My high gain aerial can't get all the Freeview channels I expected
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV You need a "wideband" aerial rather than a high gain one (see all about aerials). Also, if you use a signal booster in the setup, this can cause problems with digital signals.
Can I suggest that you try the following:
1. Check that all the connectors are OK, in particular that there are no stray wires and that both the outer shield and inner wire are connected;
2. If you are using any signal boosters, turn them off;
3. Check to see if you have anything like a VCR connected via a UHF fly lead - sometimes these can changed to use channels such as 68.
4. If you have a wideband aerial, if you can try raising it up an additional metre;
See also all about aerials.
All questions
In this section
Saturday, 1 January 2011
M
Michael Grosvenor6:46 AM
For some reason, yesterday, I lost Sky News on my Freeview box. Even if I do an automatic search for channels, Sky News doesn't come up (even though Sky Sports1 and 2 do) - any ideas?
Cheers
Michael
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Sunday, 2 January 2011
P
Piers2:06 PM
Loughborough
Briantist: Thank you for your advice. The system seems to be working OK for the time being but curiously, on Thursday and Friday, we lost the BBC channels but the rest were OK. Now they are all back, but I will get the guy back to check out the system as you suggest. I've noticed now that the system goes down when a motor bike goes by too. I suppose this is just old-fashioned interference but I always though digital was supposed to avoid all this.
Happy New Year,
Piers
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Piers's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
michael"tricky tree"2:18 PM
Buckingham
hello,and happy new year to you all.
i have brought 2 new lcd tv's for christmas.the tv downstairs is working perfectly.but as for the other tv,i am not getting all the channels.bbc1,2,central,ch4,ch5.....and quiet a few more are missing.
i have done auto tuning on numerous times,on average only getting 36 channels not including the 8 radio stations.
would i need a booster set?if so....do i have to install the booster in the attic.i can see the reason why people do this,but im not very happy about installing one in the area.i live near the bicester/buckingham area.
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michael"tricky's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 3 January 2011
J
jb389:57 PM
Stamford
Michael - I would temporarily install the set that's giving problems on the downstairs aerial and then carry out a re-tune, once done give it test to see if its picking up roughly the same number of channels as the set originally installed there.
If all is OK then reinstall upstairs again and carry out another reception check, should it have gone downhill again then it has to be an aerial feed problem to the set.
You haven't mentioned the method you are using to feed the sets, but they should really be fed from a powered booster / splitter, this preferably located as near to the aerial as possible although if you are in a good signal area then its not just so important.
A final point to note is that different brands of TV sets do not necessarily have the same reception sensitivity, this making it whereby if the signal strength received is a good bit less than perfect the less sensitive sets may not respond properly due to the signal being underneath their reception threshold level.
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jb38's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Piers: The digital services still require a line-of-sight to the transmitter from the aerial and to be free of interference. There's not much you can do about that, due to the physics of transmission.
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Friday, 7 January 2011
P
Piers2:23 PM
Loughborough
Briantist: Interesting visit today from the Aerial man. He found water in the downline from the aerial. The connection with the aerial was badly put in. Also the aerial is the wrong type for the area we are in and we need a higher pole to clear tree growth across the road. He is coming again next Tuesday to replace the aerial, pole and downline. He's not sure about the splitter/amplifier until the new systems are in.
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Piers's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Piers: I'm glad to hear you have found a number of problems, so you are on your way to having the problems sorted out.
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Wednesday, 12 January 2011
P
Piers12:17 PM
Loughborough
Briantist: A new aerial was fitted yesterday by a local communications company. It is on a new 12ft pole to try to clear the trees over the road. The first test they did showed reception below 50 so I agreed to have an amplifier fitted.
The installer made an interesting comment. He said that when our local transmitter (Waltham) gets a power upgrade at the end of August, it may lead to reception loss again. Apparently you can have too much power! He told me that the amplifier would need adjusting to manage the new power levels. He also said that the government hasn't said who will pay the contractors for adjusting amplifiers. He hinted that we (the customers) would end up paying for it!
This is all news to me. Can anyone tell me if this is true? What's happened in places that have already had a power upgrade?
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Piers's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb383:05 PM
Piers: I dont really think Waltham can be classed as a local transmitter when its approximately 17 miles away, however I suspect that the aerial installer was thinking along the lines that when Waltham goes on high power the signal you receive could be too strong and that the booster will need to be backed off slightly.
That said though, it is possible for transmission patterns to change to the detriment of a particular reception area when power is increased, but I really dont think that was what he was referring to, as unless the trees across from you are of the evergreen type then they presently wont have that terribly much of a block on your signal, but however this could well change when they grow leaves again.
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