Is anyone in the Whariti area having problems with freeview reception? For the last 2 days we have had intermittant reception on all channels other than TV1 and TV2. This is happening in 2 different locations in the Wanganui area...the fact it is happening on 2 different receivers points to a transmission problem. At the moment (8.16pm sat night) we can only receive TV1 & 2.
We live in Seatoun, Wellington and ever since the Freeview frequency changes, we have been having problems with the TVNZ channels TV1, TV2, etc. picture breaking up (pixelating) whereas TV3, Four, Prime etc. are all fine. We have a Sony LCD TV with Freeview built in, which we have tried re-tuning 3 times but the problem still occurring. Went up on the roof to check the aerial - solid as, no worries there, unless a directional change is required (?).
Rung Freeview 0800 no. which is a voice recorded response directing you to either of 2 aerial installation companies. One said sure we can fix it but you have to pay a min callout fee of $60 to retune your TV plus other charges on top if required. They said many people are having this problem. Wouldn't tell me if it was transmission related, aerial related or TV related - "it depends" they said. The technician will know when they see it.
The second one said ring the receptor manufacturer (Sony) which I did. They said do a factory reset on the TV and it should solve the problem. Will try doing the factory reset and see how it goes. Not holding out much hope as have already retuned the channels several times.
Yes, I know of one instance in Whanganui where they have lost reception of freeview HD via Wharite in the Ruahine ranges by Ashurst/Palmerston North. (Not everyone in Whanganui can receive the locally broadcast signal from Roberts Avenue/Aramoho.
After much fiddling with their high gain UHF aerial (the 1.5m long type) they have received some, but not all of the 3 muxes required. Prior to about a week ago they were able to receive all of them perfectly well. This does not appear to be good weather dependant as it was fine last week yet they were still unable to receive it.
I have not gone over yet to investigate further, but it makes for interesting reading if others in Whanganui are experiencing the same issue. Thanks for posting.
After the Wharite restack I lost 2 of the 3 muxes, and changed to a new high-gain antenna (one of the super long ones), and now get strong signals all the time. My guess is they were just the right side of marginal beforehand, and went to the wrong side of marginal after the restack.
Maybe Seatoun is similarly afflicted and the signals are just that tiny bit weaker and it means expensive upgrades to higher gain antennae for everyone.
Thanks, not what I wanted to hear but I suspect you may be right. Will try factory reset on the TV and adjusting the aerial direction before forking out on a new aerial.
Yeah, although in the Wanganui case the Wharite restack was quite a while back now, and this loss of reception has only happened in the last week.
But yes, you want a suitably sized UHF aerial and ideally just one run down to the TV, with no diplexers, joiners, or splitters to multiple unconnected outlets etc. Especially for testing purposes initially.
Thanks for the reply Jaxson. Yesterday we actually lost all digital channels completely on one of the offening sites which has a Samsung Plasma 51" TV so last night I did a retune. The first time picked up no digital channels, the second time done straight after picked up the full compliment and now appears to be working ok. It was still ok this morning. Our 2nd site which is around 6 km away from the first site has a TIVO receiver and the reception there is still marginal and intermittant. Again this has only been happening for the past week or so, maybe there is a slight reduction of signal strength in this area.
Niscoupe: Thanks for the reply Jaxson. Yesterday we actually lost all digital channels completely on one of the offening sites which has a Samsung Plasma 51" TV so last night I did a retune. The first time picked up no digital channels, the second time done straight after picked up the full compliment and now appears to be working ok. It was still ok this morning. Our 2nd site which is around 6 km away from the first site has a TIVO receiver and the reception there is still marginal and intermittant. Again this has only been happening for the past week or so, maybe there is a slight reduction of signal strength in this area.
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, it appears to be something very recently that has changed. If you include my families situation plus your two, there are 3 instances in Whanganui at least. All the basic aerial alignment/quality of cable plus connections/terminations apply, but fundamentally something might be a bit different just at the moment?
I have not been over to Whanganui yet, and may not for a wee while at least, so appreciate the updates.
Everything seems to be fine again now. Last week was back to normal although saturday was out again for most of the day....tis fine again now. We are going to get a tech out to check signal strength so will give an update after that.
Yes, just checked in and a rescan has now found the full Wharite channel line up again. Not sure what was going on, but it did force a quick recheck of the aerial etc, so hopefully it's a bit better for a while. If not I'll have to do a more serious trip over there to sort the in laws out.
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