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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
Saturday, 6 August 2011
V
victor michael minta
5:47 PM
Sleaford

after switch over i have no BBC channell at all , the freeview has found all channells including bbc , but it says antenna problems on bbc only i get all the rest , but before the switch over i had perfect reception all round now i dont why

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victor michael minta's 2 posts GB flag
victor's: mapV's Freeview map terrainV's terrain plot wavesV's frequency data V's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 7 August 2011
J
Janine
6:22 PM

I live in the Wenvoe area CF23,aerial is on the roof.

Can anyone tell me why I have lost a lot of channels which are in the COM4, 5 and 6 from my relatively new Digital TV but are still on my older TV upstairs. I have tried the reset procedure.

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Janine's 1 post GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:31 PM

victor michael minta: I assume you're using the Belmont transmitter - your aerial pointing north-east. So far, only the BBC channels have gone to high power - the other channels do so on the 17th. (Two multiplexes will remain on relatively low power until November.)

Digital UK's prediction is 99-100% across the board. This indicates high signal levels are expected. It's possible that you now have too much signal. If you have a booster or amplifier, try removing it or turning it down. If not, you could try adding an attenuator.

If your Freeview box is old - say before 2005 - it might not be compatible with the mode used after switchover. Check whether it's on the list at http://www.digitaluk.co.u…ment . There's another common fault of older equipment called 'Split NIT' - there is a list at http://www.digitaluk.co.u…tnit . These lists aren't complete, but if your box is on it, see the recommended actions there.

If you retuned very early on Wednesday morning, before 6am, they might not have finished making all the changes. In this case, if it was off-air at the time, your box may have tuned into fringe reception from another transmitter. Try doing another full reset.

Alternatively, if the aerial points south-west, you could be aiming at the Waltham transmitter. This does not start switchover until the 17th. If your box stores the first signal found, rather than the best quality, it may now be able to store Belmont BBC A when it couldn't before, but it's not strong enough to actually use. Check if you have another version of BBC One, Two etc in the programme guide at around 800. If that works, see Digital Region Overlap for some suggestions.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:54 PM

Robert: Services can come and go with no changes at the transmitter. Signal propogation - how it travels through the atmosphere - differs with the make-up of the atmosphere, its temperature and pressure. That's just normal propogation. At night, you also get reflections and refractions off different temperature layers in the atmosphere - which can cause signals to travel further - and with the right conditions signals can bounce between layers in the atmosphere, making them travel much further. The increased interference can cause your reception to drop out.

The change in propogation - which RF engineers call 'fading' - isn't always the same on all channels at the same time.

All that said: Digital UK's trade predictor takes account of expected degrees of fading and unusual propogation, both in the wanted signal and in unwanted distant signals, in their prediction. It also includes allowances for urban scatter and from woodland. It still predicts that 97% of locations, in the National Grid square that the centre of your postcode is located in, should have less than 1% failures over time, on Mux 2. It's usually considered quite conservative, though it doesn't know about individual trees or large buildings close to your location, only grid squares that contain a large chunk of urban area or woodland.

As I previously said, I think your cables may be damaged from exposure to UV light, rubbing over brickwork or tiles, or junction boxes permitting water ingress. Water changes the properties of the dielectric in the cable, which increases the losses at all frequencies, but greater at higher frequencies than lower. That's made reception marginal and more susceptible to outright failure when there is a greater degree of fading. You need sufficient margin of signal level to cope, without exceeding the combined signal level that will overdrive any amplification - including the receiver's automatic gain control - and cause distortion.

Given your business, I would recommend that you replace your current multiple aerials with a well-designed Master Antenna TV system, with levels of each multiplex adjusted separately and unwanted signals filtered out. Look for installers offering MATV/SMATV systems. (SMATV = Satellite + Master Antenna). Any such system will need to be retuned at switchover stages (14 and 28 September) and at any future retunes.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:03 PM

Linda: If you've just had a new aerial fitted, it's possible that you have too much gain. The Digital UK prediction is 100% across the board, which indicates very high signal levels. If you're using an amplifier or booster, try removing it. If that doesn't help, try adding an attenuator.

For suggestions on loft installs, see http://wrightsaerials.tv/….pdf and Loft and indoor aerial installations for TV, FM and DAB .

If it was fitted by a professional, I'd call him back to check the system.

The Pontop Pike transmitter uses Group C/D and always has done so, and will continue to do so after switchover, so unless there was a specific problem, there was really no need to change the aerial.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Monday, 8 August 2011
J
Jane Stevens
1:43 PM

I have just lost all my channels on my Freeview TV EXCEPT for the BBC ones. The digital switchover in April went fine - no problem. I have tried reverting to factory settings and re-installing - no luck - just the 21 BBC channels.

My postcode is SY2

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Jane Stevens's 2 posts GB flag
R
Roy Barrett
2:05 PM
Sleaford

I have heard that when the switchover to digital came that the transmitter power would be sirnificantly increased - has this happened with Belmont? The reason I ask is that where I am in Sleaford I have had to use a signal amplifier (I upgraded my aerial last year) - yesterday I took the amplifier out and a few channels were a little bit dodgy! If the signal power hasn't increases could yould you please tell me if and when it will happen?
Many thanks, Roy Barrett.

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Roy Barrett's 1 post GB flag
Roy's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

2:28 PM

Roy Barrett: Currently only MuxBBCA is transmitted at high power. On 17th August 2011 MuxD3+4, MuxBBCB (HD) and Mux SDN will commece high power working for DSO step 2. Then finally on 23rd November 2011 Mux ArqA and Mux ArqB will adopt high power working after the frequencies are cleared at Tacolneston.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
R
Russell Saunders
10:16 PM

Hi

Just set up a Toshiba TV with inbuilt Freeview,. Tried tuning about 6 times now as can only pick up half the channels I should be able to.

Very frustrating, so any help would be appreciated.

I live in south dorset and point at the Rowridge transmitter

Thanks

Russell

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Russell Saunders's 1 post GB flag
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:13 AM

Roy Barrett: Just purely out of curiosity, knowing the Sleaford area I was just wondering if Belmont was preferred for any particular reason over Waltham? as although what KJM has stated is certainly perfectly correct full reception of all six Mux channels will only be from the latter date mentioned, as two Mux channels (Arq A - Ch53 from 17th & Arq B - Ch60 from 17th) are in the "poor" and unreliable category until then.

This in contrast with Waltham which already shows better coverage, and even more so come the end of this month, that is apart from Mux A/ SDN (Ch29) which wont be until the 12th October, albeit it presently isn't indicated in a lesser category other than good, which of course I fully appreciate that in reality might not quite be accurate as far as the Sleaford and district areas are concerned.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
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