Tony Pendrey

I recently moved to a new home where the existing aerial wasn't good enough to provide a signal for my Freeview box.

I shelled out £200 for a whole new aerial installation. The signal now shows 100%

Trouble is the whole lot is rendered useless due to the fact that if any noisy vehicle passes by, particularly motorbikes, the picture breaks up, pixelates, and I lose sound. This lasts for a full 30 seconds.

Yesterday there was a convoy of bikes doing their road training and I came close to hoying the bloody thing out of the window.

The aerial installer assured me that being close to a main road woouldn't be too much of a problem, but it is.

Well, more than a problem, because everything I have taped is marred by the break up, and because the sound breaks up too, you can lose track of the plot.

I wasn't expecting this. If this is the future of broadcasting I'll listen to the radio instead.

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/angry.gif[/img]

(I can't seem to edit the topic mistake)

Ah Yes, the Soviet Union. All them wheatfields and ballet in the evenings

JamesM

I know that avatar is Christopher Lee, but I'm seeing Rod Hull right now.

I thought motorbikes were required to have suppressors fitted to stop that sort of thing.

I remember the days when the next door hoover would scramble the tv set.

Aenima

Well I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who's had problems with freeview digital. A couple of months back something in or around my house was causing some kind of electrical interference which resulted in almost constant drop out problems. It made it unwatchable. Luckily the problem disappeared as mysteriously at it appeared, but it did highlight the potentially problematic all or nothing response of digital. Thankfully, my glitches are not particularly frequent even though I only use a small indoor aerial. I do get the odd vehicle induced freeze and drop out but not too often.

I'll 'av 'arf

spinalman

I'm seeing Bruce Dern..

Paul

julian_craster

Some digiboxes are better at coping with interference than others....

I have found the SONY box (it was around £99) to be good, much better than the sub £50 boxes.

Also the Freeview digital transmitter signal is often set at a weaker level in the afternoons when the old films are on (presumably to save the transmitter company some money in power costs). This does not apply to satellite or cable transmissions.
I rarely have any drop-out problems after 6.00PM !

Julian

spinalman

I know it is no consolation, but have you considered FreeSat? - the sky free tarriffs. It sounds like you may have some cause to question the aerial installation guy about his advice. Clearly this installation is not fit for purpose...but then I doubt anything will be. £200 is a lot for aerial kit...have you a masthead or attic amp installed?...maybe this has exacerbated the issues when a normal installation (say signal strength lower) may get the Freeview you need, but not bring interference with it. Secondly, orientation to an alternate transmitter may give you a signal free of road "noise"...I know this is unlikely to be a choice... but it seems you have not too many choices here.

Paul

aaron

digital freeview is responsible for making me better mannered - If ever i put my feet up on the coffee table, i get pixalation or a four second blank screen...Certainly, the digital reception is not quite what was promised...... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/pyth.gif[/img]

'He who is not one up...Is one down'

David Brent

I sometimes have the same problem Tony.
When digital television was promoted here in Australia I got the impression that it was the be all and end all in modern television.
After investing in a digital television I found the occassion break up of picture hard to put up with. I called in the antenna experts who explained, after much testing, that it was common in some areas for passing traffic to disrupt the signal.
I always imagined that digital television would be able to pick up the television signals better and clearer.
This is not always the case. That being so, I cannot understand why digital television has been promoted as the next big thing!
In many ways digital television reacts worse to lack of signal than the old system. At least with the old system you could still get a picture - with digital it just drops out. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img]

Dave.

Tony Pendrey

Well. thanks for your comments, all.

I see I am not alone. And as more are forced to go digital there are going to be many having the same problems.

My £200 was for just about the best they could install. Masthead amp, bloody great aerial etc etc.

I feel that I would I would be justified in calling him back to have a look at things after what he had told me.

I tried to watch "Randal & Hopkirk" the other night, which was shown when the traffic is at it's worst. There was a queue of vehicles passing my house and for a full 5 minutes an impatient biker revved his engine and ruined totally what I was watching.

No. I ain't exactly pleased at the mo'.

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/angry.gif[/img]

Ah Yes, the Soviet Union. All them wheatfields and ballet in the evenings

Harbottle

Rather like DAB radio, super dooper quality is something promised but not really delivered. Reception is a hit and miss affair for me some nights the quality is ok, and on others some channels are unavailable completely, admittedly I am still using an ancient loft arial but I prefer the “old” system where at least you got a complete if sometimes grainy picture rather than the “Digital” jigsaw puzzle [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img] I shall probably install a new aerial over the summer but I'm not expecting a perfect picture then either!

spinalman

Masthead amps are often installed in marginal reception areas to boost a weak signal...but effectively they also accentuate any defects in that signal. My point in the earlier post was that you "may" be better off with a weaker signal (unamplified). This may be sufficient for Freeview but not accentuating interference...ie traffic. The same may be said for "high gain" aerials... when in fact a normal aerial placed optimally may just give you enough signal for Freeview. I'd put the job back in the installers court...say the brief was to get freeview, but in practice this does not work.

I am not an aerial installer by the way.

Paul

Tony Pendrey

Thanks Paul.

I think you are right. At my previous location the signal was supposedley much weaker but I didn't get half as much signal breakup.

So a call to Eric The Ariel is in order.

I'll keep you all posted as to the result, 'cause I'm sure that many are lying awake at night worrying about my predicament.

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rotfl.gif[/img]

Ah Yes, the Soviet Union. All them wheatfields and ballet in the evenings

arty-dave

I don't have any problems whatsoever with my dish - or am I missing the point?

nitro-bandit

what you want to look at 1st is the amplifer on the roof fully screened of a cheepy on if its not screened then you will get problems if the amplifer is screened then tilt the front of the aerial up in the air this has great results in curing interference from unsurpressed bikes ect also did they replace all of the cable for double screened copper coax satellite grade if it hasent been changed than this also needs to be sorted give the aerial guy a call and ask him if he realy knows what he is talking about then he wont mind you asking good luck peter