TV Aerial.. Why would this happen?

[abillybob]

Hi All

 

So I have had our TV Aerial in the house setup and it's pointing in the correct position in our loft to the transmitter. The cable then has a splitter on it splitting it two ways to two different TV's.

 

It has worked perfectly fine and we have received all the channels for months but yesterday we tried watching "Spike" or "Home" and both just kept glitching and being terrible... these have been fine before and I'm not sure what to do to fix this, we watch these channels quite often so I'm a bit annoyed.

 

Any ideas what it could be?

 

Thanks

[difinity]

What about the other channels ?

[Andrew_C]

Are they on the same MUX? It could be that the power has been dropped, or something new in between you and the transmitter interfering on that frequency.

[abillybob]

What about the other channels ?

Other channels are fine with no problems except for a few HD one's like BBC Four HD and 4Seven HD but all the other HD channels work as do 4Seven and BBC Four's standard definition brothers. It just seems to be Spike and Home As I said have always worked fine for the last 3 months but over the last few days they've gone down hill!

 

Are they on the same MUX? It could be that the power has been dropped, or something new in between you and the transmitter interfering on that frequency.

I'm not sure what a MUX is?

[abillybob]

Ah wait I have found this so maybe they are? I'll have to try the other channels on that list to see how they're functioning but I'm presuming they won't work very well either!! I really don't understand as they where working fine only a couple of days ago!

 

[LeMarchand]

@abillybob: Are you sure it's Spike and Home that you are worried about?

 

 

[hallb15]

Other channels are fine with no problems except for a few HD one's like BBC Four HD and 4Seven HD but all the other HD channels work as do 4Seven and BBC Four's standard definition brothers. It just seems to be Spike and Home As I said have always worked fine for the last 3 months but over the last few days they've gone down hill!

 

 

I'm not sure what a MUX is?

 

Multiple digital channels are bundled together into one MUX - unlike old analogue TV where each channel had its own frequency. So freeview is made up of several MUXes, and yes, Spike and Home are on the same MUX.

https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/multiplexes

 

As @Andrew_C says, it could be something as simple as a new housing block being built near you or something like a mobile phone mast.

Are you able to test it without the splitter on just 1 TV? If the power has dropped, using a passive splitter may no longer be an option.

For a fiver you could get a signal strength meter and use it to re-align your aerial to get the optimum results.

Buy PHILEX SLX Digital TV Signal Meter | Free Delivery | Currys

[abillybob]

Well by my house we have two masts (which are in different positions) Telford mast and Sutton Coldfield, it's pointing at the moment at Telfords as that is apparently closer but does this mean it's the best mast to point it to? I could try pointing it at Sutton Coldfield and seeing if that helps but it means I'll have to completely re-wire it as it will be pointing in a different area altogether!

 

I am seeing that Telford shows it's output is 20,000watts but Sutton Coldfield is 200,000watts?

 

I can't have an amplified splitter as there isn't any power sockets in my loft so I have nowhere to plug them into

[hallb15]

Well by my house we have two masts (which are in different positions) Telford mast and Sutton Coldfield, it's pointing at the moment at Telfords as that is apparently closer but does this mean it's the best mast to point it to? I could try pointing it at Sutton Coldfield and seeing if that helps but it means I'll have to completely re-wire it as it will be pointing in a different area altogether!

 

I am seeing that Telford shows it's output is 20,000watts but Sutton Coldfield is 200,000watts?

 

I can't have an amplified splitter as there isn't any power sockets in my loft so I have nowhere to plug them into

 

Try it on one TV without the splitter, if that works, buy another aerial for the other TV. (I have two aerials in my loft for the same reason!)

http://amzn.eu/iVV1UPs

[Andrew_C]

I am seeing that Telford shows it's output is 20,000watts but Sutton Coldfield is 200,000watts?

 

I can't have an amplified splitter as there isn't any power sockets in my loft so I have nowhere to plug them into

Which way are your neighbours pointing? The power supply for most aerial mounted amps is internal and works like POE. You do have to ensure your splitter passes DC.

[edmokeski]

https://ukfree.tv/maps/freeview

Might give you an idea which mast is better? I've got a mast very close to my house, but due to power etc., it's actually better for me to point towards one that's farther away.

[abillybob]

Try it on one TV without the splitter, if that works, buy another aerial for the other TV. (I have two aerials in my loft for the same reason!)

http://amzn.eu/iVV1UPs

 

Unfortunately I don't really have enough room in my loft for another aerial so that won't be an option. When doing it just to the one TV the reception is brilliant!!

Which way are your neighbours pointing? The power supply for most aerial mounted amps is internal and works like POE. You do have to ensure your splitter passes DC.

 

Neighbours aerials are pointing at the Sutton Coldfield mast although I'm not sure if this is best for my house as ours is attached to another house meaning it would have to go through two roofs to get there if that makes sense..?

https://ukfree.tv/maps/freeview

Might give you an idea which mast is better? I've got a mast very close to my house, but due to power etc., it's actually better for me to point towards one that's farther away.

It says Sutton Coldfield is best although Telford isn't much behind in fact they're very close in terms of signal strength. I think I might just try and point it at Sutton Coldfield when I get home and see if it makes a positive difference!!

[Jawloms]

Is it not worth just re-scanning for channels?

[Rob_D]

You could try having a signal booster in the room with the TV - It's not ideal, but it should offer some improvement. This is what we used to do before we went freesat and it definitely helped.

 

I assume there's a reason you can't have your aerial on a pole on the outside of the house?

[Andrew_C]

a signal booster in the room with the TV

The downside here is that any interference in the cable is amplified along with the signal. MUCH better for the amp to be near the aerial.

[cpjitservices]

Why is Aerial in the loft ? Can you not mount it on chimney stack or similar, When I was putting up my Aerial I connected it up on the ground to mount Just under the gutter on the house, I could get all the channels with it laid on the floor if nothing else. - stuck it in loft as a test one day and got barely anything.

 

I think they are recommended to be mounted as high up outdoors as poss.

[Andrew_C]

Why is Aerial in the loft ?

If you are in a reasonable signal area, it should be OK. Height IS important. Sometimes, in new builds especially, there are restrictive covenants covering aerials.

[ITGURU]

I've intermittently had issues with ITV - the outside aerial is directly joined in the loft to the only TV point in the living room. When I first do a channel scan ITV glitches in and out blocky and the sound scratchy, but after a few days its absolutely fine with no problems, until next time I re-tune it will play up for a while before it settles down again.

[Explorer]

I don't know of any TX's called Telford. Are you talking about The Wreckin?

[SteveBentley]

Worth bearing in mind that traditionally TV channels came in groups covering a sub-band of the UHF spectrum, and you would buy an aerial designed to receive the specific group of frequencies that your transmitter worked on. Neighbouring transmitters work in different groups to reduce interference, so an aerial designed for the Wrekin won't give good results on Sutton, for example.

 

With the way Channel 5 and later digital TV was shoehorned in, some of this has gone out of the window and wideband aerials are often used instead, but if it's an older installation or a recent one not done by a cowboy the chances are you will have a grouped aerial, so just swinging it round won't work.

[mavhc]

We had to buy a wideband aerial because our signals are now in group A and C for some reason, weird.

 

Yesterday the aerial was taken down by workmen, most of the channels were still fine.