Freeview signal probs?

Hoody

OK so i live in the High Wycombe area of Bucks, have recently bought a new Technika TV with a built in freeview decoder. On the first date for the switchover i tuned the freeview in and got a good reception for most of the channels. however the following day the signal strength had dropped to less than 10% so i went out and bought a signal booster which upped the strength to 65% or so and allowed me to receive all of the BBC channels. And now after last nights analogue switch off even after retuning again, i can still not get any ITV, C4, C5 channels. So whats going on? i don't think it's the TV as it seems to be working fine, and now the booster has been fitted the BBC picture is good. So any ideas?

Colin_London

What sort of aerial are you using? An indoor one?
Indoor reception is hit and miss, and unlike analogue where you could put up with a snowy picture, digital either works or it doesn't.

Also High Wycombe has its own transmitter. You may find you get a better signal (but fewer channels) with a vertical aerial trained on that transmitter rather than a horizontal aerial pointed at Crystal Palace in London.

C_Mababejive

There is no substitute for metal in the sky. A signal booster isnt really the solution. What sort of antenna are you using? Is it pointing the right way? is it polarised correctly? is it old and falling to bits? how old is the coax?

Hoody

Outdoor aerial mounted on the chimney breast. Signal booster due to having lousy signal from the repeater, even before the switchover we couldn't get C5. Also quite a few hills in the way of signals round here which means we cannot always use the nearest repeater for a signal.

Colin_London

High Wycombe transmitter never broadcast Channel 5 in analogue, which is why you never received it!

Put your postcode & house name /number in here, check the box that you are 'in the trade' and tell us which transmitter is predicted the best signal / what the prediction is.

There are lots of different relays in your area (High Wycombe, West Wycombe, Chepping Wycombe, Micklefield, Hughenden) and you may not be pointing at the best one.

EDIT - Now with link!

Moneymaker

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/researchanddevelopment/2012/04/goodbye-analogue-telly-hello-d.shtml

C_Mababejive

You need a transmitter/relay which provides all the muxes.

A quick check reveals that you should ideally be looking at crystal palace at a bearing of around 115 degrees and which supplies all six muxes.

The local relays dont transmit all the muxes and you will only get basic BBC/ITV channels from them.

You will need a group A horizontally polarised high gain antenna.

Remember,metal in the sky is far better than messing around with amplifiers and boosters.

Dont go buying a carp antenna from the likes of screwfix or similar.

See here
http://www.aerialsandtv.com/aerials.html

You should also rewire the coax. I'm guessing you currently have 75ohm air spaced coax. You need pf100 foam insulated foil screened as a minimum.

If your not good on roofs,dont do it. It isnt worth the risk. Get a man in.

Remember what happened to Rod Hull
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Hull#Death


The aim is to ditch any amps and run with a good quality Group A high gain yagi.

Hoody

Thnx all, quick update to this, 12 or so hours after writing my last post. All of the itv and other channels appeared when i retuned yet again. it appears they hadn't switched something on at the repeater?

Pincher

I ducked the whole issue by going Virgin and FreeSat.

Add MUX, remove MUX, increase signal, reduce signal.
Even after 18th April, they will be adding and removing channels.
Endless re-tunes, what a recipe for missed shows and recordings.
Well, that's what iPlayer is for, I suppose.

consultant31

Having no technical knowledge at all myself, I rang the helpline for my 84 year old Mum on Saturday after yet another evening of her going to bed early after the tv picture kept breaking up.

They told me we'd be better off getting Freesat since she lives in a poor reception area, so I shall be looking into the price of it today. I do think it's hard on old people, having to shell out all that extra money!

macman

consultant31 wrote: »

Having no technical knowledge at all myself, I rang the helpline for my 84 year old Mum on Saturday after yet another evening of her going to bed early after the tv picture kept breaking up.

They told me we'd be better off getting Freesat since she lives in a poor reception area, so I shall be looking into the price of it today. I do think it's hard on old people, having to shell out all that extra money!

Is she using a proper rooftop external aerial? A set top aerial that worked for analogue will rarely be adequate for DTV.
Freesat will cost about £100 for dish and cabling plus the cost of a Freesat digibox.
Have you checked what reception her neighbours are getting? Do that before you splash out on Freesat.