Lost BBC Channels since roofer came & we returned

ollysavingmoney

We had a guy out to repair a roof tile last week. It doesn't look like he damaged, knocked or moved the TV aerial, which looks to be pointing the same way as the others in the street.

But just after he'd left, BBC channels were coming up as 'Bad Signal' on our Panasonic DMR-ES20D (the JVC TV has never picked up BBC channels, oddly).

We've often seen a message telling us to retune, so we did, and now BBC channels have got completely. We've tried everything. Factory reset, removing the aerial and scanning to clear its memory, then returning, etc.

My Mrs found info online saying the Panasonic DMR-ES20D has fallen victim of the split-NIT issue as it's an oldish machine. Some official info says Panasonic can send us a DVD to fix the issue. Called them and they don't know of any disc/fix/firmware. They tried to talk us through a manual tune in digital mode, but no such option is there.

ITV and all other channels have good signal, except Dave (was 19, now 12) and Sky News (82 still). Al Jazeera is perfect, as are C4, etc. And we now have loads of new shopping, game-show and adult channels. Great. Not.

Any ideas?

Colin_London

Could he have crushed the aerial cable by stepping on it or getting it caught under a tile? Could he have pulled on it by mistake and broken a connection at the aerial?

It's too much of a coincidence I would say. If the BBC channels were borderline before (what with your JVC TV not picking them up) then a disturbance to the aerial or cable might have been all it took to make them fall off the digital cliff.

If your signal is that marginal maybe you want to consider a new aerial installation - is it old / pre-digital?

ollysavingmoney

Thanks for your replies!

The aerial is on the side of the house, not on the roof. So all I can think is that maybe the roofer knocked the aerial with his ladder or body as he was climbing up the side of the house (this is where he positioned his ladder). But visually, the aerial looks ok, cable intact, pointing the same way as neighbours'.

Yeah it's odd how the JVC has never picked up digital BBC but the Panasonic always has. The JVC TV, Panasonic PVR and the aerial are all pre-digital. We're short of money so can't really look at upgrading any components, though.

ollysavingmoney

Tried a cheapo, newer Freeview box, and it says the BBC channels are being fed by West Midlands, whereas all other channels say North West. This is the problem, then. But how to fix it...?!

ollysavingmoney

I've now found info online saying my transmitter, Winter Hill in the north west, has been affected by the switch-on of 4G in Manchester, as has the Crystal Palace transmitter in London, resulting in some BBC channels being affected.

zennith

'Two million Freeview homes' facing 4G interference

Next generation mobile services have the potential to cause interference issues for up to two million UK households, the head of Freeview has warned.

Millions of homes are likely to need filters installed to mitigate the issue.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18174052

mickaveli2001

I need to get in touch with your roofer!!!!

Congratulations. No more TV licence

mickaveli2001

It's interesting that it is only the BBC channels affected. Would be good to see if this was really the result of interference through their cabling. The OP should have tried to test BBC iplayer and other BBC content through his internet to find the root problem, or whether it was some kind of impact or fault made by the roofer on the roof after all.