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Thread: Trying to find Freeview TV channels

  1. #1
    Join Date: Feb 2010

    Location: Moved to frozen north, beyond Inverness

    Posts: 2,602
    I'm Dave.

    Default Trying to find Freeview TV channels

    I'm trying to figure out whether it's worth getting Freeview set up in a difficult (IMO) reception area.
    According to the post code checker, the signals should be good, and includes HD reception - but in reality I'm pretty sure they're not.

    http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/coveragechecker/

    A check on transmitters also indiicates "good" reception - http://www.bbc.co.uk/receptionsearch

    Plugging any simple aerial into a TV gives absolutely zilch, nul points, with a channel scan. Not even a sniff of a signal. Big Zero = 0.

    A few neighbours in the area do have Freeview working, so it's possible, though I don't know how good the results are. I think adequate at least.

    I looked at various scanning devices to see if they might help.
    So far I've found some really cheap ones - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kreema-Digi...ass+tv+scanner

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Labgear-278...w+hd+tv+aerial

    and also some slightly more expensive ones -

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fringe-frin...dvb+tv+scanner

    and mention of the signal measurement kit from Horizon, which seems in a completely different league, typically costing around £400

    Some of the scanners seem to do satellite TV and some seem to do both terrrestrial and satellites.
    One cheap satellite scanner is this one - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00O0YA8..._t3_B00LGWN87S

    Of the cheapish ones, the simplest seem to have a needle and dial, while some have a few lights (say 4-5). For low signal areas advice seems to be to go for one with more lights (say around 12). There also seem to be lots of anomalies in trying to pick up DVB-T signals, perhaps due to signal reflections and also to the way signals from different transmitters combine to provide service. See http://www.aerialsandtv.com/awkward-...tallation.html for examples.

    I have got satellite TV working, as well as TV via internet, but I'd like to get Freeview working if at all possible.

    I'm prepared to try with one or two pieces of scanning kit up to £30. Any recommendations?
    Last edited by dave2010; 03-01-2019 at 23:43.
    Dave

  2. #2
    Join Date: Oct 2012

    Location: The Black Country

    Posts: 6,089
    I'm Alan.

    Default

    For any terrestrial reception the better the antenna (highest gain) and the higher it is is critical.

    Put you money into that. If you neighbours have long masts then get a longer one.

    I used to do amateur television on UHF and SHF (microwaves), now that was chasing minute signals. A colleague once said 'When it is stormy weather and you are not worried about your antennas they are not high enough'

  3. #3
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

    Default

    I use only Freeview and get good reception in West London. I have a modest aerial at approximately chimney height on an exterior wall mounted mast.

    (the Radio Times online Freeview TV guide is quite good if anybody is interested)
    It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!

  4. #4
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: http://www.homehifi.co.uk

    Posts: 6,288

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Firebottle View Post
    I used to do amateur television on UHF and SHF (microwaves), now that was chasing minute signals. A colleague once said 'When it is stormy weather and you are not worried about your antennas they are not high enough'
    You bring back fond memories of absent friends when I lived in the tropics.

    I did quite a bit of work on freeview aerials about 15 years ago, but only the outdoor aerials managed a good signal. the DTV expectations and promises were that indoor aerial signals would improve once the analogue channels were switched off. Well, that was a pack of lies.

  5. #5
    Join Date: Feb 2013

    Location: W Lothian

    Posts: 99,005
    I'm Grant.

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    Yup an outside roof aerial is best. a loft one is minimum really with modern TV tuners and digital free view.
    I can nearly see the mast and need one
    Last edited by struth; 03-01-2019 at 10:34.
    Regards,
    Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse

    I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work
    .... ..... ...... ...... ................... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
    FIIO K7 BT, M11 PLUS, BTR7, KA5 - OPPO BDP-103D - PANASONIC UB450 - PANASONIC 4K ULTRA HD TV - PIXEL 6 - AVANTREE LR BLUETOOTH - 2* X600 SOUNDCORE - HEADPHONES INCLUDE, FIIO, NURAPHONES', FOCAL, OPPO, BOSE, CAMBRIDGE, BOWER & WILKINS, DEVIALET, MARSHALL, SONY, MITCHELL & JOHNSTON - 2*ZBOOK'S- MERCURY BD ROM, ROON, QOBUZ, TIDAL, PLEX, CYBERLINK, JRIVER - MULTI HDD'S -

    Oh my god! There's nothing wrong with the bidet is there?

    “Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".

    “You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”

    "You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”

    “There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!”


    ***SMILE, BE HAPPY***

  6. #6
    Join Date: Dec 2014

    Location: UK, inactive

    Posts: 1,570
    I'm inactive.

    Default

    I got a local guy to remove an old one and install an aerial for DB about 10 years ago and it works brilliantly (includes HD reception)
    Didn't really fancy scrambling around the roof of our typical semi
    Cost was about £120 all in - which I think very reasonable.
    He was also a great bloke to chat to and repaired our flat screen TV a couple of years later when the PSU went (charged very little too..)
    Worked so well that I also asked him back a couple of years ago to add an FM/DAB aerial.

    He brought his own meter to get the best setup angle so I have no suggestions.

  7. #7
    Join Date: Dec 2014

    Location: UK, inactive

    Posts: 1,570
    I'm inactive.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by struth View Post
    Yup an outside roof aerial is best. a loft one is minimum really with modern TV tuners and digital free view.
    Yep, I put one of these loft jobbies in the rafters of our (single storey) garage, works a treat for £16.99 .. but no HD:



    https://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-y...d-aerial/33455

  8. #8
    Join Date: Mar 2017

    Location: Seaford UK

    Posts: 1,861
    I'm Dennis.

    Default

    I'm pleased that you have raised the issue Dave, I have been having trouble with DVB ever since I got it. Readily identifiable is that my reception of the 'lower down the list' of freeview channels are often lost as a result of weather patterns.

    This particularly irks me because I am not a fan, (despite my past), of the BBC, and ITV. So, I was considering Freesat which most around where I am seem to opt for. However a friend in Torquay says that he also often loses stations with freesat.
    Also I live on the seafront, and a high (Ron Smith type) aerial is precluded because of storms.

    I'm surprised that London is not well covered, but it may just be an obstacle local to you; when in London 24 years ago my FM reception was good with only an internal dipole on the curtain rail on the ground floor.

    Recently my view has become, that if the media are so poor, I cannot bother with it, and put on the radio for the odd few good tracks, surfing instead.

    So what are the deficiencies if any. of your Freesat Dave? IMO a roof aerial is essential if high def. matters to you, and I do get it intermittently, but as stated before, if you are eating poison, does it matter if the spoon is clean?

  9. #9
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: A Strangely Isolated Place in Suffolk with Far Away Trains Passing By...

    Posts: 14,535
    I'm David.

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    Living on the Suffolk coast, we're often the last to get anything here, including an unreliable postal service (you miss days and get a pile on the following day...). Our freeview isn't that wonderful, but we get the obvious stations plus HD as well with very little breakup, but some of the other stations do break up and 'glitch' to the point that when atmospherics come into play, I seriously considered looking at freesat (I pay enough for fibre broadband and phone, i'm damned if I'm paying more).

    Interesting, the cheapo receivers I have here are often better than the 'reference' Humax and Sony freeview receivers of a decade ago, such is progress.

    Thing is, for people like me, the 'pixillation' on freeview pictures is horrible on a bigger screen set (many modern flat TV's are shit for my eyes as well, but that's changing for the better each year it seems). We only have small tellies here at home so it's not so bad, but go over 32" and it becomes awful from what I've seen (loads of lo-res TV channels of low rent content, rather that fewer stations of better broadcast quality)... I'm told freesat is better and the Sky boxes seem good on quality too. Hopefully I'm not totally out of my tree on this...
    Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
    Crying out at the top of my voice; Tell me now if you can hear me

  10. #10
    Join Date: Feb 2013

    Location: W Lothian

    Posts: 99,005
    I'm Grant.

    Default

    not had tv for a few months now and dont miss it one bit
    Regards,
    Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse

    I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work
    .... ..... ...... ...... ................... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
    FIIO K7 BT, M11 PLUS, BTR7, KA5 - OPPO BDP-103D - PANASONIC UB450 - PANASONIC 4K ULTRA HD TV - PIXEL 6 - AVANTREE LR BLUETOOTH - 2* X600 SOUNDCORE - HEADPHONES INCLUDE, FIIO, NURAPHONES', FOCAL, OPPO, BOSE, CAMBRIDGE, BOWER & WILKINS, DEVIALET, MARSHALL, SONY, MITCHELL & JOHNSTON - 2*ZBOOK'S- MERCURY BD ROM, ROON, QOBUZ, TIDAL, PLEX, CYBERLINK, JRIVER - MULTI HDD'S -

    Oh my god! There's nothing wrong with the bidet is there?

    “Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".

    “You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”

    "You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”

    “There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!”


    ***SMILE, BE HAPPY***

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