Help with Freeview reception

Can you see the Freeview menu? - If you can't see any output from the Freeview box at all, then you're likely to have either (a) not connected the box correctly or (b) not turned the box on. For help with connection, see our Connection page:

If you can see the Freeview box output, but there are no channels, check the following:

• Check your coverage - Are you in an area likely to receive Freeview? - See our "Freeview coverage" page.
  
  
• Look for channels - Use the on-screen menu to scan for channels - See "scanning for channels"
  
  
• Connections - Double-check your aerial cabling. Is there a chance that your TV aerial (or any splitter /booster) is unplugged? Could you have a damaged aerial fly lead? Try connecting straight from the main incoming aerial fly-lead directly into the Freeview box. By bypassing any possibly faulty splitters, video recorder leads, etc, you're keeping it simple and giving the Freeview box the best chance of getting a signal. See our cabling section for more help
  
  
• Aerial suitable? - For best results, you need a good quality rooftop aerial that's pointing at a digital TV transmitter. For aerial advice, see our aerial section.
  
  
• Transmitter work - Check to see if there's transmitter work being done that might affect you.
  
  
• Bush, Daewoo, Labgear, Portland or Triax box? It could be that updates to transmitters in July 2008 have "broken" your box. More details

Failing that, it could be that you're just in a no-signal area. See our section on Freeview coverage.

More help? See our No Freeview Channels section

The Freeview channels transmitted on six multiplexes, and in some situations, it's not possible to get all of these multiplexes, meaning you may be missing channels. If you're missing just one channel, see our Missing Freeview Channel FAQ, here are some steps to work through, to try to get the channels you're missing:

• Check your coverage - Are all of the Freeview channels available in your area? - See our "Freeview coverage" page.
  
  
• Scan for channels - First off, try performing a full re-scan for channels - Sometimes channels get re-organised and you need to rescan to get the full lineup, and sometimes a rescan is needed if your aerial, cabling or signal reception has changed. Use your Freeview receiver's on-screen menu to scan for channels - See "scanning for channels" for more.
  
  
• Transmitter work - Double-check whether there's any transmitter work being done that might affect you. (Which transmitter serves you?)
  
  
• Is your aerial suitable? - For best results, you need a good quality rooftop aerial, pointing at the appropriate digital TV transmitter. For aerial advice, see our aerial section.
  
  
• Wrong band of aerial? - It could be that your aerial isn't capable of tuning in some of the Freeview signals. Freeview signals are transmitted on six clusters of channels, called multiplexes.
  If you find you're missing a few channels, or you can't receive some of the Freeview channels you're after, it could be that you're not able to receive one or more of these multiplexes because of the type of aerial you have. Check in our Freeview channel list to see which Multiplex you can't get. Then, check the 'band' that the multiplex is in (using Wolfbane), and verify whether your aerial is designed to work with that frequency 'band'. It could be that that the Freeview channels are outside that band - For more on this, see our Aerial Group section.
  
  
• Interference? - There are a number of factors that can affect your signal and cause interference, including cabling, weather, electrical appliances, etc. All of these things can affect your ability to receive channels - Go through the steps on our "Freeview Interference" page.
  
  
• Check your cabling - Having lots of aerial extension leads, splitters and adapters can affect your signal quality, as can looping your TV aerial feed through video/DVD recorders. Give your receiver the best chance at getting a quality signal - See our cabling advice to eliminate any weak links in your cabling.
  
  
• Weak signal? - Most Freeview receivers allow you to view an on-screen display of your signal strength. Check your signal on the UHF channel that relates to the group of channels you're struggling with. Making improvements to your aerial is most likely to make a difference to your signal, and addressing cabling issues also helps. In many cases a signal booster can also help to improve a poor signal.
  
  
• Too much signal? In some cases, if you're fairly close to your TV transmitter, you may be getting too much signal, and could be overloading your Freeview receiver. If this is the case, you need an Aerial attenuator from Maplin. This plugs into the aerial socket and reduces the signal.
  
  
• Channel clash? Some equipment, particularly video recorders and Sky digiboxes use something called a modulator to 'broadcast' a signal that equipment like a TV set can tune into. In some cases, the channel number used to modulate on (a number from 21-68) can be the same as one of the Freeview multiplex channel numbers. To test if there's a chance of this, try cutting out other equipment. Connect TV aerial to Freeview box, then a SCART to the TV (cutting out other boxes and video recorders). If the missing channels appear, then it could be a channel clash and you may need to retune the modulator to a new channel. More

There are a number of other reasons why certain channels may not be available, such as:

• Lineup change - If a new channel is added to the Freeview line-up, or a change is made to the way that a channel is broadcast, you may need to perform a scan to get the channel you're missing.
• Moved house / moved the box? - The channels stored on your box relate to the channels that were last stored. If you've moved house, or moved the box to a different aerial, you'll need to scan for new channels, to see what the new aerial can receive.
• Ex- OnDigital / itvDigital customer? - If you are using an old set-top box and find you can't get all your channels, this is because the line-up changed many years ago. You need to re-update your channel listings. To do this, look for the 'Store channels' option in your set top box menu (Note that an 'Add channels' may not be sufficient to get all of the channels, you may need to perform a full rescan for all channels.).

Suddenly vanished? - If some of your channels have suddenly vanished, it could be that your box has done an automatic scan for new channels and when scanning, couldn't find some of the channels - maybe because the transmitter is on reduced power, or you experienced some interference. Other reasons for sudden loss of channels include: aerial damage, adverse weather conditions, cabling problems, local interference, or channel changes/renumbering. Sometimes trying another Freeview receiver in the house, or checking a neighbour's reception can help to identify a problem. In general, the best advice is to ensure your box is getting a decent signal (using the advice on this page), then rescanning for channels.

Need more help on missing channels? Ask in our Freeview Problems forum - include the make/model of your Freeview receiver, plus your postcode.

The above answer outlines what to do if you're missing groups of channels, but what if you're just missing one channel - perhaps a new, recently-added channel?

• Firstly, perform a scan from your Freeview receiver - sometimes channels get reorganised or replaced, and your box may not pick up changes automatically.
• Next, you need to check whether you can get other channels on the same multiplex as the channel you're looking for. See our Freeview Channel List, find the channel you want, and look in the Mux channel column. If you can't get any of the channels on that Mux, then see the Missing Channels question.
  
• If you can get other channels on the Mux, and all you're missing is the new channel, then it's likely to be a problem with your box:
  • Double-check that the channel you want isn't on a different channel number to the one you were expecting. The channel numbering changes now and then, and channels sometimes move around.
  • If your lineup is out-of-date, you need to rescan to get the correct lineup. Try performing a full rescan of your channels (don't just do an "add channels").
  • If that doesn't work, try a reset of your Freeview set-top box. Unplug the box for 30 seconds, plug it in, then perform a full rescan. More

There's nothing more annoying than interference, picture drop-out and pixelation when watching your favourite show. When you see these kinds of problem, this is because your receiver isn't getting a strong clean signal. Here are some things to do to improve your picture quality.

• Check your signal - Most Freeview set-top boxes have some kind of on-screen signal strength meter, and this can be quite useful in working out how good your incoming signal is. You may have measurements for both Quality and Strength - the measurement for Quality is very important - if this is high, then you're likely to get good pictures even if the strength is much lower.
  Check your receiver's manual for details on the signal quality/strength meter.
  If your signal is weak, check your coverage. If you're in Freeview coverage, a weak signal could point to an aerial issue.
  

• Check cable splitters - If you're splitting aerial cables so that you can get TV in other rooms, consider a mains-powered booster with multiple outputs. This can help to overcome loss in the cables.
  
  
• Cabling - Sorting out your aerial cabling can make a serious difference. Just replacing your flylead from the aerial socket on your wall to the Freeview box can make a difference. Use a high-quality co-ax aerial cable with gold-plated co-ax connectors (from Maplin), don't run your aerial cable anywhere near your mains cables, and don't use longer cables than you actually need. Another option to try (although it didn't work for us), is to wind your aerial flylead through a 'ferrite ring'. These are designed to cure electromagnetic and RF interference at the source. Available for about a pound from Maplin Electronics. Also, see our cabling advice.
  
  
• Check your aerial - Make sure your aerial isn't damaged, misaligned, or not up to the job. For best results, you need a good quality rooftop aerial, pointing directly at the appropriate digital transmitter. For aerial advice, see our aerial section.
  
  
• Boost your signal - In some cases, a booster / signal amplifier can improve your reception and reduce interference, most commonly if you're feeding lots of TVs / recorders around the house. Note that in cases of low signal boosters are less effective as they amplify noise as well as signal. See our "booster page" for help and advice.
  
  
• Too much signal? In some cases, if you're fairly close to your TV transmitter, you may be getting too much signal, and could be overloading your Freeview receiver. If this is the case, you need an Aerial attenuator from Maplin. This plugs into the aerial socket and reduces the signal.
  
  
• Electrical interference - This is another major annoyance - a common example being picture breakups when a light is switched on, the washing machine is on, when a car drives past or there's other electrical activity in the area. Digital Terrestrial TV is prone to electrical interference of this kind, and here are a few hints to help you cure this:
  • Keep your aerial leads and connectors as far away as possible from electrical mains leads
  • Make sure you're using good quality leads to connect from your aerial to your STB, and from your STB to your TV or video. For a new extra pounds, a good quality aerial flylead cable with a gold-plated connector from Maplin Electronics may help.
  • Joined cables and lots of unshielded adapters provide a weak link in your setup - make as few joins as possible, and keep joins away from all mains cables.
  • If this doesn't work, a good quality external roof aerial with good quality unbroken cable straight to your set top box should be the answer.
    
    
• Weather - Bad weather can have an effect on your reception - strong winds blowing your aerial will affect your signal, as will heavy rain especially in weak signal areas. Good, sunny weather can have an effect on your reception if you're in a weak signal area, due to high pressure atmospherics.
  
  
• Radio interference - Live close to a taxi firm, radio ham or police station? Some radio transmitters kick out "RF" which can cause TV interference. You may also want to get yourself a TVI RF filter, or try ferrite rings to remove this unwanted noise. Other tips in this section can help to screen out RF as well as electrical interference
  
  
• Channel interference - Equipment such as video recorders and some set-top boxes 're-broadcast' their signal via aerial cable. This is known as 'modulating', and allows equipment without SCART sockets to view the equipment's output. If you're seeing interference to channels, this could be being caused by something in your setup clashing with other channels. See our section on "RF channels".

Need more help on interference? Ask in our Freeview Problems forum - include the make/model of your Freeview receiver, plus your postcode.