Only receiving 26 of my Freeview Channels

oliveoil99

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

What results did you get?

It gave 8 transmitter areas and loads of numbers that I just didn't understand.

Toxteth_OGrady

I can look at the results for you and advise if you want to PM me your postcode.

Toxteth_OGrady

Got your PM. The Bilsdale transmitter your aerial is currently pointing at is the 3rd worst out of 9 for digital freeview reception at your postcode.

Assuming a height of 5m for your aerial (bungalow), the best transmitter for you is Idle at a distance of 4 miles from your postcode. You should get all 40 channels from that.

How do you know that you are currently picking up from Bilsdale because Idle is in the same direction (+/- 1 degree)? Idle is 4 miles and Bilsdale is 48 miles.

Are the prongs on your aerial flat/horizontal or vertical?

oliveoil99

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

Got your PM. The Bilsdale transmitter your aerial is currently pointing at is the 3rd worst out of 9 for digital freeview reception at your postcode.

Assuming a height of 5m for your aerial (bungalow), the best transmitter for you is Idle at a distance of 4 miles from your postcode. You should get all 40 channels from that.

How do you know that you are currently picking up from Bilsdale because Idle is in the same direction (+/- 1 degree)? Idle is 4 miles and Bilsdale is 48 miles.

Are the prongs on your aerial flat/horizontal or vertical?

The prongs are flat. I know it is Bilsdale because when I put my postcode in for the Switchover it said Bilsdale and Sep 2012, yes I noticed it's the furthest away.

closed

have you tried rescanning your tv/set top box

what level of signal strength/errors are you getting - an amplifier can improve things if it's low, and a £1 set top aerial may provide a better picture if you can point it in a different direction.

Toxteth_OGrady

OK, you need to be on the Idle transmitter 4 miles away. That is vertically polarised as opposed to Bilsdale being horizontal. So, as a start, you need to have your aerial rotated in its mounting bracket so the prongs are up/down rather than flat. Then retune your TV.

Is there somebody you could get to do that for you?

What orientation and direction do your neighbours' have their aerials?

oliveoil99

closed wrote: »

have you tried rescanning your tv/set top box

what level of signal strength/errors are you getting - an amplifier can improve things if it's low, and a £1 set top aerial may provide a better picture if you can point it in a different direction.

My son did that for me it comes up good for the channels I get and no signal for the ones not coming through.

oliveoil99

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

OK, you need to be on the Idle transmitter 4 miles away. That is vertically polarised as opposed to Bilsdale being horizontal. So, as a start, you need to have your aerial rotated in its mounting bracket so the prongs are up/down rather than flat. Then retune your TV.

Is there somebody you could get to do that for you?

What orientation and direction do your neighbours' have their aerials?

Right that was what my son thought, sure he will give it a try thanks for your help. Are you Paul having a break from Lily? lol

oliveoil99

oliveoil99 wrote: »

Right that was what my son thought, sure he will give it a try thanks for your help. Are you Paul having a break from Lily? lol

Will have a look at neighbours aerial but I do know most have sky and cable they have left me behind on this one.

kwikbreaks

From the information you've given it seems your aerial was set up for analogue Bilsdale transmitter. Now it's switched over to digital it is using a wider spread of channels than it used to and your aerial can't cope with that. The polarisation is wrong for the nearer satellite transmitter and that too may require a wideband aerial anyway.

Depending on signal streangth it is just possible that closed's optimistic view of indoor aerials may prove correct but I wouldn't put any bets on that and if you do try one get it from somewhere you can return it easily such as Argos. My own experience of boosters is that they are useful for driving multiple TV's off the one aerial but if the signal is poor they rarely offer any improvement.