Our lounge TV, which is on freesat via dish, receives over 80 TV and Radio channels, our bedroom TV, which is in the room directly above the lounge TV and is on freeview via Ariel will only pick up 20 TV and 16 Radio channels. Is this because there are more broadcasters using Satellite transmission compared to land-based transmitters or is there another reason? Both dish and Ariel are pointing in same direction!
Thanks!
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 19 Mar 18 at 12:45
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Freeview should enable e you to receive 70 TV channels, 15 HD channels, and more than 30 radio.
It will depend however on the quality of your reception.
And your dish and aerial are not pointing in the same direction. The dish is pointing to a satellite in geostationary orbit 280,000 miles above the equator. your aerial is hopefully pointing to a TV mast in line of site!
You can check here what you can expect to receive in your area
www.freeview.co.uk/support/before-you-buy/top-5-questions/what-channels-can-i-get.html#hPDDlQrSVM9QvZ28.97
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Sat 17 Mar 18 at 14:35
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Satellites in geostationary orbit are just over 22,000 miles up.
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You're right. Its a long way
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....I sincerely doubt they are pointing in the same direction! The Dish will be pointing at a satellite miles above the earth, and the aerial at a terrestrial transmitter firmly attached to the ground.
Properly aligned, the dish will pick up a complete set of channels (of around the number you state).
Properly aligned, an aerial *might* pick up roughly the same number (though the channel mix on freesat/freeview is slightly different in most cases).
The most obvious reason for your experience is that your aerial is pointing at a "relay" transmitter, rather than a main one. These are located to fill in blind spots, and usually offer only a restricted set of channels (your numbers look about correct for that).
If your aerial is mounted with the "bars" horizontally, it will almost certainly be pointed at a main transmitter. OTOH, if they are mounted vertically, then you will almost certainly be pointing at a relay (with restricted channels).
There are more sophisticated websites available which will reveal the transmitter you are pointing at, and whether there are alternatives, but a good point for a first check is:
www.freeview.co.uk/channels-at-your-address
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>> The most obvious reason for your experience is that your aerial is pointing at a
>> "relay" transmitter, rather than a main one. These are located to fill in blind spots,
>> and usually offer only a restricted set of channels (your numbers look about correct for
>> that).
Another possibility is that you're using an analogue era aerial. In analogue each main transmitter had four closely spaced channels allocated. Aerials were designed to match the local channels - the coloured band or stop on the aerial indicated which group of channels it was intended for.
On switchover the main public service digital mutliplexes took up the original four channels. However some of the more esoteric services were placed on 'outlier' channels, typically at the higher end of the frequency range. In order to receive these you need a wideband, sometimes called 'digital' aerial. Originally these looked like bigger versions of the old Yagi design aerials but in recent years log periodics have become more common.
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....it's certainly possible that it is a symptom of digital switchover, but this far after, not likely ;-)
I think Devonite lives in Cumbria, and a common number of TV channels received from relay transmitters there is 19/20, with 16 radio channels (and maybe 6HD channels if you have an HD capable TV).
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Pretty close
19 TV 6 HD and 15 radio from the Keswick transmitter
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>> I think Devonite lives in Cumbria, and a common number of TV channels received from
>> relay transmitters there is 19/20, with 16 radio channels (and maybe 6HD channels if you
>> have an HD capable TV).
OP doesn't tell us how long problem has existed.
IIRC Devonite has said he's on coast so possibly in range of Winter Hill or Lancaster full service transmitters. Since the relays only transmit the main Mux the symptoms would be same as with old aerial; main channels only.
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>>
>> The most obvious reason for your experience is that your aerial is pointing at a
>> "relay" transmitter, rather than a main one. These are located to fill in blind spots,
>> and usually offer only a restricted set of channels (your numbers look about correct for
>> that).
>>
>>
>>
^^This^^
We can only get Freeview Lite for that reason, hence having two TV's connected to Freesat. Freeview reception from a relay is also affected by bad weather.
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Thanks for the links ! - it tells me I am getting all the channels I can receive from our local transmitter ( 20 TV, 6hd, and 16 radio), however it also shows me that I could get 83 channels if I re-tune to Winter Hill 1, I followed the re-tune instructions for changing transmitters, but it obviously hasn't worked! still got 20 and 16. So It looks like my option are to stay as it is or more likely put it on dish same as the other, Thanks tho'
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Suspect you'd need a wideband aerial to get all 83.
www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/advice-for-consumers/television/wideband-aerials
Or the extended channels transmit at lower powewr.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sat 17 Mar 18 at 16:38
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.....I suspect that, successfully to tune to Winter Hill you would have to redirect the aerial (and then Bromp's point about the aerial type *might* come in to play, since I think getting all the available channels from WH would need a wideband aerial, which yours currently might not be).
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Thanks for the help folks! - but i must be a bit slow, thick, or missing something somewhere! ;-)
Re-pointed the aeriel the same as others in vicinity,(towards WH) and done several full re-tunes back from "Shipping Conditions" but all this seems to do is blank the TV. When it re-tunes is locks back on to the same transmitter (Millom Park), there doesn't seem to be a way to force it to choose WH even though its offered for this area as an alternative. Probably do need a wide band aeriel then! ;-)
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....a few points....
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When you retune, are you doing an "analogue" retune, or a digital one.
Some sets (quite a few) have a different tuning menu for analogue and digital (often under a different menu).
You need to do a digital tune.
Given you say you've gone back to "shipping conditions", then it is unlikely you're falling foul of that, but.....
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Transmissions from Millom Park are (as with most/all "relay" transmitters) vertically polarised (the aerial for these should be mounted vertically) whereas those from Winter Hill are (as with most/all main transmitters) horizontally polarised (and the aerial should be mounted horizontally - 90 degrees different to previous). See this:
farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/4477821508_877d8d57d0_o.gif
If you are to the limit of WH, this polarisation alone could account for the non-reception. (and it may also be that neighbours have had a little masthead amplifier fitted to get WH if it is at the limit of reception).
The channel range for Millom Park is also mainly at the other end of the spectrum from WH, and it may well be that you have a "banded" aerial installed that would inhibit reception from that other end of the spectrum.
If you're doing the correct retune, my money would be on the latter, but the polarisation is worth a try if the aerial is accessible.
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Millom Park transmits on low channel numbers - 22, 25 and 28.
I suspect your present aerial is designed for those channels ie Band A. Has it got a red plastic bung in one end or some other marking in red?
Winter Hill currently uses, for main service, channels between 49 and 59 so you'd need a different aerial anyway as those need one on Group C/D. There are though changes afoot as part of the plan to clear some TV spectrum for future mobile. MAy be best to find a decent local installer who knows what's happening and when.
If you've time to spend and an interst in the geeky stuff this site will occupy you for hours:
www.aerialsandtv.com/winterhilltx.html
www.aerialsandtv.com/aerials.html
EDIT: Cross posted with tyred. Polarisation is another issue.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 19 Mar 18 at 13:35
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Get Sky.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 19 Mar 18 at 13:44
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decided to try new aeriel, my mucking about is "doin ma swede in"! - I can treat myself! ;-)
As for "get Sky" they blew their chances when I discovered that they were charging me £35 quid a year on my BB package, for not having sky TV!!!
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...there are a couple of sites that will give you a good prediction of what is going to be receivable by postcode, with a little more technical information (such as aerial type, polarity, direction etc.)
www.wolfbane.net/cgi-bin/tvd.exe?
or the more official prediction (I think most of the info is quite understandable) at:
www.digitaluk.co.uk/coveragechecker/
(and if you check the "detailed view" box in this one, you'll get as much (and probably more) info as you would ever need.)
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Since the Freeview reallocation of channels in my area on March 7th, one or two channels have been impossible to tune in, despite the fact I can see the Winter Hill transmitter if I travel about a mile from my house.
The changes are due to some digital channels being required for 5G mobile phone services in the future.
Part of the reason may be that my Panasonic TV, the first to feature both Freeview and Freesat HD tuners, is now eight years old and tuner design and specifications have been upgraded to some extent.
There are more details about the changes at:
www.freeview.co.uk/tvchanges
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Why not have satellite dish installed and get a Freesat box. You could easily install the dish yourself; it's not rocket science.
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>> Why not have satellite dish installed and get a Freesat box. You could easily install
>> the dish yourself; it's not rocket science.
>>
>>
Wot 'e said.
One off payment for the kit, no subscription and plenty of channels.
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>> >> the dish yourself; it's not rocket science.
>> >>
>> >>
>> Wot 'e said.
OP was why difference between Freesat and Freeview at his location......
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quick query! - CGNorwich
