Help with Freeview reception

To get the best possible signal, as well as having a good aerial, you need to make sure your internal aerial (co-ax) cabling is up to scratch.

Your mission is to get the feed from your aerial into your Freeview box with the minimum of joins, and connecting via the minimum number of other boxes / adapters, to keep down 'loss'. You also need good quality, undamaged cabling and connectors. Poor cabling, connectors and cheap/damaged 'flyleads' is one of the more common problems.

If you have TV aerial extension cabling feeding other rooms, or you're looping your aerial through other TV sets, video/DVD recorders or PC TV cards, then you're adding potential problems. Connecting to extra TVs, long cable runs, or looping through video recorders can all reduce the signal that's getting to your Freeview box. Try making the most direct connection possible - connect your Freeview box to the main aerial feed, disconnecting any extensions or video recorders to see if that makes a difference - give the Freeview receiver the best chance of getting a good quality signal. If you need to feed lots of rooms or equipment, you'll find that an amplified signal booster can help maintain signal when the source is split.

If you're having problems, you may also want to consider replacing any dodgy-looking aerial cable, splitters or connectors, to help eliminate anything that can cause interference. 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. It's also important to make sure any connectors are a tight fit in their aerial sockets, as loose connectors can cause intermittent signal loss.
If your TV aerial feed comes from a wall socket (not just a floating aerial lead coming in through the wall, there's also a chance that there may be damage to the aerial wiring behind the wall plate (such as the centre core of the aerial cable having snapped).

You'll find Maplin Electronics can provide high-quality aerial parts and RF connectors, including cable with gold-plated connectors.

Unless you're in a very strong signal area, you'll need a good quality external (roof) aerial to get good Freeview reception.

For best results, you should get a good quality aerial of the correct Group, possibly with a masthead amplifier, mounted on your roof and pointed directly at the appropriate digital TV transmitter - this gives you the best chance of getting a good solid signal.

Aerial height can make a difference, and the aim is to get "line of sight", with no buildings / powerlines or other obstructions in the way.

You could consider fitting a good aerial yourself (Try Maplin for the parts), or check Yellow Pages for the name and number of some reputable aerial installers and get some comparative quotes. If in doubt, seek professional advice and get the best that you can afford.

Some other aerial issues:

• Getting the right Group
• Indoor / set-top aerials
• Cable TV company aerial wiring

For a wide range of aerials, connectors and amplifiers, go to www.maplin.co.uk

Television in the UK transmitted in a UHF band between 21 and 68. TV aerials are designed to receive certain parts of this band, and an aerial will have a "Group" letter to represent which part of the band it covers. These groups are:

• Group A - Channels 21-37
• Group B - Channels 35-53
• Group C/D - Channels 48-68
• Group E - Channels 35-68
• Group K - Channels 21-48
• Group W - Channels 21-68 (wideband)

If in doubt, a wideband aerial (Group W) may be the best option - these are optimised to receive TV channels anywhere in the UK TV band. In areas of weak signal, a wideband aerial may not be quite as effective as a high-gain aerial designed for the specific band you're trying to receive (a mast-head amplifier may be needed to help boost the signal), but in most cases, they're a good compromise. If you're looking to upgrade aerial, getting a good quality wideband aerial is usually the thing to do, so that if additional services (such as Freeview) appear elsewhere in the band, you'll be able to get them.

High gain aerials can be used to reduce certain types of problem - including weak signal, interference and ghosting. They do this by getting the most out of the signal. For the best results in weak signal areas, look for a high-gain aerial optimised for the band you want, and ensure that it's pointed directly at the target transmitter, with sufficient height to clear any obvious obstructions blocking line-of-site to the transmitter.

For a wide range of aerials, connectors and amplifiers, go to www.maplin.co.uk

If you get a strong enough TV signal where you live, receiving Freeview on an internal indoor aerial is perfectly possible, but for better results, an external aerial pointing in the direction of your local Digital TV transmitter is a much better bet. Indoor aerials are less able to pull in signals, and more susceptible to interference from domestic equipment (computers, washing machines, etc). It's often hit and miss with indoor aerials, and as the transmitters for digital TV operate on a lower power than normal analogue TV transmissions (so as not to interfere with analogue), you're less likely to get a good digital TV signal from an indoor aerial. As a general rule of thumb, if you get a poor analogue TV signal from an indoor aerial, you don't stand much of a chance with digital. Entering your postcode into Wolfbane's coverage predictor gives you an aerial recommendation that can help to give an idea of the effectiveness of an indoor aerial, and a direction to point the aerial.

A proper external aerial, or a even a loft aerial, is your best bet for good reception, but if your only option is an internal portable aerial, go for a good quality indoor aerial. Look for a powered one, and aim it at the appropriate transmitter. Try to keep it close to a window, with as few walls and as little metal as possible between the aerial and the transmitter - keeping the aerial high, away from other electrical equipment, and close to a window, can all help too.

If you're looking to get an indoor aerial, there are some test results on Ricability's site. One of the indoor aerials to come out top in consumer tests is the Telecam TCE2001 - this is available from Argos, priced under £20 (Cat: 534/4008).
As well as Argos, it's worth looking at the range of indoor aerials at Maplin Electronics - We've had recommendations that Maplin's Indoor aerial with booster (Cat: L29BB) performs well.

If you have a roof aerial, but not in the required room, consider running a cabled extension. Aerial extension kits are easy to do, and are available for a low price at Maplin Electronics.

Signal boosters are small boxes are mains-powered devices that you plug your TV aerial into, and that amplify the incoming TV signal. In some cases, a mains-powered booster can help to improve your Freeview signal, but it's important to understand that if your aerial's only capable of getting a weak or noisy signal, the booster won't have enough signal to boost, and it will also be boosting the "noise" as well as the signal.

Where boosters can be of help, is situations where you're feeding your Freeview signal to multiple TV sets around the house, or to lots of bits of equipment. They can ensure that there's minimal "loss" as the signal passes through other bits of equipment or indoor cabling, and many boosters have multiple amplified outputs to support feeding other equipment and rooms.

If you want to try a booster, there's quite a range from places like Argos and Maplin Electronics. We're seeing good results with the SLx range, from Maplin - pictured here is the SLx1 model, which is designed to boost digital TV in poor coverage areas. If you're planning on using a Magic Eye to change channels remotely, look for a booster with 'digital passthrough'.

Occasionally, the Freeview channel lineup changes - new channels are added, or old ones deleted - if you're not getting the channels you're expecting, try scanning for new ones. If you've recently moved, or you're using an old onDigital/itvDigital box again for the first time, you'll also need to do perform a channel scan, to pick up the current channel lineup from your local transmitter.

How you do a channel re-scan varies from box to box, but if you look through your Freeview receiver's onscreen menu, you should find an option called something like "store channels", "channel search", "new channels", "scan for channels", or something similar. If you're not sure of how to scan, refer to your Freeview receiver's manual.

If rescanning doesn't work, try resetting your box - there may be a 'reset' option in the menu - failing that, try unplugging the box from the mains for 30 seconds'. Another tip we've heard, is to unplug the aerial, and then try a re-scan for channels - as there's no signal, this will clear your list, and a rescan with the aerial inserted, will build the list from scratch.

The Wolfbane Digital TV coverage site offers some excellent information on receiving digital TV in the UK, but it's designed for those with a technical understanding of how it all works. In this section, we'll try to help interpret the results. We also featured Wolfbane and information on Freeview reception in Show 14 of our podcast

To start with, enter your postcode into www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe and view (or print) the results. Here's what it tells you:

• Transmitter: This lists the transmitters that you may be able to receive digital TV from. The first one in the list is likely to be your best bet. There's a map of transmitters elsewhere on the Wolfbane site
  
  
• Multiplex: This lists the six multiplexes that are used to broadcast all of the Freeview channels (they are called 1, 2, A, B, C and D). Each of these has a UHF number, explaining where in the TV band these multiplexes occur, and it's these UHF numbers which determine which "Group" of aerial you need. More on Groups.
  
  
• GP: The aerial "Group" needed for this transmitter More on Groups.
  
  
• Distance and bearing: How far away you are (in miles) from the transmitter, and the compass bearing (in degrees). The bearing is useful to work out where to point the aerial.
  
  
• Antenna suggestion: The site's recommendation for what type of aerial is needed to get a signal - this can range from "set top aerial" (if you're really close) to "extra hi-gain amplified" (if you need a good-quality rooftop aerial with amplification)

Note that the Wolfbane site can only provide an estimated coverage prediction... there are no guarantees. More on coverage

We sometimes hear from Freeview users that have two or more boxes in their homes - one of them works perfectly, and gets all channels, and the other doesn't, or is missing some of the channels. There are a number of reasons why this can happen:

Most commonly, it's down to your aerial cabling - the signal goes in to your first Freeview box, then through your TV, video recorder, and then down 20 meters of aerial cable to a second Set-top box elsewhere in the house. By the time it's done that trip, loss through cable has reduced the signal. This of course is a lot worse if there are a lot of joins in the cable, or it's cheap aerial cabling. The advice under Cabling applies. An amplified booster is often worth looking at too - as these can split and amplify signals to service multiple boxes, and should be your first focus.

Something else to consider: Not all Freeview boxes are the same - some are better made than others, and are better at handling a weaker signal. Perhaps try swapping the boxes around to see if that helps.

Each ordinary TV signal (BBC1, BBC2, etc) is on a dedicated channel (a number between 21 and 68), and you need to tune your TV preset buttons into each channel. Many set-top boxes and video recorders have an aerial output with a 'modulator' - this means that it's capable of generating it's own channel (between 21 and 68), which you have to tune a TV preset into.

If you are experiencing interference because of a clash like this, you'll need to change the channel that the box or video broadcasts on. You'll find details of how to do this in the box/video's manual (look for RF modulated output channel, or UHF channel - something like that).

Note that this is only a problem if you're trying to watch via standard TV channels, as opposed to a SCART feed from your set-top box or video (as SCART connections don't use a TV channel). If your TV / video has a SCART socket, using this may be a much better bet than a modulated feed via an aerial lead, especially in quality terms, and to remove the chance of interference or clashes, you may wish to disable the set-top box's RF modulator altogether. See our Connection section for help on setting up your set-top box, video and TV using SCART leads.

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