Free view reception

sebastianj

Sorry to ask again,
I have the old sky box, does it mean I don't need to buy a freesat box? But I don't get BBC and many other channels on it, is there a special card I need to purchase? because I don't want to pay every month.
kind regards,
seb

Fifer

Is there a card in the card slot? You need to have either your old subscriber card or a Sky card (I think they cost £20) to get all the free channels.

Inactive

sebastianj wrote: »

Sorry to ask again,
I have the old sky box, does it mean I don't need to buy a freesat box? But I don't get BBC and many other channels on it, is there a special card I need to purchase? because I don't want to pay every month.
kind regards,
seb

You do not need a card to get BBC Channels ( and many more ).

If you are not receiving BBC on a Sky Receiver there is a problem with your dish, or possibly your receiver.

You do not need to buy a Freesat Receiver.

sebastianj

I do have the old card and used to get all channels. Since I canceled the subscription, I do not get the BBC/ ch5 etc. I do get CNN, sky news etc.

Thanks, I was about to buy a freesat box.
rgd
seb

jackthenipper

sebastianj wrote: »

I do have the old card and used to get all channels. Since I canceled the subscription, I do not get the BBC/ ch5 etc. I do get CNN, sky news etc.

Thanks, I was about to buy a freesat box.
rgd
seb

Try carrying out an astra scan, this may bring back your missing channels.
Press services on the sky remote, then press number 4, ignore the on screen menu & press number 0 then number 1 then select in that order, this will take you to a new install menu. Press number 6 then press select 3 times. This will carry out an astra scan, when it says channel line up complete on screen press the big blue/green sky button at the top middle of the remote & have a look at your channels.

BexTech

sebastianj wrote: »

Apologies, I know it must have been asked before. I have a dvd recorder with free view, I guess I need to connect an aerial to it. I have the normal old aerial, will it do? someone said I need a digital aerial, what is that?

I have just had cable and sky disconnected saving £35 a month :j

kind regards
seb

Analogue aerial / digital aerial - it is the same thing, there is no such digital aerial or analogue aerial - it's an aerial.

Granted some retailers and installers try and make out that there is a 'digital' aerial.

The aerial picks up radio waves, it doesn't care if the data in the wave is an analogue picture or loads of digital channels compressed into the same analogue channel.

What does make the difference is the digital channels are broadcast on a lot less power, for example from Sutton Coldfield the analogue channels are broadcast at 1,000Kw whereas the Digital multiplexes are only 8Kw. Hence you might need a high-gain or extra-high-gain aerial, but then if you lived far away from the transmitter you'd need such an aerial for the analogue channels too.

When analogue is switched off, the power to the digital channels will be increased.

Best just to check if your old aerial will work, not really much point spending silly money on an high-gain aerial when shortly analogue will be switched off and digital increased and the old aerial would work, with the new aerial then adding on an attenuator due to it receiving too much signal.

Fifer

BexTech wrote: »

What does make the difference is the digital channels are broadcast on a lot less power, for example from Sutton Coldfield the analogue channels are broadcast at 1,000Kw whereas the Digital multiplexes are only 8Kw. Hence you might need a high-gain or extra-high-gain aerial, but then if you lived far away from the transmitter you'd need such an aerial for the analogue channels too.

Actually, there's another and potentially more likely reason why a replacement aerial might be required.

For analogue reception, aerials tuned for optimum reception of the locally broadcast frequencies (channel groups) used tended to be installed. Freeview in many areas uses a different set of channels, some of which may be out of the optimum range of the 'analogue' aerial for that locale.

Therefore, wideband aerials tend to be sold and it is they which are incorrectly labelled 'digital'.

BexTech

Fifer wrote: »

Actually, there's another and potentially more likely reason why a replacement aerial might be required.

For analogue reception, aerials tuned for optimum reception of the locally broadcast frequencies (channel groups) used tended to be installed. Freeview in many areas uses a different set of channels, some of which may be out of the optimum range of the 'analogue' aerial for that locale.

Therefore, wideband aerials tend to be sold and it is they which are incorrectly labelled 'digital'.

Correct, however after analogue shut down, many of the areas where some or most of the digital channels are out of band from the analogue channels will be moving back in band.

sebastianj

Many thanks all, I have found that co-ax was loose in the connector to the sky box, tightened it and now I get freesat channels using old sky box. I am so glad I did not buy a new box.
So now I have freesat and freeview options, it still feels that there is nothing good to watch, what a dilemma.

rgd
seb

ormus

very few homes will need a new wideband aerial.
most old aerials will work just fine.
i have line of sight reception from winter hill mast, (bout 10 miles away) so no problems with digital signals.