Freeview HD reception issues

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samwooff

219 posts

Master Geek

Topic # 64829 23-Jul-2010 16:54

Hey guys, I'm having a bit of trouble getting a decent signal for freeview HD at the moment.
I'm using a panasonic DMR X350 as my receiver which goes into a wall plug then upstairs to a splitter box which is all connected to a relatively decent UHF antenna (about 1.5m long 40ish elements). All the connections I can see look to be relatively good but I haven't had an indepth check.

The antenna is in the ceiling as opposed to the roof, would this have a big effect on reception?

I've checked the coverage maps on freeview's site and it says very likely for both the sky tower and out west, I'm in epsom. On the signal condition I'm getting about 2/10 for signal quality and 3/10 for signal strength for the TVNZ channels, the TV3/4 channels are only 1 better for each and I don't get prime at all.

I've been up in the ceiling a few times and I've tried to go for both the sky tower and waiatarua with similar results.

Any help you guys can give me would be much appreciated.

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andrewcnz

899 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 44

Subscriber

Reply # 355515 23-Jul-2010 18:49

What's your roof made of?

1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 355590 23-Jul-2010 23:01

The fact you don't receive Prime indicates you will have issues with FVHD reception. Do you have direct line-of-sight to either Sky Tower or Waiatarua transmitters, at roofline?

As said, what is your roof made of? Are you down a gully? Rule of thumb is the areial needs reasonably clear access to either of the transmitter aerials.

Can any of your neighbours get Prime? If so, then you may need to reposition your aerial above roofline. Or on a pole if blocked by terrain or buildings.

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login

164 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 6

Reply # 355847 24-Jul-2010 16:59

It sounds very much like a signal level issue to me. If you get an aerial installer in with a signal level meter I think that will tell you whether its up to the required level or not. You can then experiment with another position or another aerial to fix the problem.

samwooff

219 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 355890 24-Jul-2010 19:37

Hey guys.

The roof is tiles with timber frames.
I can see the top of the sky tower from a window pretty clearly save a tree or two.
I haven't had a chance to get up on the roof yet but I can't see the waiatarua transmitter from the window with the neighbours house in the way.
We're not down a gully, it's downhill pretty much everywhere from where we are.
Haven't had a chance to talk to the neighbours properly yet as we've only been here a few weeks, but plenty of them have UHF antennas on their roofs so I'm hoping they're using freeview.

Thanks for your help guys.

trig42

Banana?
4360 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1029

Subscriber

Reply # 356464 26-Jul-2010 12:57

Just for testing, can you bypass the splitter?

samwooff

219 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 370800 21-Aug-2010 20:44

I know I made this a while ago but I've only just been able to get up into the roof.
Following the advice of replacing the splitter I started unplugging stuff and decided to have a quick check along all the cables, in the process I became very confused. Everything going from the splitter went nowhere near the tv in question so I went from the tv end and traced it back and it ended up as a bare cable attached to nothing!?
I was pretty impressed and amazed that we were getting any reception at all from just a coax cable lol.
Needless to say I promptly connected that cable to the UHF antenna and the reception is now perfect.

Let this be a lesson to anyone plagued with reception issues in a new setup, don't assume everything is cabled properly before you go playing with the antenna.