Poor TV signal

pocketslint

housing association

My housing provides a communal dish/aerial and bars any tenant from attaching anything to the exterior of the building for aesthetic reasons. I don't get a proper signal from their dish/aerial and have been fobbed off with excuses. Surely if I agree to their written tenancy agreement I am entitled to expect a basic service (freeview, bbc 1) regardless of the technical problems. Does anyone know where I stand exactly. Thanks as always, pox. :j

penrhyn

Is it just you or are others having problems? I guess the service will be covered by your lease.

pocketslint

The old lady upstairs isn't overly concerned and the rest have cable, as do I. But why do I have to pay for cable, I would be happy with freeview. When I was a child I watched men walk on the moon on TV. Surely if it's only a matter of cost the Housing should pay as the no satellite rule is of their making. I do agree with their rule that limits the blight that is a multi tenanted building covered with Sat dishes but I want my TV.

penrhyn

When I was in a flat getting the management company to do anything was a pain, made me wonder what I paid the service charge for.

pocketslint

That is my point exactly. I live in a major city (Glasgow) and have been told that the poor signal is because I am in between two masts. Surely then I should be getting twice the signal that everyone else gets. But regardless it cannot be technically impossible to get me a decent signal. The cable guy mentioned a booster but said it may be broken or was not installed as they are expensive. Cost should not be an issue unless they scrap their dish/aerial that does not work. They have agreed to provide a communal signal and at this point in time they are not doing that.

wiogs

You mention dish/aerial but I assume since you also mention masts that it is an aerial not a dish?

If you are at the edge of two transmission areas I am not sure why you think you should be getting twice the signal. (whatever that might mean)

Do you know what transmitter your aerial points at?

If it is a communal aerial that feeds all the properties then it will (should!) be fed into a distribution amplifier before being fed into each flat.

It would be worth checking with all the other tenants to see if it is a general problem.

pocketslint

Thanks all. I do believe that I have a point but I never really had the time or knowledge to go forward with it. I can get my digital signal details from my TV menu etc., and I will take it back up with the housing again. I won't be fobbed off this time. Thanks again, I'll keep in touch.

wiogs

If this is something the housing people are meant to be supplying then it should work.

What do you mean by saying you don't get a "proper" signal? Do some channels work and some don't?

pocketslint

Hi again, I was told originally that I was at the edge of two masts, Blackhill and one in Ayrshire. I do get a signal but I only get very few channels without cable. I'm not particularly interested in the technics of it all. I just think that if they (Housing Assoc) have taken it upon themselves to deliver a signal then I should be getting a decent signal at no further cost to myself.

wiogs

The Ayrshire one may well be Darvel.

What channels do you get?

pocketslint

Yes, Darvel, that's it. I'm afraid that it has been so long since I watched without cable, which I want to cancel, that I cannot remember (I am not at home just now or I could tell you). I do recall that stations come and go and what you get one day you may well not get the next. If I remember rightly my signal is coming from Blackhill (Auto tune gives you the ID No.).