 28 miles out from the transmitter, you have line-of-sight providing there are no local obstructions such as trees or buildings. There are quite a few trees, particularly some bigger ones to the north of Haywards Lane. Many properties on your road could have one or more trees in the way. Some of these are bungalows which are not able to get their aerial up as high as houses. I wonder whether the issue might be a tree. The leaves begin in spring and, being summer now, their foliage is at its densest. Might this account for your degradation in reception?

Another question is whether you have a signal amplifier (booster) connected in your aerial system. If you do and it is to feed multiple rooms, then if it is accessible I would be inclined to try disconnecting it, connecting the incoming aerial feed directly to one of the rooms and see if it resolves the issue.

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Steve Donaldson's 248 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:55 PM

Martin:

I'm afraid we cannot rule out interference from a new/upgraded phone mast as Steve Donaldson has suggested. We encounter a number of instances where the Restore TV site says they haven't sent postcards but nevertheless the problem was solved by fitting the Free Filter.

Whilst the rest of what Steve has suggested may be an issue, you haven't said how "recent" this problem is. Do also check that you are tuned to Mendip UHF C35 for the HD multiplex in case it's inadvertently got tuned to another transmitter at some point.
Mendip had been having Planned Engineering again until the end of last week but is not listed this week and signals at the time of posting appear to be normal (at least in a northerly direction) and I've no reason to think that they aren't normal in your direction.

We could really do with some more information to try and get a better handle on the possible causes.
Is this affecting your TV('s) as well as the Humax box? Have you changed anything about in your installation since the problem started?
What are the % Quality figures in your TV Tuning section for each multiplex's UHF channel?

How old is your aerial (roughly)? Do you have a Masthead pre-amp (on the aerial pole)?
Steve's already asked about amp/splitters.

If the problem is mobile interference and you have a masthead preamp, Restore would send an engineer Free of Charge to fit a filter on the pole before the amp. All filters must be fitted before any amplifier. If the aerial installation is very old, they may even fit a new aerial for you!

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Chris.SE's 4,342 posts GB flag
S
Steve Donaldson
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

4:09 PM

Martin: Other types of cable running near to an aerial lead can sometimes impact the signal. This could include HDMI, Ethernet and USB cables, among others. Try removing such cables or at least moving them away from the aerial lead and see if it makes a difference. It may be useful to have the signal information/signal strength screen showing on C35 (by selecting one of the HD channels) when you do it as this might give a better indicator than just having one of the HD programme channels on.

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Steve Donaldson's 248 posts GB flag
Saturday, 27 July 2024
D
Dave C
4:45 PM

We're 20 miles NE of the Pontop Pike transmitter. We previously had a 42" Panasonic HD capable TV which gave us absolutely no reception problems for 10+ years.
We've now have a 55" LG which occasionally produces pixelation on BBC & ITV HD programes - never noticed it on any others (so far).
The aerial is mounted outside and feeds only the TV which reports 100% for both Quality and Signal Strength. We've a Humax recorder fed from a different aerial in the loft, recorded programs from this don't seem to show any pixelation although we don't watch it as much on it as "live" TV.
So far I've tried....
Swapped aerials with the Humax's (TV's "Quality" reading dropped to 98%), pixelation no better or worse.
Swapped aerials back and with the outside aerial feeding the TV via a newly bought aerial amplifier (in the loft), the TV still reports 100%), no difference to pixelation.
Removed the amp' and inserted an attenuator (on the TV socket), reduced strengths to approx' 90%, 80%, 70% and 60% - no difference.
Now been at 50% for a couple of days and just waiting .....
One thing I've noticed since fitting the attenuator is the signal strengths on channels 32, 34, 35, 39 & 42 are the same, but channel 45 (home to the affected HD channels) is always a little less (~4%).
Am I right in thinking that Pontop now transmits HD on both 101 and 1 ? - the TV's program guide names them both as BBC ONE NE&CHD and BBC1 is now on Ch 45.

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Dave C's 7 posts GB flag
Sunday, 28 July 2024
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:01 AM

Dave C:

Let's deal with your last point before the pixelation. As this is a (I presume) new set, it will likely be one of the LGs that have this new Freeview Play feature called "Channel List Management". At the present time only the BBC have implemented use of it.

The HD channels are still only transmitted on the PSB3/BBCB HD mux on UHF C45 at Pontop Pike.
If your set has an Internet Connection then the CLM feature copies (in most cases rather than move) BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 & BBC4 HD versions to where their SD counterparts were LCNs 1, 2, 23 & 9 It moves the SD versions to 611 to 614. CBBC and CBeebies LCNs are swapped.
So you will still find those main BBC HD channels still on 101, 102, 107, 106 as well.

There are several reasons you may be seeing pixelation, but as you haven't given a full postcode I can only generalise.

The Pontop Pike transmitter has been on Planned Engineering again and if your predicted reception of C45 is not as good as the others due to your location. then any reduced power or use of the Reserve antenna may cause reception issues. It could also account for the signal strength being 4% less, but that could also be related to aerial performance, I wouldn't consider this significant in any event.

You've mentioned that you set gives 100% Signal Strength (I assume you mean for each multiplex as you didn't elaborate) so you definitely do NOT want any aerial amplifier. This can lead to front end overload which can cause all sorts of issues, pixelation being one of them.
As you have an attenuator, I would wind the signal down to the low-mid 90's. What is important is that in normal conditions the Quality remains at 100%.
What you may find is that when you have the HD pixelation, the Quality figure has dropped briefly on C45.

Now the cause could be some source of Local electrical Interference, current weather conditions with the high pressure giving Tropospheric conditions, or a nearby new/upgraded. phone mast now using the 700MHz band.

Local electrical interference would normally be quite persistent and/or occur at regular intervals/exactly as the same time of day etc.

Current weather conditions usually result in interference from distant transmitters usually only brief but can last seconds/minutes/hours often only affecting one multiplex. Nothing you can do except wait for conditions to change. At present this may persist for several days on and off.
The BBC have a current warning -
High pressure could affect TV & Radio services across parts of the UK - 28th July | Help receiving TV and radio

If you've noticed any new/upgraded mobile phone masts nearby or received a postcard from Restore TV, this could be the cause. If you provide a full postcode we can comment more on this.

One other thing NOT to do if you have bad pixelation or No signal - Do NOT Retune. You cannot tune to signals that aren't there or can't be decoded. The usual effect is to clear your correct tuning.

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Chris.SE's 4,342 posts GB flag
Monday, 29 July 2024
D
Dave Cordes
10:05 AM
Bedlington

Chris.SE:
Thanks Chris, our post code is NE22 5ER and yes, my quoted signal strengths are per multiplex.
Last night (Sunday) pixelation occured a couple of times on ITV1 HD.
Today , before I'd read your response I went to further increase the attenuation but it's at its limit showing 50% signal strength on C45 (all others C32- C42) are ~54%) so I've removed the attenuator.
I've now disconnected the Ethernet cable at the router end (now only WiFi if needed) and moved the aerial cable away from the bundle of HDMI and power cables so the only place it's close to them is when they cross.
It's a new TV bought late April, pixelation seems to have been there from the start. None of our neigbours claim to have noticed pixelation and we all have similar aerials (about 8/9 elements?). I do have an old unused, bigger aerial (more elements) and I could try fitting that if you think it might help, but as nobody ellse seems to need one, is it worth it yet? And of course I might then need to refit the attenuator.

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Dave Cordes's 7 posts GB flag
Dave's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:10 PM

Dave Cordes:

Hi Dave. You should get excellent reception of the 6 main multiplexes in your location, you have a clear line of sight to Pontop Pike unless there are any very local obstructions close to you. Any tall trees on the line of sight, very local structural changes, scaffolding etc.? These are all the sorts of things to rule out but in view of your comments I'm doubting there is anything like that to be of concern.

You certainly would not need a larger aerial, especially as you have already said the set shows 100% Signal for those 6 multiplexes. You should also get good reception of the Local multiplex on UHF C33.
I'd be inclined to put the attenuator back in (for now) and reduce the signal to the low-mid 90s.

I should have remembered to mention about HDMI, Ethernet and power cables being close to your aerial cable & possibly causing periodic interference (especially if the aerial lead/flylead is not double screened coax. Having moved them away see if the problem has gone away. Some sets are affected by such issues, others are not!

Despite your postcode not having been sent Postcards from Restore TV, see
https://restoretv.uk/post…ure/
there are at least 3 mobile masts near you which might cause an issue if they are/have been upgraded to use the 700MHz band, so I'm not ruling out such interference (again some sets might be more vulnerable that others strangely).
We've encountered many incidents where postcards have not been sent but such interference turned out to be the cause when the Free Filter was fitted the problem was solved!

Having moved your HDMI and other cables, refit the attenuator as suggested and see if the problem is resolved. If not the contact Restore TV and request the Free filter.

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Chris.SE's 4,342 posts GB flag
D
Dave Cordes
8:02 PM

Thanks Chris, we do have a house roof about 100mtr away on the tramsmitter bearing (~201 degrees) but it's always been there! Will do as you suggest and keep fingers crossed.
Many thanks

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Dave Cordes's 7 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 13 August 2024
H
Hayley
8:39 PM
Drybrook

Hi, this morning our freeview channels started playing up, stating 'no signal'. I did an automatic retune and most of the channels have now been lost. Unfortunately I've only just found this website and the many warnings not to retune! If I try and retune later in the week is it likely that the channels will return? Our postcode is GL17 9EQ. Thank you

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Hayley's 2 posts GB flag
Hayley's: mapH's Freeview map terrainH's terrain plot wavesH's frequency data H's Freeview Detailed Coverage
H
Hayley
9:54 PM

With reference to my previous post, our transmitter is Mendip, thank you

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Hayley's 2 posts GB flag
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