Lost TV channels after today's (Sept 21 2011) digital retuning.

Chrism · Post by **Chrism** » Thu 22 Sep, 2011 4:16 pm

I know someone in Leeds who will have no TV now. He took out the NTL cables when he was doing his garden as they were only about 9 inches below the grass and he wanted flowers and veg growing, he lives in Meanwood Valley and can't even get channel 5 as it is. I know he didn't have a freeview box last time I saw him, so as from today he'll be TV-less.Unless of course he's forked out for a digital ariel and freeview box which knowing him I doubt.

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Thu 22 Sep, 2011 8:14 pm

chameleon wrote: It's a change which had to come, a little like moving from AM medium wave to FM VHF for radio, much of which is also broadcast as a digital option too - advances in the old technologomy stuff! How right you are - and don't forget that the Government have plans to switch off the FM (VHF) transmitters in a few years making us all swap over to expensive and power hungry DAB radios.It's a fact that is being shamefully poorly publicised whilst all the shops continue to sell FM radios that will be useless with only a fraction of their serviceable lives gone.

Post by **chameleon** » Thu 22 Sep, 2011 8:20 pm

raveydavey wrote: chameleon wrote: It's a change which had to come, a little like moving from AM medium wave to FM VHF for radio, much of which is also broadcast as a digital option too - advances in the old technologomy stuff! How right you are - and don't forget that the Government have plans to switch off the FM (VHF) transmitters in a few years making us all swap over to expensive and power hungry DAB radios.It's a fact that is being shamefully poorly publicised whilst all the shops continue to sell FM radios that will be useless with only a fraction of their serviceable lives gone. Think you'll find that the radio switch is more or less on hold for now Davey.

tilly · Post by **tilly** » Thu 22 Sep, 2011 10:52 pm

Chrism wrote: I know someone in Leeds who will have no TV now. He took out the NTL cables when he was doing his garden as they were only about 9 inches below the grass and he wanted flowers and veg growing, he lives in Meanwood Valley and can't even get channel 5 as it is. I know he didn't have a freeview box last time I saw him, so as from today he'll be TV-less.Unless of course he's forked out for a digital ariel and freeview box which knowing him I doubt. Hi Chrism There is no such thing as a digtial ariel its just a conn to get people to buy a new ariel.If your tv was working ok before the switch over then there should be no problem with the hd channels.I kow this is no help to your friend but i thought it might help other people on this site who are thinking they will have to buy a new ariel.

Post by **chameleon** » Fri 23 Sep, 2011 12:30 am

tilly wrote: Chrism wrote: I know someone in Leeds who will have no TV now. He took out the NTL cables when he was doing his garden as they were only about 9 inches below the grass and he wanted flowers and veg growing, he lives in Meanwood Valley and can't even get channel 5 as it is. I know he didn't have a freeview box last time I saw him, so as from today he'll be TV-less.Unless of course he's forked out for a digital ariel and freeview box which knowing him I doubt. Hi Chrism There is no such thing as a digtial ariel its just a conn to get people to buy a new ariel.If your tv was working ok before the switch over then there should be no problem with the hd channels.I kow this is no help to your friend but i thought it might help other people on this site who are thinking they will have to buy a new ariel. This is dependant upon the strength of the djignal you can receive.The digital signals occupy a wider band of frequencies. Existing aerials are constructed to be optimal for the narrower ranges of the analogue UHF bands which were in groups A, B, C and so on, with earials similarly marked to denote their suitability to a particular broadcast are. The design alao affects their gain (loosely the amount of signal they can gather), to ensure good digital reception, a higher gain design is often necessary.Some people will be lucky with what they've got - some people won't. (There was a case reported a while ago, of a chap not getting a decent freeviewsignal and being sold a satelite dish to improve this by a large well-known DIY Store!!).

tilly · Post by **tilly** » Fri 23 Sep, 2011 8:19 am

chameleon wrote: tilly wrote: Chrism wrote: I know someone in Leeds who will have no TV now. He took out the NTL cables when he was doing his garden as they were only about 9 inches below the grass and he wanted flowers and veg growing, he lives in Meanwood Valley and can't even get channel 5 as it is. I know he didn't have a freeview box last time I saw him, so as from today he'll be TV-less.Unless of course he's forked out for a digital ariel and freeview box which knowing him I doubt. Hi Chrism There is no such thing as a digtial ariel its just a conn to get people to buy a new ariel.If your tv was working ok before the switch over then there should be no problem with the hd channels.I kow this is no help to your friend but i thought it might help other people on this site who are thinking they will have to buy a new ariel. This is dependant upon the strength of the djignal you can receive.The digital signals occupy a wider band of frequencies. Existing aerials are constructed to be optimal for the narrower ranges of the analogue UHF bands which were in groups A, B, C and so on, with earials similarly marked to denote their suitability to a particular broadcast are. Hi chameleon I take your point but it will not stop the con men selling a new ariel when it does not need one.The first thing they will say is i cant tune your tv in with your old ariel.I have re tuned five tvs in for people with no problems all had the old type ariels.Has i said if your tv was working ok before the switch over it should work ok after. We are lucky in that we have a good signal in our area. The design alao affects their gain (loosely the amount of signal they can gather), to ensure good digital reception, a higher gain design is often necessary.Some people will be lucky with what they've got - some people won't. (There was a case reported a while ago, of a chap not getting a decent freeviewsignal and being sold a satelite dish to improve this by a large well-known DIY Store!!).

tilly · Post by **tilly** » Fri 23 Sep, 2011 8:43 am

Hi chameleon I take your point but i can see the con men saying i cant retune your tv with your old ariel i have retuned five tvs for people who had old type ariels and had no problems.We are lucky in that we have a good signal where we live.Has i said before if you had a good signal pre retune you should be ok after,I can see people being conned into buying something they dont need just because they dont know how to retune there tv.

Post by **chameleon** » Fri 23 Sep, 2011 10:30 am

tilly wrote: Hi chameleon I take your point but i can see the con men saying i cant retune your tv with your old ariel i have retuned five tvs for people who had old type ariels and had no problems.We are lucky in that we have a good signal where we live.Has i said before if you had a good signal pre retune you should be ok after,I can see people being conned into buying something they dont need just because they dont know how to retune there tv. Quite so tilly. My now dedeased Mum in Law was from the generation were you believed anyone sseming half official knocking at the door must be honest and genuine and we expected to come home one night to find vast sums of money gone on something she was already fully equipped with.Surprisingly, aside fromk the official switching help, we only encountered on hard-sell door to door organisation and thankfully they seemed to disapear quite quickly.it is sad that these daays that so many people can be less than simpley open and honestly give the basic facts without trying to dress things up to encourage (often but not always) the less knowledgable or trusting to part wirh there money for something they don't need or won't do what this claimed or worse, with hidden costs tucked away in the small print.Back to the point though, shall we say that depending upon a number of factors, some aerials are more suited to digital signals than others, (and the opinion of someone who puts the customer before profit is a good buy in itself).

Chrism · Post by **Chrism** » Fri 23 Sep, 2011 1:59 pm

tilly wrote: Chrism wrote: I know someone in Leeds who will have no TV now. He took out the NTL cables when he was doing his garden as they were only about 9 inches below the grass and he wanted flowers and veg growing, he lives in Meanwood Valley and can't even get channel 5 as it is. I know he didn't have a freeview box last time I saw him, so as from today he'll be TV-less.Unless of course he's forked out for a digital ariel and freeview box which knowing him I doubt. Hi Chrism There is no such thing as a digtial ariel its just a conn to get people to buy a new ariel.If your tv was working ok before the switch over then there should be no problem with the hd channels.I kow this is no help to your friend but i thought it might help other people on this site who are thinking they will have to buy a new ariel. When we moved into our house, which was only about 12 years old, we could not use any freeview boxes as they couldn't get a signal with the normal ariel that was on the roof and we couldn't get any terrestrial channels clearly either. We had Virgin installed but my missus wanted to use the freeview box on the TV in our bedroom. We got a digital ariel off ebay, about £25 IIRC, and payed £115 for an ariel bloke to put it on the roof and put new sockets in 3 rooms, (main room and both bedrooms) with a booster box too. As soon as it was connected our Freeview boxes worked and our terrestrial TV was perfect. We live in a valley similar to Meanwood Valley. Other people have had the same problem round here and as soon as they get digital ariels Freeview boxes work.

Post by **chameleon** » Fri 23 Sep, 2011 2:26 pm

Chrism wrote: tilly wrote: Chrism wrote: I know someone in Leeds who will have no TV now. He took out the NTL cables when he was doing his garden as they were only about 9 inches below the grass and he wanted flowers and veg growing, he lives in Meanwood Valley and can't even get channel 5 as it is. I know he didn't have a freeview box last time I saw him, so as from today he'll be TV-less.Unless of course he's forked out for a digital ariel and freeview box which knowing him I doubt. Hi Chrism There is no such thing as a digtial ariel its just a conn to get people to buy a new ariel.If your tv was working ok before the switch over then there should be no problem with the hd channels.I kow this is no help to your friend but i thought it might help other people on this site who are thinking they will have to buy a new ariel. When we moved into our house, which was only about 12 years old, we could not use any freeview boxes as they couldn't get a signal with the normal ariel that was on the roof and we couldn't get any terrestrial channels clearly either. We had Virgin installed but my missus wanted to use the freeview box on the TV in our bedroom. We got a digital ariel off ebay, about £25 IIRC, and payed £115 for an ariel bloke to put it on the roof and put new sockets in 3 rooms, (main room and both bedrooms) with a booster box too. As soon as it was connected our Freeview boxes worked and our terrestrial TV was perfect. We live in a valley similar to Meanwood Valley. Other people have had the same problem round here and as soon as they get digital ariels Freeview boxes work. Makes the point very well there Chris - location, location, location (sorrry, talk of TV) is the major factor in this. We have in our sight line to Emely Moor a very large metal clad, and profiled metal roofed factory sitting just above the horizon relative to us - it plays abdolute havoc with signal propogation, particularly in heavy rain!(btw, think you got a good deal on price there)