TV aerial advice

[stevesuk]

Hi all,

We live just outside Poole in Dorset, and get our TV signal from the Rowridge transmitter on the Isle of Wight - about 30 miles away, via a loft aerial with a masthead amplifier.

We live on the top of a hill, so despite being some way from the transmitter, everything was perfect until March, when there was a re-tune event. I noticed then that we lost a handful of channels (e.g. BBC Four HD and some other channels that I think in Freeview terminology make up "COM8").

There was another re-tune event yesterday, and I was hoping the missing channels might have come back - but they haven't. In fact, we lost even more channels (Channel 4+1 HD, BBC News HD... all of those on COM7?).

The obvious answer I guess is to move the aerial out of the loft and put it on the outside of the house. But to be honest, they're not channels that we watch all the time, so I don't want to go to all the hassle of doing that.

I'm just wondering whether anyone can recommend a particular type of aerial I can fit in the loft (to replace our existing aerial) that might help us to pick up these lost channels - given that we're quite a distance from the transmitter?

Thanks!

Steve.

[anonymous-user]

Weird that. Different atea. I lost the same channels as you about 3 weeks ago. I thought the problem was mine, no problems on the freeview websites. All signal tests via TV menu were spot on though.
They all returned a couple of days ago!

[megaphone]

OP Is your aerial mounted horizontally or vertically? Rowridge has both 'polarisation' the vertical has a stronger signal but has less channels.

Do you know if you have a band A aerial or a wideband? They have shifted the COM7HD and COM8HD muxes to channel 55 and 56, these channels are outside the Band A group that the transmitter was on.

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

https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Rowridge

Edited by megaphone on Thursday 3rd May 17:20

Edited by megaphone on Thursday 3rd May 17:25

Edited by megaphone on Thursday 3rd May 17:25

[clockworks]

We don't even get com7 down here in west Cornwall, it's not on our local transmitter (Redruth). I have BBC News on most of the day while I'm in the workshop, so I got a Freesat box so that I could watch it in HD via the old Sky dish.

[stevesuk]

megaphone said:

OP Is your aerial mounted horizontally or vertically? Rowridge has both 'polarisation' the vertical has a stronger signal but has less channels.

Do you know if you have a band A aerial or a wideband? They have shifted the COM7HD and COM8HD muxes to channel 55 and 56, these channels are outside the Band A group that the transmitter was on.

I have the aerial mounted horizontally. I understand that COM7 and COM8 are only broadcast in the horizontal polarisation anyway?

We purchased the aerial about 10 years ago. Visually, it looks a bit like this one:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-19-element-wide...

One thing I read is that they've not only moved the channels, but also reduced their power output - which could explain why we (30 or more miles from the transmitter) can no longer receive them?

Whats frustrating is that until March, we had perfect reception on every channel.

Apparently if you lose channels after the transmitter is reconfigured, then Freeview will send someone round your house for free to fix it. So maybe that's my next port of call? The website even suggests that they can fit a new aerial for you for free if it turns out their reconfiguration work has caused you to lose reception... but personally I don't believe that you get anything for free, so there's bound to be a catch

[KenD]

stevesuk said:

Hi all,

We live just outside Poole in Dorset, and get our TV signal from the Rowridge transmitter on the Isle of Wight - about 30 miles away, via a loft aerial with a masthead amplifier.

We live on the top of a hill, so despite being some way from the transmitter, everything was perfect until March, when there was a re-tune event. I noticed then that we lost a handful of channels (e.g. BBC Four HD and some other channels that I think in Freeview terminology make up "COM8").

There was another re-tune event yesterday, and I was hoping the missing channels might have come back - but they haven't. In fact, we lost even more channels (Channel 4+1 HD, BBC News HD... all of those on COM7?).

The obvious answer I guess is to move the aerial out of the loft and put it on the outside of the house. But to be honest, they're not channels that we watch all the time, so I don't want to go to all the hassle of doing that.

I'm just wondering whether anyone can recommend a particular type of aerial I can fit in the loft (to replace our existing aerial) that might help us to pick up these lost channels - given that we're quite a distance from the transmitter?

Thanks!

Steve.

I have had exactly the same problems as you, I am not convinced it is an aerial issue, I live about 3 miles from Rowridge ( south of Southampton) in a direct line and can get a signal with only the aerial lead plugged in. I haven't bothered to fix it as I also have virgin. i will try and have a look at it this weekend. The UK freeview site is still showing it as C37.
The aerial you have is similar to mine and is wideband so not sure if this is an aerial problem

Edited by KenD on Friday 4th May 09:14

Edited by KenD on Friday 4th May 09:15

[stevesuk]

KenD said:

I have had exactly the same problems as you, I am not convinced it is an aerial issue, I live about 3 miles from Rowridge ( south of Southampton) in a direct line and can get a signal with only the aerial lead plugged in. I haven't bothered to fix it as I also have virgin. i will try and have a look at it this weekend. The UK freeview site is still showing it as C37.
The aerial you have is similar to mine and is wideband so not sure if this is an aerial problem

I asked on our local Facebook group, and plenty of other locals seem to have the same issue. I'm going to ring the helpline when I finish work (apparently its open 9-6 Monday to Friday). If they want to send someone out to fit a free aerial, then that's OK with me. But like you say - only if its actually going to solve the problem.

[TheInternet]

stevesuk said:

I asked on our local Facebook group, and plenty of other locals seem to have the same issue. I'm going to ring the helpline when I finish work (apparently its open 9-6 Monday to Friday). If they want to send someone out to fit a free aerial, then that's OK with me. But like you say - only if its actually going to solve the problem.

They won't attempt unless there's good reason to believe it will help. What are you watching with, out of interest?

[stevesuk]

TheInternet said:

They won't attempt unless there's good reason to believe it will help. What are you watching with, out of interest?

Mainly through a (contract free) YouView box. We also have a Sony Freeview HD TV - same problem on both. We don't have Sky or Cable etc. It's not a massive deal (although I did watch BBC News HD and BBC Four HD quite often). But, I don't see why I should suffer losing these channels that were previously working fine, just because Freeview decided to change something.

On the remaining channels, the YouView box is giving a signal strength rating of 97% and signal quality rating of 100%. So I don't think there's a general problem with reception - just that these two MUX have fallen off the list.

[megaphone]

A lot of these changes are to make way for 5G mobile signals, they will use the 700mhz spectrum, C51-C54 I believe.

[KenD]

stevesuk said:

I asked on our local Facebook group, and plenty of other locals seem to have the same issue. I'm going to ring the helpline when I finish work (apparently its open 9-6 Monday to Friday). If they want to send someone out to fit a free aerial, then that's OK with me. But like you say - only if its actually going to solve the problem.

I had a look at my aerial this morning and it is not wideband. It looks similar but the dimensions are different.

There should be a coloured bung in the boom of the aerial, wideband is black , if it is red, yellow or green it is not wideband and this is why you have lost channels, to complicate maters if the aerial is a cheap foreign import it may not be colour coded.

I have bought the cheap screwfix wideband aerial (you linked to it above) and replaced the existing aerial in the loft - problem solved. It may be worth trying that.

[stevesuk]

KenD said:

I had a look at my aerial this morning and it is not wideband. It looks similar but the dimensions are different.

There should be a coloured bung in the boom of the aerial, wideband is black , if it is red, yellow or green it is not wideband and this is why you have lost channels, to complicate maters if the aerial is a cheap foreign import it may not be colour coded.

I have bought the cheap screwfix wideband aerial (you linked to it above) and replaced the existing aerial in the loft - problem solved. It may be worth trying that.

Thanks, I have been up in the loft this morning in fact, and tried to find some identifying marks or labels so I could Google it ... but nothing. I am thinking it’s probably not wideband. For the sake of a few quid and 5 minutes in the loft, I think I’m going to try swapping it.