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My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound o

My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound or the channel line up is wrong

My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+
published on UK Free TV

To deal with the problem you must clear the channel list completely and then rescan - if your box has it in the menus, please the 'installation menu' to do an initial scan or a reset to factory settings or First Time Installation. You MUST delete the entire existing list of channels. On most boxes this technique can be also be used:

Try this:

1) unplug your Freeview box (or idTV) from the mains;



2) unplug the aerial from the Freeview box by disconnecting the cable from the 'RF in' socket;



3) wait 30 seconds;

4) plug Freeview box (or idTV) mains back in;



5) do a complete scan for channels - it will fail without the aerial. (This may be in the installation or initialization menu, and is distinct from any 'add channels option'). Once this is done your channel line up should be empty;



6) reinsert aerial by reconnecting to the 'RF in' connection;



7) do a complete scan for channels again.



The Freeview channel line-up provided by six "multiplexes" - each of which carry five or more TV channels, radio channels, text services and EPG data. In this diagram each ROW represents a multiplex. If you are still missing a whole multiplex (ie everything on the row) you may need to replace your aerial with a wideband type, purchase a larger aerial or you may have interference from a VCR, games console, Sky Digibox or similar.



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Comments
Tuesday, 4 August 2015
G
Gary Lausch
9:34 PM

Just moved into a new flat and can't get more than 33 channels on free view. The ones that are working are the BBC channels, ITV, channel4, some +1, and radio stations. Looked into it and as I'm getting signal from tay bridge transmitter it seems that that's all that's available. Apparently getting a signal from the Angus transmitter would make every channels available but i m not sure how to get a signal from there even though its supposed to cover the Dundee area as well. I'm using an aerial that I had when I lived in central London and it picked up the full range of channels without ever having a single problem. Is this something I'll have to live with or will I just have to pay up for cable or sky?
I'd appreciate any advise, thanks.

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Gary Lausch's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:39 PM

Gary Lausch: Knowledge of your exact location, preferably in the form of postcode is really needed.
If you're in a flat and have no power as to where your aerial is directed then your hands are rather tied. But that said, I expect others in the block have been along the same road, so you might be out of luck.
Unfortunately the not-widely-talked-about thing about Freeview post switchover is that it's a two-tier system, with a small minority not being able to receive all channels. An explanation is here:
Which Freeview channels does the Londonderry transmitter broadcast?

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
G
Gary Lausch
9:53 PM

Gary Lausch: thanks for getting back so quick. I've tried the postcode check and its said that the ones I'm getting are the only ones available on the taybridge transmitter. It gave me an option to change transmitter to Angus option and that seems like the one to go with. Is it just a case of pointing aerial in the opposite direction? I looked into the transmitters in the area and as Angus isn't far and covers a huge area including the whole of Dundee its surely best to go with that. If the tay bridge is so shite why don't they pull it down and make everyone use the better one? Can't get my head round a having a transmitter that doesn't work properly. Retuned again and moved the aerial and now have a few HD channels but still missing the majority.

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Gary Lausch's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:13 PM

Gary Lausch: The link I provided explains why there is a two-tier system. The Tay Bridge transmitter carries only Public Service Broadcaster multiplexes -- because they have an obligation to provide a Public Service. The other channels have no such obligation, rather only one to generate profit.

Line-of-sight is much more important than distance from a transmitter. This is because signals travel in straight lines. The more you tend away from line-of-sight the more you have to rely on signal bending effects which is, generally speaking, more and more likely to give variable/flaky reception.

The reason that Angus isn't so good in Dundee is because the terrain slopes downwards to the water. I imagine that those on the north bank are more likely to have difficulty with Angus because they are more in the shadow of the terrain. The good signal is higher above the ground!


In order to attempt reception from Angus, I suggest that you use the manual tuning function. Enter the UHF channel number but do not press the scan/OK button immediately. Instead, wait and see if you get any reading of strength/quality and then move the aerial to where it is better, giving it several seconds to catch up.

Channels for Angus are:

PSB1 - BBC One - C60
PSB2 - STV - C53
PSB3 - BBC One HD - C57
COM4 - ITV3 - C54
COM5 - Pick - C58
COM6 - 4Music - C49

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:43 PM

Gary Lausch : In addition to that said by Dave Lindsay, that irrespective of what option the post code reception indicator may have given I am acquaint with the Dundee area, and as such can say that if you reside anywhere North or South on the West side of Dundee, that the signal from the Angus transmitter is nearly non existent in that area.

The other point being, that if the aerial referred to is of the "same room" variety, then any signal that is received will most likely be from the Tay Bridge transmitter.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:47 AM

Gary Lausch

Another point to consider is what aerial you are using. You stated that you took it with you from London, so is it an aerial you have in the same room as the TV equipment or is it an external aerial mounted on the roof (or perhaps in the loft)?
If it is one in the same room as the TV set then you are very unlikely to be able to receive anything from the Angus main transmitter, that sort of aerial is not good enough for such reception only being able to receive very local signals.
If your aerial is either a loft or roof mounted type, the aerial used in London is only suitable for signals between channels 21 and 37 (normally referred to as Group A) whereas the Tay Bridge Freeview Lite transmitter uses channels 41, 44 and 47 only. The aerial for that should be a Group B or wideband type and have it's rods (not the support boom) vertical. The Angus transmitter uses channels 49, 54, 53, 57, 58 and 60. The aerial needed for this is a Group C/D or a wideband with the rods (not the support boom) mounted horizontal.
If you need to change the aerial then it should be replaced with a log-periodic type so it can be used for the foreseeable future. Do not fall for the trap of having a 'digital' aerial installed at greater cost, *all* UHF TV aerials receive the TV signals irrespective of whether they are transmitted using analogue or digital coding systems.

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Friday, 21 August 2015
M
margaret Turner
6:52 PM
Whitehaven

Hi, Will the 4G mobile services give us more stations. We only get about nineteen stations.
Thanks,
Margaret Turner
Whitehaven.

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margaret Turner's 1 post GB flag
margaret's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:49 PM
Macclesfield

margaret Turner: Might do, but the easiest, quickest and possibly cheapest way to go is Freesat. have a look at Satcure's website for tips if you want to do it yourself, and your TV might already have a tuner in place.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
MikeB's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 22 August 2015
M
MikeP
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

8:42 AM

Margaret:

Further to that said by MikeB, 4G does not carry Freeview TV signals as it is a method for providing better mobile phone signals but also carry internet services via the mobile phone operators. That allows some TV services to be viewed via a mobile device with a suitable SIM card attached. I am not yet aware of any TV set that has a suitable system built-in for reception and decoding of 4G signals, but I would expect some very new designs of TV sets will be available sometime with that feature.

Whitehaven transmitter is a 'Freeview Lite' service and only carries PSB1, PSB2 and PSB3, see Which Freeview channels does the Whitehaven transmitter broadcast? for more details. It appears that a limited 4G TV service may become available from 2019.

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MikeP's 215 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 25 August 2015
D
derek connell
9:18 PM

113 chanells in edinburgh this morning only 24 tonight have tried all options

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derek connell's 1 post GB flag
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