Freeview on TV not working

miggiwoo

I have Freeview and BT TV and after getting home last Thursday afternoon , found out that all of my Freeview channels weren't working on any of the TV's in my house.
It was the day where is was thunder and lightening , so wonder if this is anything to do with it ( shorted the aerial ? ) I know its a long shot but does seem weird that it was fine before the bad weather.
I have checked with the Freeview website for my area/transmitter but no reported issues.
I have tried unplugging the TV and taking the lead out of the TV as per the Freeview website recommendations. I have then tried re-tuning dozens of times but still no signal

I have gone into the loft where we have a 4 way booster box that is still lit up , checked the cable connection from the aerial into the booster box but it seems fine.

I cant get onto the roof to physically check the aerial but it is still in the same position as previously.


Before I call out an engineer I just wanted any advice if there is anything else I could do/ am missing ?


thanks

Jon_01

Plug the TV directly into the aerial (ie, remove the booster box from the signal path) and see if that's where the problem is.

Croft12

miggiwoo wrote: »

I have Freeview and BT TV and after getting home last Thursday afternoon , found out that all of my Freeview channels weren't working on any of the TV's in my house.
It was the day where is was thunder and lightening , so wonder if this is anything to do with it ( shorted the aerial ? ) I know its a long shot but does seem weird that it was fine before the bad weather.
I have checked with the Freeview website for my area/transmitter but no reported issues.
I have tried unplugging the TV and taking the lead out of the TV as per the Freeview website recommendations. I have then tried re-tuning dozens of times but still no signal

I have gone into the loft where we have a 4 way booster box that is still lit up , checked the cable connection from the aerial into the booster box but it seems fine.

I cant get onto the roof to physically check the aerial but it is still in the same position as previously.


Before I call out an engineer I just wanted any advice if there is anything else I could do/ am missing ?


thanks

Do you need a booster box for any signal strength or you could beg/borrow a set top aerial?


If you have a splitter in the loft you could also remove all cables but the one connected to the tv


The booster box light is just 'power' doesn't I suspect tell you anything about if the circuitry is working or damaged

miggiwoo

Thanks for the replies.
I did as you said and tried a splitter for each TV , which worked fine and got around 110 channels per TV , which is as it was previously.
I have only had the 4 way booster box for around 5 weeks so will try and take it back to Argos for a swap.

agrinnall

It's worth taking it back, but if the box has been damaged by a lightning strike and Argos discover that then I would expect them not to take any responsibility for it.

fenlander_uk

Once upon a time I had a signal booster in the loft because our TV signal was weak. Then the transmitter was upgraded, the signal strength improved and the TV reception got worse. Replacing the booster with a splitter solved the problem. Moral: if you don't need a booster, don't use one - it could do the opposite of what you expect.

Robisere

My experience is similar to Fenlander's. (probably live in the same area)
We run a lounge TV and a PC TV tuner in my desktop room. Before the digital signal was improved by transmitter upgrades, the signal to both was poor, even with a booster. Removed booster at upgrade, fitted a simple splitter and signal was perfect to both TV's.

Boosters can make a poor signal slightly better. Or make no difference whatsoever. Or make the signal worse. There is no hard and fast rule, it all depends upon so many reception variables. Check which transmitter serves your area:
http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/operations/about_the_coverage_checker

Sometimes there is more than one: try each until you find the strongest.