TV Aerial advice
Discussion
In readiness for our Virgin Media TV being cancelled, I needed to reinstate our loft aerial to get access to Freeview channels. I tested the cable that was still in place with a small loop aerial and all was looking good. I bought one of these based on the reviews:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00I7TUH7C/ref...
We're about 10 miles SW of Crystal Palace transmitter.
Now it's in, I can only get the ITV / CH4 stations on CH26. I have tried rotating it without any resulting difference. It is pointed due NE in a fairly flat position. There was a simpler aerial in when we bought the house and that worked fine but I took it out when the OH kept banging her head on it and we weren't using DVB.
Any ideas what might be wrong ?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00I7TUH7C/ref...
We're about 10 miles SW of Crystal Palace transmitter.
Now it's in, I can only get the ITV / CH4 stations on CH26. I have tried rotating it without any resulting difference. It is pointed due NE in a fairly flat position. There was a simpler aerial in when we bought the house and that worked fine but I took it out when the OH kept banging her head on it and we weren't using DVB.
Any ideas what might be wrong ?
For a start, you don't need a high gain antenna if you're 10 miles from Crystal Palace.
As an example, some cowboy aerial fitter ripped my mum off by installing her TV aerial backwards i.e. it was pointing directly away from Crystal Palace with buildings in the way and she was still getting good Freeview reception. She's about 10 miles east of CP.
There may be hills, trees, buildings etc. between you and the mast, but it's belting out 200kW which is plenty.
I'm 30 miles SW of CP and I only needed a high gain antenna for it when it was transmitting at 1/10th the power it is now.
Before you do anything else, disconnect the aerial from the STB and retune it like that (no signal coming in) so it wipes all the channels and then reconnect the aerial and retune again like a fresh install.
See what you get then.
Check the connection either end of the cable too. Could easily be that.
Take a look here as well
https://ukfree.tv/prediction
Lots of good information and a prediction tool to help choose transmitters. You may be better off using Hannington.
As an example, some cowboy aerial fitter ripped my mum off by installing her TV aerial backwards i.e. it was pointing directly away from Crystal Palace with buildings in the way and she was still getting good Freeview reception. She's about 10 miles east of CP.
There may be hills, trees, buildings etc. between you and the mast, but it's belting out 200kW which is plenty.
I'm 30 miles SW of CP and I only needed a high gain antenna for it when it was transmitting at 1/10th the power it is now.
Before you do anything else, disconnect the aerial from the STB and retune it like that (no signal coming in) so it wipes all the channels and then reconnect the aerial and retune again like a fresh install.
See what you get then.
Check the connection either end of the cable too. Could easily be that.
Take a look here as well
https://ukfree.tv/prediction
Lots of good information and a prediction tool to help choose transmitters. You may be better off using Hannington.
Edited by FurtiveFreddy on Saturday 16th March 17:36
Tried a full reset as suggested but still no difference when it retunes. Seems very odd that its picking up the Ch26 rather than nothing at all. I'll play around with the connector again tomorrow, the barrel nut on the aerial is very slim so its hard to get the woven shield wire seated properly.
I must admit I have never had any luck with loft aerials, admittedly I am more than 10 miles away from my local transmitter.
Have you tried pointing the aerial out of the window in roughly the right direction, it may at least tell you if it is the connector wiring which is causing the problem.
Have you tried pointing the aerial out of the window in roughly the right direction, it may at least tell you if it is the connector wiring which is causing the problem.
That aerial is ridiculously over specced if you’re 10 miles from CP!
You could probably get everything with just a bit of wire hanging out of the socket
I suspect you have a short somewhere at one end or the other.
Have a really good look at the plug to make sure there are no strands of braid shorting across
You could probably get everything with just a bit of wire hanging out of the socket
I suspect you have a short somewhere at one end or the other.
Have a really good look at the plug to make sure there are no strands of braid shorting across
FurtiveFreddy said:
Or the receiver is overloaded. Can you smell burning? 
What signal strength/quality are you getting with the channels you can pick up?
Serious suggestion - turn the antenna around so it's facing away from CP and see if that helps.
On our Panasonic TV the signal strength when I seek the ITV channels has either been 1 or 6 (don't know whether 1 is weak or strong).What signal strength/quality are you getting with the channels you can pick up?
Serious suggestion - turn the antenna around so it's facing away from CP and see if that helps.
Funny you should say turn it round, I have a vague memory that the old one was pointing in the opposite direction but I have definitely checked with a compass and it points NE which is correct.
I know the spec is a bit OTT but it wasn't expensive so I thought better to go more capable than super cheap and inadequate.
Crystal Palace transmitter signal is strongest to the north, put your postcode in here and tick detailed view, it will confirm which transmitter you should be on and what the signal will be.
http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/operations/about_the_co...
AS others have said, it may be too much signal overloading the TV tuner, once you know the details above you can work from there.
http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/operations/about_the_co...
AS others have said, it may be too much signal overloading the TV tuner, once you know the details above you can work from there.
Edited by megaphone on Sunday 17th March 10:43
Have you checked the polarity? I'm about a mile away from our local transmitter, couldn't figure out why the reception was so poor, checked all the connections etc. Then realised while driving down the street casually looking at everyone else's aerial I had it horizontal instead of vertical.
Well I wasn't expecting this outcome.....
I thought it best to check the basics so went up on the garage roof to check the condition of the coax which has probably been installed several decades. Lo and behold I found someone or something had actually severed the cable so it wasn't even connected. I can't believe I got any channels at all with just a fly-lead. Also weird whenever I played with the aerial connection and retuned I got a different set of channels and strengths.
Now got 120+ channels on strength 10.
Thanks all for the suggestions
I thought it best to check the basics so went up on the garage roof to check the condition of the coax which has probably been installed several decades. Lo and behold I found someone or something had actually severed the cable so it wasn't even connected. I can't believe I got any channels at all with just a fly-lead. Also weird whenever I played with the aerial connection and retuned I got a different set of channels and strengths.
Now got 120+ channels on strength 10.
Thanks all for the suggestions
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