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Freeview intermittent interference

When you get occasional sound loss or picture freezes

When you get occasional sound loss or picture freezes
published on UK Free TV

There are several different types of interference that cause problems. This page deals with the situation where:

  • Freeview reception is perfect or near-perfect most of the time
  • The audio on TV and radio channels mutes momentarily a few times each minute
  • The picture on a Freeview channel freezes a few times each minute


There are two main causes of this type of intermittent interference:
  • 'Induction' interference
  • Mobile phone interference


Induction interference

Induction interference is caused by mains-powered household devices that contain a large motor, such as:
  • Washing machine;
  • Tumble dryer;
  • Central heating pump or combination boiler;
  • Fridge;
  • Freezer;
  • Power tools (drills, jigsaws etc)
  • Vacuum cleaners;
  • Water pumps;
  • Automatic doors


You can identify if one or more of these devices is causing the Freeview reception problem by powering off the devices.

If one of these devices is causing the problem, then the reception problem can usually be solved by using a mains filter device and use it on the Freeview boxes mains connection.



Such as device is this: Maplin: 6-Way Flat Screen and HDTV Surge Protector and Mains Filter.

Mobile phone interference

If you keep a mobile phone by your Freeview box or digital television, keep it further away!

This also applies to other transmitters such as baby monitors, video senders, walkie talkies, and portable phones.

Help with Freeview, aerials?
How do I get a test card with Freeview1
I would like to know if it is possible to receive UK terrestrial Freeview servic2
I have been told I would receive too much singal from my Freeview tansmitter as 3
Can my Freeview box receive more than one BBC and ITV region?4
Is it true that my 87 year old mother is entitled to a FREE upgrade when the ana5
In this section
Official aerial installers guide to the TV spectrum future1
Which free digital TV system will give me the most reliable reception?2
High pressure causing channel loss through "Inversion"3
Digital Region Overlap4
Freeview reception has changed?5
Two frequency interference 6

Comments
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
J
Jo meaney
6:55 AM

As soon as the weather gets better we get interference with freeview. Signal issues, picture freezes, goes off, sound not matching the screen.happened last year top- does not bode well!

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Jo meaney's 1 post GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:08 AM

Jo meaney: It is very hard to help without a postcode.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
M
Mo
8:40 AM
Whitstable

This happened to me last night. ITV digital channels broke up on all TVs in the house - mixture of freeview set top boxes and built in. Up until 5 minutes ago they have shown no signal and now have come back but are very stuttery. Post code is CT5 Whitstable.

link to this comment
Mo's 1 post GB flag
Mo's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:43 AM

Mo: Much as you might expect from the predictions for you location at this time.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
J
Jody
8:23 PM

Hi My postcode is NN18, Northamptonshire and our signals are all over the place, (if my husband tunes the tv in again I'm going to scream!) When will the signals settle down?

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Jody's 2 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:42 PM

Jody: I can't really help without a full postcode, and I don't know what "signals are all over the place" means.

Have you checked everything at the top of the page?

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
J
Jody
8:48 PM
Corby

Sorry, It's NN188BS, and the signals are varying from full strength to almost none and pixelating at different times of the day so you can't plan your viewing!

link to this comment
Jody's 2 posts GB flag
Jody's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:35 PM

Jody: Do you know if the aerial points to Waltham, or Sandy Heath? Waltham is nearly due north, while Sandy Heath is roughly south-east.

If the aerial's aligned on Waltham, there is a possibility that you're getting enough signal from Sandy Heath (now that the PSB multiplexes are at full power) for the box to decide to tune in the wrong transmitter. Check to see if there's a working set of channels at different channel numbers, e.g. around 800. If so, delete all the channels and manually tune in the frequencies shown on the Waltham transmitter page. See Digital Region Overlap for some more advice.

If it's definitely aligned on Sandy Heath, it's possible that your TV doesn't support the 8K transmission mode and it's tuning in Waltham instead. Check on the list at TVs and boxes that do not support the 8k-mode | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice . Again, fringe reception of a different transmitter will work sometimes, but not reliably.

The estimated signal strength from Sandy Heath is pretty strong, so if you have a booster or amplifier, try removing it. Very strong signals might be distorted by the amplifier, making it impossible for the TV to decode them. (RG47SH)

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
H
helen
10:34 PM
Peterborough

Hi.... been having problem since switch over day .. as my old free view box was not HD ready, bought a new one..... since then when watching through the box,many channels freeze constantly.My postcode is PE14Sl

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helen's 3 posts GB flag
helen's: mapH's Freeview map terrainH's terrain plot wavesH's frequency data H's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:55 AM

helen: If you have a booster or amplifier, remove it from your system. Also check your cables are in good condition. You should be getting good reception on most multiplexes, and the rest will improve later in the year.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
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