What is the Inversion Effect and why does it effect my Freeview TV reception?

Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV 2nd October 2014 at 14:15

Under normal circumstances, the signals from each television transmitter can only be received by those homes and businesses that have aerials that have a direct line-of-sight to the transmitter.

(The Inversion Effect is also known as "Tropospheric Ducting")



The part of the signal from the transmitter that is directed upwards simply escapes into space and are lost.

When there is high atmospheric pressure (Met Office - Surface pressure charts) as the sun heats up the ground the warm air gets trapped underneath the colder air higher up. At the point where the warm air gets trapped under the cold air this creates a layer that is, in effect, a mirror for the television signals.



This means that signals that would otherwise be impossible to receive can suddenly effect your television reception.

The digital television signal uses a format called COFDM (coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) and this incorporates the ability to ignore reflected digital signals.

However, analogue television signals did not co-operate with each other and the picture quality is reduced. The very weak digital signals that were used before digital switchover for Freeview were badly effected by interference from reflected signals from adjacent analogue transmissions.

I recommend you look at the Tropospheric Ducting Forecast for VHF and UHF Radio and TV page for a current forecast - yellow, orange, red, and pink indicate that conditions are perfect for the effects listed above.

Links to current pressure data

Tropospheric Ducting Forecast for VHF and UHF Radio and TV

Met Office - Surface pressure charts