All posts by Angela Thompson
Below are all of Angela Thompson's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Thank you for all your replies. Sorry I don't know how to reply individually to posts, my first time posting today.
Firstly, Harrow and North Harrow (my postcode is HA2 ORS) is definitely in a grey patch on the map otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it. I'm not getting confused with Harlow, Harrow is N W London, not far from Wealdstone where a friend has no problem getting a signal. I am really curious to know if there is a problem with Harrow on the Hill interfering with signals in my area but I don't know who to ask as nobody seems interested. All my neighbours have satellite dishes on their houses, I'm the only one without a dish on my house I only have Freeview so I don't really want to ask them what their Freeview coverage is like.
I do have a split box, after reading some some of the other posts I changed the fuse in the plug and put a new one in, the set top box briefly said for a second "search" then went off.
MikeB, I had done all of those things you suggested, I bought a new scart plug to make sure my old ones weren't a problem.
I did look at the Humax set top boxes but they had very mixed reviews, the one I bought, a Bush had excellent reviews except for one which said the box didn't work and they had to take it back to the shop, I'm wondering now if I've got a dud one as well.
I'm visiting a friend tomorrow to try my set top boxes on his TVs (he lives in Wealdstone) to see if they work on his TVs, I will then know if my old box and my new box have any problems or if it is my connections.
Can you please advise me as to why Harrow is in a grey area on your map, or don't you know, if you don't that's no problem but there must be a reason for it.
Angela
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Me again, I forgot to mention that I printed off the map with Harrow/North Harrow (HA2 0RS) in the grey area surrounded by green to keep as my friend thought I was "nuts", so I printed it off to show him tomorrow when I try out my set top boxes on his TVs.
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StevensOnln1: Thank you for your reply (I've realised how to respond to individual posts). I've just looked at my aerial and it is definitely pointing north-north west. My back garden is west facing and the front of the house is east facing, my aerial is pointing west and slightly angled to north, so south east is in the opposite direction, so it's definitely NNW, yet every time I've spoken to the Freeview people they keep insisting I'm covered by Crystal Palace when I've always thought I am under Hemel Hempstead, as I have looked at Brian's maps some weeks ago and thought I must be under HH.
However, that still doesn't say why I haven't got any coverage, but whenever I've checked Hemel Hempstead they always seem to have working going on on their transmitter, but having no TV since Monday morning seems a bit over the top.
Thanks for your help anyway. I will check my two freeview boxes (my old one and newly bought one) on my friend's TVs tomorrow and will let you know what happens.
Angela
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Richard Cooper: Hello Richard, thank you for your replies. I am going over to my friend this afternoon to try out the boxes. However my original freeview box has about 75% of recordings on it, so I don't really want to wipe them all off (old Steptoe and Sons etc), although may be I will have to. Thank you for advising me that my boxes will remember they're on the Hemel Hempstead mast, they're clever little blighters aren't they, too clever sometimes that's why we end up tearing our hair out trying to play them at their own game!!
Although saying that the new Bush box I bought on Tuesday I couldn't even get it to install, so it may not have anything in it's brain to tell it what receiver it has connected to if it's connected to at all.
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jb38: Thanks for all of that information. My aerial points are standing up, as are my neighbours (I'm in a semi detached house), however the neighbours on the other side of me have their points flat and their aerial is pointing towards Crystal Palace, (south east).
It could be Harrow on the Hill which is interrupting my channels or there is extensive building work going on in North Harrow (about a mile from me) with large cranes on the building site.
Could you tell me what Freesat is? Do I need a new digital TV (my 2 TVs are the old type, over 15 years old) or do I just need Freesat set top box. Thanks for your help.
Angela
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jb38: I forgot to add that I haven't got a satellite dish, would I need one to get Freesat?
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GOOD NEWS!!! My Freeview box is now up and running. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for your help and advice. Next time anything goes wrong I'll know where to come.
It took about 40 minutes yesterday to get the box to do anything, but my friend has got more patience than me so persevered, pressing all buttons, and it suddenly sprang into life, so at least we knew there was nothing wrong with the box. Anyway I didn't have the will to try it last night so waited until this morning, plugged it in and hey presto it was working!! I couldn't believe it, after all that tearing out of hair and cursing. So there was nothing wrong with my aerial after all, I did notice when I drove back through North Harrow yesterday evening that the huge cranes on the large building site have gone so I wonder if they had anything to do with the interference.
The only gripe I have is that the picture colours are very subdued and the text on the information etc is not clear but I put that down to the age of my TV, being nearly 20 years old.
Thank you all once again.
Angela
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StevensOnln1: yes, I meant block the signal as I didn't have anything at all, so interference wasn't really the the right word. I can never think of the right words when I'm typing, I seem to get brain freeze!!
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jb38: I bought it from Argos - Bush DVB-T2 PVR MPEG4 248/9502, I chose this one as it's one stop up from the one that went wrong which I'd had for nearly 2 years and was very happy with , it's about the 4th box I've had over the years so it's not like I don't know how to install it. Usually you just plug them in and they start downloading on their own and tells you in steps on the TV screen without you really having to do too much but this one just refused to co-operate for some reason. I tried it on my 2 TVs, my main TV it wouldn't do anything, on the TV which I rarely use it flashed up i n s t a l a couple of times, which obviously means installing, but nothing came up on the TV screen, I waited twice from 30 minutes to an hour, with nothing happening, then the word "scan" appeared for a split second and went off, again there was nothing on the TV screen. When my friend plugged it into his TV, the same happened, he even turned it off and on a few times from the switch on the front of the box, we then left it for a while as we were frustrated at that time as to why it wouldn't down load, then he started pressing all the buttons on the hand set and believed he pressed the right and left arrows around the OK button, that's all he can remember, and a picture appeared on the TV screen, much to our amazement.
That's all I can tell you really. I hope that helps.
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Wednesday 7 September 2016 1:56PM
Hi
I have been having problems with my Freeview reception for a few weeks now, it comes and goes, disappears for a while then comes back, some channels not being available at all and getting a "no signal" message. However, since this Monday, 5th Sept, I have absolutely nothing, everything has gone off. I thought it may have been my Bush set top box/recorder had broken down so went out and bought another one yesterday afternoon, 129.99. However, spent all yesterday evening trying to set it up, have tried 2 different TVs and it won't even install (they are old tvs not HD etc). I have been on email to Freeview and also have phoned the help line of the store where I bought the new box but they're telling me the box isn't talking to the TV for some reason. i even bought a new scart plug to make sure in case the old one was damaged.
However, I see from your interactive map that the area I live in, Harrow, is covered in a grey patch where as the whole of Middlesex/London is bright green, so my question is why is Harrow grey and what does that mean on your map?
You're help would be greatly appreciated before I tear my hair out or throw both set top boxes through the window! Thanks very much.
Angela