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My ITV/C4 Freeview channels have disappeared - what can I do? Is it my SCART ca

My ITV/C4 Freeview channels have disappeared - what can I do? Is it my SCART cable?

My ITV/C4 Freeview channels have disappeared - what can I do?
published on UK Free TV

It is a feature of television signals that they can be effected by the weather. Aside from the obvious damaged that can be caused by wind or torrential rain, the onset of summer can cause a more intriguing problem called "inversion".

Basically, when the sun heats up the land, the hot air can get trapped below cold air at high level. This creates an "inversion layer" which acts like a polished mirror to TV signals. This causes two problems: you can receive both the original and a reflected signal from your own transmitter (on analogue TV this appears as "ghosting") or interference from TV transmitters that are normally too far distant.

The ITV/C4 multiplex of channels (ITV-1, ITV-2, ITV-3, ITV-4, CITV, C4, More4, E4, Quizcall) use a transmission "mode" called 64QAM, and it is sadly much more prone to these problems.

So, whilst a loft-mounted aerial will provide reception at some time, it will fail at others. The only real solution is to mount the aerial (or a new Class I aerial) outside on a pole, but some people report that changing the cable from the aerial to the set-top box to the high-grade satellite cable can also help.

The SCART connection, by the way, only carries a single TV picture, not the Freeview transmission multiplexes, so if this is disconnected it will result in degradation to every channel at once.



All questions
BBC Three Linear channel re-opens1
Removing all barriers to communication between diverse cultures2
How do I get a test card with Freeview3
What can I do when my Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fau4
Can I receive UK TV in Ghana?5
In this section
My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound o1
I have now lost all signal can you tell me what the problem might be?2
I have a Durabrand cg5660-m and I need the lock key code!3
What is the Inversion Effect and why does it effect my Freeview TV reception? 4
My high gain aerial can't get all the Freeview channels I expected5
What are the aerial types about? Are they high-gain?6

Comments
Thursday, 28 June 2012
M
Mark Fletcher
sentiment_satisfiedGold

12:42 AM
Lytham St. Annes

Rob Alka.I would up both Single Frequency Interference as well as Inversion Effect as possible causes.

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Mark Fletcher's 673 posts GB flag
Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 29 June 2012
M
Mike S
8:27 AM
Uckfield

We have four TV's,are located in TN22 2AY and receive from Heathfield. All re-tunes have been done.Panasonic in the lounge,fed by a Humax and a Polaroid in the kitchen will not pick up channel 10. Two bedroom units,both Venturer are ok. Labgear signal finder gives 50dB at source. Splitter unit used to distribute. Lounge cable via Humax gives 60dB all others 50dB.

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Mike S's 1 post GB flag
Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
L
Louise
7:54 PM
Loughborough

Hi, we've never had any problems with reception on any stations until this week. Suddenly all we can get is the BBC channels, all the ITV, CH4,5 etc start off as blank with no sound or picture and later in the evening start to clear up with intermittent sound and picture then end up OK at around 10pm. We're on the Waltham transmiter. Is there a reason why we've suddenly lost the signal? Is there any way to get it back? Thanks

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Louise's 1 post GB flag
Louise's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
P
paul
8:08 PM
Ipswich

retuned on the 27th as told, got over 80 channels, following day lots of channels either gone or broken up, retuned again got over 80 channels, this evening lots of channels missing, retuned channels still mising, any ideas ? We ar in Ipswich, I believe on the sudbury transmitter.

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paul's 2 posts GB flag
paul's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:21 PM

paul: If retuning restores channels which are broken up or missing, it suggests that possibly you are receiving signals from more than one transmitter. Does your receiver do an automatic retune each night? If so this facility should be turned off if possible, after tuning into the correct set of frequencies for the Sudbury transmitter. You do not say which muxes are giving problems. The PSB muxes are possibly being received additionally from Bramford which is in the same direction as Sudbury, but transmit with vertical polarisation. If it is the COM muxes that are giving problems, these are also predicted to be receivable from Tacolneston at your location. When doing a scan for channels try to note which frequencies are being stored when you have correct working channels, then if possible check which frequencies are being received when the channels are breaking up. I should also mention that in the (less likely) event that Bramford or Tacolneston signals give good reception whilst Sudbury gives breaking up reception this would indicate Sudbury to be delivering too much signal.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Saturday, 30 June 2012
A
agmac
10:09 AM
Glasgow

samsung lcd series 5 no itv ch4 ch5 tried all retuning options without success.

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agmac's 1 post GB flag
agmac's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 1 July 2012
J
Jim
9:27 AM

I have just bought the latest humax. Tuned it in and I can't get itv4! I live at ST13 and annoying my relatives at st9 can get it. Anything I can do?

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Jim's 1 post GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:39 PM

Jim: The Commercial (COM) services, which include ITV4, don't have as wide a reach as the Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) ones.

The COMs transmit from 81 of the largest sites (largest by viewer population) and reach 90% of the population. There are over 1,000 small "filler-in" relays which carry only PSB channels because the COMs do not wish to invest in them. These cover 8.5% of the population.

The cost to the COMs to broadcast from these other sites is about the same as what it costs them for the ones they have now. As there objective is profit from selling advertising which they show to as many viewers as possible at lowest possible cost, then it's not surprising why they don't want to broadcast from the other sites. They don't have any "Public Service" obligation.


You've said that you reside in ST13 which is a big place and doesn't give any absolute indication of which transmitter you are receiving from. Indeed, provision of a full post code doesn't either, although it might narrow down the possibilities.

I do note that it is the area of Leek and that it has one of the PSB-only relay transmitters, so I wonder if you are receiving from it, hence why you are not picking up the COMs.

For a full list of services, see here:

DMOL Post-DSO Multiplex Channel Allocations

As shown, there are three PSB multiplexes (PSB3 is the HD one) and three COMs ones.

If you are using the Leek transmitter, then in order to see if you can ever receive the COMs terrestrial channels, then you need to investigate the possibility of receiving from one of the transmitters that carries them, such as Sutton Coldfield.

If you can't, then you will have to look at some other platform to receive additional channels. Freesat is a common alternative, particularly in areas where the Freeview COMs aren't available. There are some differences between full Freeview and Freesat. For example, Dave and Yesterday are not available on Freesat and this is probably because they are on Sky's subscription service. This does, of course, require a different box.

If you provide your location, preferably in the form of post code, we may be able to assess the likelihood/degree of difficulty you may have in trying to pick up the COMs.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
M
Mik
7:41 PM
Folkestone

Signal keeps breaking up on bt vision box, goodmans digi box, works fine with cheap box from tesco. Aerial on roof pointing to Dover from ct188en. Live in a bungalow but aerial up high on a pole. Frustrating as have 3 goodmans box's in bedrooms. Any ideas?!

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Mik's 1 post GB flag
Mik's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:45 PM

Mik: The problem could be that, having carried out its scan of frequencies, the BT Vision box has decided to go with the signals from the Lyminge relay transmitter. This only carries the Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) services which are BBC, ITV1, ITV1+1, ITV2, Channel 4, Channel 4+1, E4, More 4, Channel 5 and the four HD services.

See if you can find out whether this is the case or not. I'm not familiar with the BT Vision box, but usually receivers give the UHF channel number (frequency) that they are tuned to on the signal strength screen.

BBC One should be tuned to C50 (for Dover) and not C22 (Lyminge). Similarly, ITV1 should be C51 and not C25.

If either of these are not tuned to Dover, then run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged up until 40% of the scan. This will miss out scanning of the frequencies used by the unwanted transmitter.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
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