Digital Freeview box problem

peterbaker

I carried out my Freeview experiment in East Norfolk at the weekend.

The postcode checker said ""The good news is you can get some of the Freeview TV channels and radio stations in your area, but not the full line up."

To be fair, I was at a campsite so my aerial was not very high. Actually it was at about 3 metres.

I found 18 channels of which about a third were radio.

The aerial I used was a "One-4-All" parabolic dish intended for indoor use. It originally cost about £20 from Comet I think. It has two 1 metre long telescopic aerials on it too. I sat it on the plastic roof of my motorhome, first with the telescopic aerials retracted, then with them fully extended and raked at 45% away from the transmitted signal.

I tried it with a steel baking tray under the base but got no better result.

The maximum signal strength I got was 1 out of a possible 10.

The directional sensitivity was extremely fine.

We managed to watch a single program on Sky 3 I think - my son was really pleased - it was about the Life of Steven Gerrard!

The aerial was plugged directly into the tv (no additional fly leads). It was obvious that the signal was extremely susceptible from interference from the microwave oven and from the motorhome fresh water pump when operating (the picture froze when either of these were switched on).

I wonder if the government have realised how many people will have to spend a lot of money on considerable new aerial technology (and probably not DIY) to get Freeview? That's perhaps a good reason why the BBC have thrown their hat in with FreeSAT in a big way now.

mcfisco

dave2006 wrote: »

Does anyone know what a reasonable price for a new aerial and cable is? I've been quoted £300 which seems a bit steep.


Dave

It depends where you are
London is just silly prices & £300 is believable
Up here in N Yorks a fairly standard install with all new kit [aerial, brackets, cable etc.] would cost you ~£120
You can certainly get some very low quotes too - trade price for a 10 element 'contract' aerial is less than 3 quid - but they don't perform to well in all but the best signal areas.


DIY is OK as long as you are OK getting up to [& down] from chimney stacks or you can find another suitable location that does have good access - you really can't beat getting the antenna above the buildings, it negates all sorts of possible problems

smudger1946

i CANT GET FREEVIEW HERE ACCORDING TO THOSE WHO NO THESE THING'S, I GET MOST CHANNELS ON A STANDARD AERIAL, JUST GOT A GOOD QUALITY F/VIEW BOX "SONY " AS WAS SUGGESTED. U][I]COLOR="Red"]RIGHT ON[/COLOR[/I][/U

ariba10

We receive free view even though the experts say that we should not be able to. We have a Free view box that cost £18.99 from ALDI and it is connected to an old analog aeriel.