[bulldoze]

Just had a TV engineer around who tried for 2 hours to get us some kind of digital option for TV in my area.

I was at work but my wife was in and it went something like this.

Tried to get us SKY and set up dishes in various areas around our property but because of large trees he said this was not an option and SKY would never work.

Then tried to get us freeview and he replaced the masthead amplifier and did some tests but could not get us the BBC channels on mux 1. He then got another (more expensive) antenna setup and tried again and still no luck with mux 1 - he said the signal was strong but the signal quality was never going to be good enough to pick up the BBC channels.

So we have paid £85 pound and are in the exact same situation as before! no digital tv for us!

I dont understand why the bbc channels are susceptible to noise issues and the other channels are not.

can anybody help?

[N.Dean]

If you are in an area where analogue TV has not yet been switched off, then the digital signals are running on low power. The strenght of freeview signals will increase considerably at DSO, when the analogue transmissions are turned off.

[ROYOLD]

Large trees around the property also attenuate the freeview digital
signals. Conditions should improve when the analogue transmissions are switched off and the power on the freeview digital channels is increased.

Freeview Information - Free-to-view TV in the UK#

If you can receive some of the freeview channels but not others you could try fitting a one outlet TV booster near the TV set.

http://www.maxview.co.uk/products/mu...ionl_amps.html

[wolverine2031]

isnt it possible to fit Freesat on a 2 metre pole with dish.

its only in rare cases that my past surveys have been completed obscured by trees, and buildings around the full perimeter.

or may be its time to think about having a neighbourly discussion about the trees.
then again you havent give much information about where your situated.

past advice was good too-since i live between two transmitters so have options where I want my signal from, but even my analogue is virtually non existent now on all channels, and digital as recently seen me get on BBC on and off for a number of weeks.

I cant wait for DSO, but until the government and consortiums get some cash in and pull their fingers out some people will still be having problems for a while yet.

good luck

dont forget to leave thanks where its due.

[bulldoze]

Thanks for the replies guys.

The one thing I do not understand is that I thought the mux 1 channels were the strongest so if that was the case I should get the BBC channels and not the others?

The freeview box tells me that signal strength is maximum but signal quality fluctuates between strong and weak on some channels -particularly cbeebies which is the only bbc channel I can get (but it breaks up regularly)

analogue channels is not too bad and I get an acceptable picture.

I live in the RG40 3xx area

[Adrian_F]

Are you possibly trying to receive a signal from Crystal Palace with a Wideband aerial ? If so then that is most likely the problem. Crystal Palace is a Group A transmitter and Mux 1 is near the bottom of Group A. While a Wideband aerial is a poor performer in Group A, ( particularly at the bottom of the group) coupled with the fact that you do not have clear line of site to Crystal Palace adding to your reception problems. Either get a Group A aerial for Crystal Palace or turn the aerial towards Hannington and try again.

[bulldoze]

Shouldn't the engineer have known all this and done all this? my wife says that he was there for 2 hours trying different aerials and directions and he could still not get mux 1.

I find it difficult to believe that there is not a solution to this.

[wolverine2031]

shame to see it but not all engineers are experienced as others.

[ROYOLD]

Wolfbane predicts - not accurate as postcode not correct -

UK digital TV reception predictor

as also grid conversion results which are approximated :

Grid Conversion Results

Terrain from Hannington to approximated location shows no obstacles.

Terrain between SU813655 (10 m a.g.l.) and Hannington, SU527568 (antenna 339 m A.O.D.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location

Read the comments on Hannington - others are having trouble with Mux 1.

Freeview on Hannington TV transmitter | ukfree.tv - independent digital television and switchover advice, since 2002

[bulldoze]

Is there anything else I can do to remedy this situation?

Is there a recommended TV engineer in the area (Reading/Wokingham) who fancies a challenge?

[ROYOLD]

Best to contact a member of the CAI (Confederation of Aerial Industries) in the reading area.

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