Baffled by Freeview manual tuning

JohnB47

I live in east Devon and I get my best TV signal from Beacon Hill (which I'm sure is correct, 'cos that's what was done by a bloke I paid to come and sort out my PVR freezes).

Anyhoo, today I decided to retune again and on the digitaluk.co.uk site, it says that for Beacon Hill, I should tune to channels 40, 41, 42, 44, 45 and 47.

So having done that, two questions.

Why did ch 47 show zero signal quality but a strength of around 70%. For that reason, it searched but couldn't find anything. I think Ch 47 is the one that provides the HD channels (BBC1, 2 etc).

Next, why, when I look at what BBC1 is tuned to, does it say ch 33. I didn't tune to ch 33.

I'm confused.

p.s. I did that 'reorder channel list' thingy after manually retuning.

Neil_Jones

Strength of signal means nothing if the quality's no good. Quality is usually more important than strength.

Rather than doing manual retuning (which can confuse the channel line up on the box), its far better to do an auto tune instead which wipes the list and rebuilds it properly.

JohnB47

Neil_Jones wrote: »

Strength of signal means nothing if the quality's no good. Quality is usually more important than strength.

Rather than doing manual retuning (which can confuse the channel line up on the box), its far better to do an auto tune instead which wipes the list and rebuilds it properly.

OK, fair enough. I'll try that.

I was (and still am) having problems with recorded programs freezing and skipping. I had this guy out who said it could be falsely tuning to the wrong transmitter, so he did a manual tune and that's why I have been doing the same.

I'll try auto and get back.

Frozen_up_north

TV tuners can pick out of area signals and not necessarily tune correctly.

Occasionally, I’ve found it necessary to fit an attenuator in the aerial lead to “force” the auto tune to pick the stronger local signals. eBay item number 151584799108 shows a 12 dB attenuator, I have a similar one and also a 6dB one. Used together it gives 18dB. How much attenuation is needed to stop troublesome tuners auto picking far off signals depends on your location. Remove the attenuator after tuning.

Recently there has been interference due to high pressure, it plays havoc with digital signals by picking up signals from much further away than normal. Sometimes there is engineering work at the TV transmitter resulting in reduced power. It’s also possible that 4G mobile sites could cause problems, although in areas where that is likely there has been local publicity and offers of free filters.

badmemory

I always try to retune with cloud cover & no rain & definitely no strong sunshine. This morning was ideal before it started to drizzle!

[Deleted User]

JohnB47 wrote: »

OK, fair enough. I'll try that.

I was (and still am) having problems with recorded programs freezing and skipping. I had this guy out who said it could be falsely tuning to the wrong transmitter, so he did a manual tune and that's why I have been doing the same.

I'll try auto and get back.

Dependent on your TV/PVR it may benefit you to plug out the aerial and do a full auto retune (on TV & PVR if you use both tuners). Then plug it back in and do a retune again (on both if needed). That'll clear everything and start afresh.

JohnB47

Colin_Maybe wrote: »

Dependent on your TV/PVR it may benefit you to plug out the aerial and do a full auto retune (on TV & PVR if you use both tuners). Then plug it back in and do a retune again (on both if needed). That'll clear everything and start afresh.

Thanks everyone.

Colin - I'll try that trick tonight.

So, auto tune will actually work even if the aerial isn't plugged in?

It's a clear blue sky here today - perhaps not the best time to retune? Still, I'll go ahead.

Cornucopia

JohnB47 wrote: »

So, auto tune will actually work even if the aerial isn't plugged in?

No - if you fit an attenuator, it goes between the aerial lead and the set-top box.

DoaM

I've lost BBC 4HD and BBC NewsHD from my BT Youview box. I currently have an amplifier in series (because we moved the TV across the room and ran a fairly thin coax cable through a channel routed in the floor, thus increasing the loop impedance) so I might try disconnecting it and re-scanning for channels.

Thanks for the tip.

stator

Beacon hill used to be a C/D transmitter but recently changed to Group B (because of the 5g clearance) , so if you have a C/D antenna you might benefit from replacing it with a Group B antenna, which will pick up the correct signals more strongly and the incorrect signals will be weaker.
You can tell which group antenna you have by looking at the colour of the bung in the end

[Deleted User]

JohnB47 wrote: »

Thanks everyone.

Colin - I'll try that trick tonight.

So, auto tune will actually work even if the aerial isn't plugged in?

It's a clear blue sky here today - perhaps not the best time to retune? Still, I'll go ahead.

Auto tune will work, it just won't find any channels thereby clearing the stored channels.