my tv arial signal and freeview.. (Need help) (this is a interesting one)

IceShock

IceShock

IceShock

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Halifax W'Yorkshire
Right-o.. here goes my explination on what the hecks going on :)

Heres 2 pictures, one of my LG 32" tv and one of my tv arial which i got from argos which iv had for 2 years now, the arial is one that plugs into a electric plug socket aswell.
http://img69.imageshack.us/i/dsc06224m.jpg/
http://img408.imageshack.us/i/dsc06228m.jpg/

And heres the story: for the past 2 years of using this arial and tv with built in freeview (which iv never been able to get for reasons ill explain in a second), this is my bedroom so iv not been botherd as there is sky downstairs which i never watch anyway so iv always just watched channel 1 to 4 that i could get, channels 1 and 2 fairly good signal and channel 3 was turd so watching corrie last night i decided to let the tv do its auto signal tuning.. and when i got back for some reason for the first time ever iv started recieving some digital channels (dave sky3 and some others including bbc and itv in digital) and i almost jumped for joy as daves my favourite channel... but the signal is absolutely Terrible the pictures always breaking up in squares and lagging and audio lags, some of the freeview channels dont work at all.. and im not formilliar with digital.. anyhow..

Heres another picture a map on Why iv not been able to get freeview and im not supposed to be able to get it till september 2011, and the reason for that is that theres a bloody stupid hill in the way of the transmitter so there building a mast to divert the signal to us which will be active september..
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/3495/tvsignal.jpg

the key to this picture is
Red circle : Emley moor transmitter mast
Yellow: just general signal thats directed to us
Blue: semptember 2011 as it goes to a mast on the other side of the valley then sent to where untitled placemark is at my home
Pink: the stupid hill blocking view of emley moor mast that stops my circle of houses on this village from getting freeview


so whys it started working now? and whys the signal so bad, and how do i make it better so its watchable?
the normal tv channels 1-4 that are picked up by the arial signal the non digital work fine better than ever, but why its getting freeview now i dont know lol.

you boffins are more experienced with this than me what are your thoughts
 
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Your aerial is crap, indoor antennas are only any good if you live practically next door to the transmitter.

It could have started working for many reasons - change in weather, change in local interference conditions etc. Impossible to say.

You can improve your signal with a good quality roof aerial and associated cabling.
 
They have been boosting the freeview signal on transmitters since the switch over earlier this year, that why you are getting some now.

As Caged said unless your very close to one then the aerial you have at the moment is no good, you need at least a loft aerial.

Where I am now we have the main transmitter in Swansea, and a relay transmitter on top of the mountain about a mile away and still get a bad signal on a small indoor aerial like yours unless we are up stairs with a clear line of site.

Also note that using boosters will also boost the interference as digital is more about the stream quality then the strength.
 
As the others have said, indoor aerials are naff anywhere. Let alone if you're in a weaker signal area due to the landscape!

Get a proper aerial, it's the best option anywhere.
 
indoor aerials are not naff - some are but some are good

get the SLX aerial - a simple google will tell you its the best.

google this:

SLX Amplified High Performance Indoor TV Aerial

it does depend on where you live though. but to get the best signal you need a roof aerial or a loft aerial. failing them go with the above.
 
thanks for the replys :)

iv got a unused huge arial on top of my house as it is that goes to a socket in the wall downstairs, ill get a extention cable for my tv and drill a hole in the floor and send the cable downstairs to it. should do the trick, i dont know a lot about arials but its about 5 foot big so it should work haha.

also was looking at my tv settings last night, the diagnostics say that my signal strenght is about 80% out of 100, but the signal quality goes from 60% to 1% ether every few seconds or it ether stays at 60% for 10 mins which is watchable, or if im unlucky it goes to 1% dont know why it does this though any ideas?
 
My mums tv reception has been playin up recently, she lives in Scarborough, right near Olivers Mount (another TV Broadcast point), 2 TV's in the house recieve reception from Olivers Mount and the other one is from Emly Moor and its this one thats been playing up. Upon further investigation Emly Moor is undergoing major redevelopment for the next couple of months and will effect all transmissions. All she had to do was retune the TV to use Olivers Mount.

Odd how out of 3 TV's one finds reception for a transmission source further away than the other two TV's.
 
had the same problem as you ( original poster ) for years had no freeview signal as a nice big hill was in the way lol . in the end we added a nice big new digital arial and a mains booster . fitted by an expert . cost was £150 total .. few of my neighbours used the same guy so i new i was getting a good price . my area has good hd freeview as well apparntly .. so our tvs are out of date lol and i only bought mine last june 09

got sky as well tho so hd is not a issue :D
 
IceShock said:
thanks for the replys :)

iv got a unused huge arial on top of my house as it is that goes to a socket in the wall downstairs, ill get a extention cable for my tv and drill a hole in the floor and send the cable downstairs to it. should do the trick, i dont know a lot about arials but its about 5 foot big so it should work haha.

also was looking at my tv settings last night, the diagnostics say that my signal strenght is about 80% out of 100, but the signal quality goes from 60% to 1% ether every few seconds or it ether stays at 60% for 10 mins which is watchable, or if im unlucky it goes to 1% dont know why it does this though any ideas?
Click to expand...

Signal strength is high because your using an ampified indoor antenna, signal quality is bad for exactly the same reason, plus its probably picking interference from other radio transmitters, and/or electrical devices (fridge/freeze.. neighbours wifi connection ETC ETC).

Roofing tiles cut signal strength a fair bit, brick walls cut signal strength a lot, which is why roof antenna are best for medium to low signal areas. Size of the antenna is only half the story, it has to be an antenna that is tuned to receive the desired band. This can mean a wideband antenna which can cover the entire UK TV band (which is really needed if you want both analog or digital), or a narrowband antenna which is tuned for the exact band that digital is broadcast from your best line of sight mast.

Mind you there is nothing to stop you trying the existing antenna, just dont get too upset if its not the right type for digital in your area.
 
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