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Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV For the last six years, I have answered many thousands of personal emails that you have sent to UK Free TV.
Sadly, I am unable to offer this personal service at the moment.
Until I can restore this service, please can you leave any questions you have on an appropriate page, where they will be answered as soon as possible, or below, if you can't figure out where to ask.
I look forward to your questions!
Help with TV/radio stations?
In this section
Sunday, 15 January 2012
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rachel7:27 PM
if i have a sky plus box ,in which i am not connected to sky no more can i still ue the features , ie , record live tele ?
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jb387:36 PM
Duncan: Pleased to have been of assistance, and thanks for your kind reply.
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jb389:17 PM
rachel: No! as Sky permanently retains control of the recording side of the box, and I believe charges about £10.00 per month for the dubious privilege of allowing anyone its use, that is should anyone ever wish to!
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Monday, 16 January 2012
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Jeff Lee11:27 AM
Sevenoaks
Postcode is TN14 5RW (Otford - local transmitter). Switchover to digital is shown as 4 and 18 April this year (I think). We now have a new Samsung digital TV with Freeview which at the moment receives only 4 analogue channels. Will we need to do any retuning or aerial adjustments at switchover? When we installed the TV last year it seemed to find all the analogue channels automatically and we hope it will do the same trick with digital. We're tempted to wait and see what happens before spending any more money. Does this make sense? Many thanks. Jeff Lee
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Jeff's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Jeff Lee: You should be able to use your current aerial to receive from Otford.
But you will only get the main Public Service Broadcaster channels (BBC, ITV1, ITV2, C4, E4, More4, C5 and a few others).
If you are to ever get the commercial multiplexes which carry Film4, Dave and many more, then you will need to receive from a transmitter that broadcasts them. Crystal Palace might be your best bet.
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Jeff Lee11:56 AM
Sevenoaks
Dave: Thank you very much for this reply. To get Crystal Palace we will presumably need to change our current loft aerial or at least re-orientate it. Is this correct, and would it be a DIY job? We got a couple of aerial reps round last year but got rather conflicting advice as to what would be needed (one recommended Freesat, another said Freeview will be fine). I really appreciate your help on all this.
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Jeff's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Jeff Lee: I'm not an aerial installer myself, so just giving you my thoughts as a technically-minded person.
Loft aerials are lower down and sited behind a roof. Thus the level of signal they receive is obviously less than if they were outside and if they were higher up. That is not to say that loft aerials never work. Indeed, at 400 to 500 metres, with (presumably) clear line of sight from your roof to Otford you will probably be alright. And you might even get a good signal from it from a set-top aerial (which is lower down), particularly if it's at that side of the building, maybe on the windowsill.
I had a look at you road on Google Streetview and I can see some high-gain aerials on Crystal Palace (most have the 'X' type elements).
Looking at it logically, if that is what is needed at roof-top level (*see note below), then chances of success in the loft will be less and perhaps very low.
There is nothing to be lost by trying it. If you do go for Crystal Palace with your current loft aerial, then you will need to point it at 300 degrees and have it horizontal (as opposed to vertical for Otford).
If you do look at DIYing, then have a look at Aerials and TV in Sheffield. Its website has lots of information and they sell good stuff too:
A.T.V (Aerials And Television) TV Aerial, DAB Aerial, FM Aerial.
The only possible downside to DIYing is that if you buy a particular aerial and it doesn't prove sufficient to do the job, then you might not be able to take it back. In situations where it's cut and dry (e.g. good signal area such as if you were looking at putting up an aerial for Otford), then it should be simple.
* Perhaps neighbours who have had their aerials directed at Crystal Palace were for Freeview reception prior to switchover (i.e. they need such large aerials to pick up the low-power signals).
If they went with Crystal Palace but cannot get pre-switchover digital, then there would seem little point in them having done so as it would give no advantage (no extra channels) over receiving from Otford. If the larger aerials are needed prior to switchover (to pull in enough of the lower power signal), then it follows that the boost in signal strength (probably) won't necessitate such a large aerial. Or, maybe they have had the larger aerials installed in preparation for the higher power Crystal Palace digital signal (i.e. they can't get digital yet).
If you can speak to one (or more) of them (that have aerials on Crystal Palace), then that might be a useful research. They may also be able to recommend an installer.
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jb386:07 PM
Jeff Lee: If I could just possibly make another point in addition to what Dave Lindsay was saying, insomuch that if you do decide to make an attempt to receive Crystal Palace, which I think that you should try to do, then even if you can only receive BBC / ITV etc in a somewhat unreliable and glitchy fashion, then you have to remember that come April 18th the transmitters will switch over to high power operation of 200Kw ERP compared to the present rating of 20Kw, and with this massive power increase almost guaranteed to eradicate your present problems, and especially so when you are only indicated as being at 14 miles away from the station.
Needless to say, I would advise you that by all means carry out a few experiments, but keep the aerial in the loft for the time being.
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Rosita Sherrard6:40 PM
London
I have a Humax PVR-9300T set top box which has a 500Gb HDD and a freeview "box"and the possibility of recording 2 channels at once. It works perfectly except that it always starts recording approx 10" after the programme has started. I have tried to reset it as Humax suggested but it makes no difference. I have an external aerial set to Crystal Palace from analogue days. Could it be I should be coming off the Hammersmith booster (does it still exist?) or is it to do with the signal Freeview puts down the line with the programme? It's bearable but very irritating. I met an aerial installer in the street and he said he had the same problem. New panasonic HD TV with HDMI connection.
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Rosita's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Jeff Lee7:26 PM
Sevenoaks
Dave Lindsay and jb38: I'm very grateful for your comments. Very informative and some good ideas. I'll certainly chat with neighbours and I'll feel well informed in any dealings with aerial firms.
Thanks again to both.
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Jeff's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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