Quizzes & Puzzles15 mins ago
Some Tv Channels Have Disappeared, Others Are Broken Up
8 Answers
Freeview Terrestrial. Yesterday am. , no channels at all. Later some returned, but no BBC ones and some are broken up. BBC Cirencester (Daglingworth) site reports 'no problems.
I have unplugged etc and retuned several times. What might be wrong?
I have unplugged etc and retuned several times. What might be wrong?
Answers
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I've provided the following answer well over a hundred times here in the past and, to the best of my knowledge, it's never failed to resolve the problem yet!
You've described the classic signs of insufficient signal strength. Freeview channels are transmitted in 'bundles', called 'multiplexes', with each multiplex using a different frequency. Theoretically you should have a different TV aerial for each multiplex, so that the elements can be exactly the right length to 'resonate' with the relevant frequency. That's impractical, so we all use aerial which are only a 'rough match' to the frequencies in use. That means that any aerial will be better at 'pulling in' some multiplexes than others.
The BBC channels are all transmitted using the 'PSB1' multiplex and that, it seems, uses a frequency which your aerial is only poorly matched to. So, if reception conditions aren't at their best, you'll lose the BBC channels.
Reception conditions don't remain constant. They're affected by many things, such as the 11-year sunspot cycle, individual flares on the Sun's surface, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, transmission path obstructions (such as new building being erected between the transmitter and your aerial or even just a tree growing), interference from within your own home (e.g. from a computer or inkjet printer), interference from neighbouring properties, etc, etc.
Further, the introduction of 5G mobile phone signals has forced some changes to the frequencies used by Freeview transmitters and, importantly, has often required the use of lower power by those transmitters.
So, for whatever reason, your aerial isn't up to the job. (When we switched over from analogue to digital TV it was estimated that around a third of households would need to get new aerials. That didn't happen but it should hardly be seen as surprising if millions of people are still using aerials that aren't as good as they could be at 'pulling in' signals when reception conditions aren't at their best).
The vast majority of people who encounter the problems that you're now experiencing don't actually need a new aerial though. It's usually possible to improve the signal strength sufficiently simply by purchasing one of these
https:/
and one of these
https:/
(I recommend retuning your set after fitting them).
You've described the classic signs of insufficient signal strength. Freeview channels are transmitted in 'bundles', called 'multiplexes', with each multiplex using a different frequency. Theoretically you should have a different TV aerial for each multiplex, so that the elements can be exactly the right length to 'resonate' with the relevant frequency. That's impractical, so we all use aerial which are only a 'rough match' to the frequencies in use. That means that any aerial will be better at 'pulling in' some multiplexes than others.
The BBC channels are all transmitted using the 'PSB1' multiplex and that, it seems, uses a frequency which your aerial is only poorly matched to. So, if reception conditions aren't at their best, you'll lose the BBC channels.
Reception conditions don't remain constant. They're affected by many things, such as the 11-year sunspot cycle, individual flares on the Sun's surface, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, transmission path obstructions (such as new building being erected between the transmitter and your aerial or even just a tree growing), interference from within your own home (e.g. from a computer or inkjet printer), interference from neighbouring properties, etc, etc.
Further, the introduction of 5G mobile phone signals has forced some changes to the frequencies used by Freeview transmitters and, importantly, has often required the use of lower power by those transmitters.
So, for whatever reason, your aerial isn't up to the job. (When we switched over from analogue to digital TV it was estimated that around a third of households would need to get new aerials. That didn't happen but it should hardly be seen as surprising if millions of people are still using aerials that aren't as good as they could be at 'pulling in' signals when reception conditions aren't at their best).
The vast majority of people who encounter the problems that you're now experiencing don't actually need a new aerial though. It's usually possible to improve the signal strength sufficiently simply by purchasing one of these
https:/
and one of these
https:/
(I recommend retuning your set after fitting them).
Fender. Thanks for the advice. I tried and tried your remedy of retuning but, No Go in my case.
Buenchico. Another satisfied customer to add to your list! Despite the TV page in the local Argos shop catalogue index having been inserted upside down, and the item not being on the page shown anyway - and then unreadable as my eyesight's not what it was, I bought the box. To avoid driving 40 miles there and back I had a local shop make up a lead for a fiver.
Simple to fit, and after a re-tune, all is now well. Thank you.
Buenchico. Another satisfied customer to add to your list! Despite the TV page in the local Argos shop catalogue index having been inserted upside down, and the item not being on the page shown anyway - and then unreadable as my eyesight's not what it was, I bought the box. To avoid driving 40 miles there and back I had a local shop make up a lead for a fiver.
Simple to fit, and after a re-tune, all is now well. Thank you.
After the success, I chatted to my computer guru about this and he, having helped me set up the TV came across unexpectedly this pm with a cable. He removed the cables connecting the booster to the TV and wall box and inserted his cable into the TV, and the other end into a different one of the 3 outlets on the wall box - and the TV worked straight away without retuning etc.
He did tell me the reason but I can't remember the details.
No hard feelings!
He did tell me the reason but I can't remember the details.
No hard feelings!
Could be. I live in OP flats (other residents have Sky), when new aerials and wall sockets were refitted about 5 years ago and it will be a battle to get anything done. I can always change back to the booster. Guru made some comments about the various communal aerials. We are only c. 5 miles from Daglingworth. Oddly I found out last pm that 731 Classic fm has no signal so I'll try retuning again. Anyhow, very happy to have TV back thanks to you!
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