Digita Service

teajug

Digital aerial on roof of block of flats, council has been charging £4 a month for this service, but it is not working. When the TV is turned on it say DTV but at the bottom if TV screen it says MONO, does this mean that it is not connected to the aerial on the roof of the building. Can only receive BBC1 and that freezes after a couple of minutes.

The council says it is my TV but I do not think so, I think they do not want to go up the roof of the building to check the connections up there.

Any advice on this please :T:T

teajug

Thanks for reply, how would neighbour help with this as most of them have sky or virgin. The one I am posting about has got free-view and had digital before the nation switch over and had it until the council contractors took it over that was when it stopped working. The TV was re tuned it was the that it became apparent that it was the connection the roof was the problem. If it was the TV then it would not turn on at all and there would be no services at all, is this not correct.

teajug

Kurtis_Blue wrote: »

A neighbor would be of help to see if their dtv feed s functioning correctly, it is unlikely in a council or association block for the aerial feed to have ceased functioning and the managing agents/council being unaware.

The residents go bat crazy if the TV goes off for 30mins, you are suggesting this has been broken since dso in 2012.

First thing i would be checking would be neighbors then the quality and connection of your cabling.

Get a good quality flylead direct from the TV (no loop thrus) to the wall socket and re-tune.

Thanks again for clarification, however most residents are working during the day time and some of my neighbour do not own a TV, but still got to pay the council contractors for this service that was free prior to them taking over.

The TV has not worked since last year whenthey put in a new socket for the switch over and left. There are so many other issues with council contractors and this was not a priority and was left in abeyance, but got a spare moment now and its time to sort it out.
The contractors do not want to go up to the roof of the building to see if the problem is there. First they want to check out the TV but there is nothing wrong with the TV. If it was the TV or the connection within the property then there would be no reception at all. At present it says dtv as well as mono on the screen when the TV is turned on and only able to get one channel bbc1 not able to get any other channels, surely this implies that there is a problem with connection on the roof. Lots of residents had problems when the council contractors tampered with aerial last year during the switch over.
Thanks again for help :T:T

Buzby

They have no interest in your TV - they want to verify the digital terrestrial feed is present at the socket. A small hand-held meter does this. If it lights up, then it falls to you to get your DTV sorted. If not, they need to fix the feed.

It isn't rocket science - but a cable fracture can kill everything, and that's why they need to check it.

Ectophile

For what it's worth, the "MONO" is probably a message from the NICAM stereo decoder in your TV. Which suggests that your TV is designed to receive analogue TV. If it successfully locks onto an analogue TV signal which is in stereo, it will display "STEREO" for a short time*. If it can't (and that includes getting no signal at all), then it displays "MONO".

Is your TV analogue only? If that's the case then you need a decoder box. If you have a decoder box, then it's probably not connected or not working.

If the TV is designed for analogue and digital, then it may just be reverting to analogue because it can't find a digital signal to lock on to. And that could well be an aerial fault.

*Of course it won't any more, because there's no analogue TV.

[Deleted User]

Ectophile wrote: »

If the TV is designed for analogue and digital, then it may just be reverting to analogue because it can't find a digital signal to lock on to.

This is what I think is most likely. Although the "mono" message does refer to the analogue sound signal, I think the fact that the OP can get BBC1 rather than no channels at all does suggest it also has a digital tuner.
I also agree with Kurtis that the OP is putting rather too many obstacles in the way of finding a solution to his problem,by asking neighbours if they are experiencing similar he can quickly discount or confirm some potential fault possibilities.

teajug

Thanks everyone for help. To verify the digital terrestrial feed is present at the socket, would this be from TV to the wall socket inside the building, or from roof of the building to the TV wall socket please.

50 channels or more was been received on the TV before the switchover last year and now only getting one channel with a mono signal TV screen that was not on it before the switchover. This would imply that it is an aerial fault. The TV was re-tuned and was told then that it was aerial on the roof of the building.

Please be assured the intention is not to put obstacles in the way of getting it fixed. However, time is a premium and if possible would prefer not to waste it with people that failed to return the TV to receiving the same amount of channels that was available before the switchover. I am just trying to ascertain where the fault is. Over the weekend when there is more time I will try what has been suggested do far to see if that will work.

The contractors installed sockets last year in residents flats for TV and satellite feeds, I note that there is a lot of satellite dishes up on the block of flats and perhaps that is helping others to get their signal. Residents have told me that they had to get their provider in to rectify their TV after the contractors been and put in TV sockets for connected the roof of the building.
Hopefully I will not have the contractors back after I checked the fee from the TV to the wall socket.

Ectophile

I don't think anyone can tell if it's an aerial fault or a faulty TV unless someone comes and tests it.

Just plugging a known good Freeview TV (e.g. a portable TV borrowed from someone else) into the socket would tell you something.

keith1950

Please be assured the intention is not to put obstacles in the way of getting it fixed. However, time is a premium and if possible would prefer not to waste it with people that failed to return the TV to receiving the same amount of channels that was available before the switchover. I am just trying to ascertain where the fault is. Over the weekend when there is more time I will try what has been suggested do far to see if that will work.

You seem to be repeating the same things over and over again without trying to understand the advice that has been given to you.

Firstly try another tv and aerial flylead, it doesn't have to be a large tv a small 15" flatscreen will do, retune it and see what you get.

This will tell you whether or not it is the aerial system or the tv that is the problem.

Secondly you keep repeating about they won't go on the roof, if it a proper communal system then the fault would more likely be in the signal amplification/distribution part of the system which would normally be within the building.

So canvas a few of the other residents to check what their freeview is like. If anyone else has decent reception then its nothing to do with the aerial itself but the distribution part of the system.

Thirdly you keep mentioning about 'mono' coming up , this would only happen with the analogue tuner .

What happens when you do a retune, does it search the whole band and say 'no channels found' ?

It is all about following a logical approach to eliminate what is might or might not be.

They will only require access to your flat to check the signal from your wall socket, they are not going to waste their time starting on the roof and working backwards. They start at your wall socket and then work back towards the aerial.

If you have no signal at your wall socket they will try other flats to so see who is and who isn't getting a signal and only then move on to the distribution amplifiers and ultimately the aerial.

They won't take your word for it , so if you want this sorted let them into your flat for a couple of minutes .

If you cannot use logic by trying another tv and flylead and canvassing others residents you will have to let them do their job the way 'they' want....the logical way !!

System

teajug wrote: »

Digital aerial on roof of block of flats, council has been charging £4 a month for this service

They charged you rent for a TV aerial............please tell me your having us on?

teajug wrote: »

, but it is not working. When the TV is turned on it say DTV but at the bottom if TV screen it says MONO, does this mean that it is not connected to the aerial on the roof of the building. Can only receive BBC1 and that freezes after a couple of minutes.

Try a different Scart of HDMI lead

keith1950

Am I missing something here ? How could you possibly receive a free view signal through a scart or HDMI lead ? That would only be any use if he was using an external digital box such as sky or free view box.