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TV Reception

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boynamedsue

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
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Jan 5, 2005
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Has anybody else noticed analogue TV reception is deteriorating throughout the UK? When 5 years ago a portable TV could be relied upon to get a clear picture in any urban area it is now almost always a grainy mess. This is now extending to Tv sets connected to a roof aerial.

I've noticed this situation in loads of different places and with different equipment. Is it a conspiracy to make us switch to digital or am I about to start believing my neighbour is dismantling my house?
 
It's a conspiracy to make us change to digital.
 
Mythopoeika said:
It's a conspiracy to make us change to digital.
Click to expand...

I knew it! :x

Is there any evidence for this in public domain or are the penguins coming for you too?
 
yes reception is really bad...when i switch on i get crappy programs about house prices and makeovers!....








actuly yes its odd, the news the other day had a bloke demostrateing how much better a digital picture was from an analogue.... the analogue pic was indeed diabolical. Of a standard that woudl have me calling to complain, then the digictal was perfect.... but you need a better ariel for digital...so its bollox... and notice the area they are first going to switch off the analoge signals are just the places where digital coverage is worst! We cant oficely recive it at all down here!
 
Yes, I am sure the analogue signal in this area became weaker during the last few years. I am not just relying on memory here: videos I made in the mid-nineties often surprise me with their quality.

Of course it could have been a deteriorating aerial system, I thought, but others - not just in my neighbourhood - have made similar observations.

Digital is fine when it works but I do find the glitches more annoying than any analogue interference. :(
 
I think the quality started to decline around the time channel 5 came in (on so many levels :) ) You are right, old videos have clearer pictures than current TV pictures. First of all 5 was crap, than 2 and 3 deteriorated now BBC1 and channel 4 are crap pictures too. Maybe it's to do with increased electromagnetic signals from mobiles?
 
Yeah, I've noticed it too. Having digital cable downstairs the picture there is perfect, the upstairs TV picture (attached to the roof aerial) is degenerating by the month, and having swapped the TVs before now, it's the signal, not the set (and we're within sight of the relay, too).

I notice it most on teletext - BBC2, Ch4 and Ch5 text frequently break up, ITV usually has a few glitches: only BBC1 is clear. When I first moved in here there were both TVs working from the same roof aerial with perfect pictures on each, so yes, it's a valid conclusion that the analogue signal is, for some mysterious reason, getting weaker.
 
As I live in Sandy, the Sandy Heath transmitter mast is not very far away.
You'd expect the aerial reception to be really good, but it's not.
I'm convinced the TV people have an agenda, and they've turned down the power deliberately to force people into using digital.
They're trying to do this with digital radio as well.
Digital gives them more control (but in my opinion, the major glitches I get with it make it very annoying - lost data packets, pixellation, signal drops, set top box problems etc).
I use digital cable via NTL, because reception round here isn't good enough. Even *that* has its problems. Before digital cable, I had few problems with NTL's analogue service.
 
Teletext is now unusable at mine. Who is in charge of the masts?
 
We were forced to get Sky about 6 years ago now. When we first moved in here, we could get 4 channels perfectly, and channel 5 okay. Then the ariel broke; but we replaced it with one that purported to be more powerful/generally better anyway. That was fine for about a month. Then we suddenly lost Channel 5. Suddenly. In the middle of a programme, no less. Within a few days, BBC2 went; then Channel 4 and ITV.

So we had to get satellite.

There is now only very grainy BBC1 reception, and that ghosts something chronic. If it's not too windy, you can sometimes get very grainy ITV. And that's it. Without the satellite, we'm buggered.

And when the satellite goes, of course, we'd have to pay another £300 odd quid for the digital stuff. Bastards. As if Murdoch hasn't got enough money.

And, on the subject of TV, what do we pay a BBC licence for exactly? So they can sell them onto Sky a few months later? :p
 
I dont know about TV reception getting worse, but TV itself is going down the drain. In fact i dont think it can be dumbed down any lower !! ;) !!
 
leeh said:
I dont know about TV reception getting worse, but TV itself is going down the drain. In fact i dont think it can be dumbed down any lower !! ;) !!
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You'd think so wouldn't you? But that's what we thought when Big Brother came out.
 
sort of related question. If they are going to do away with analogue and only have digital signals in Wales and the West within the next 3 years - how will car radios work?
 
It is absolutely true about analog TV. When we lived out in the styx, we used to always have cable, now we moved in with the mother in law for a short time and even though she lives on top of a hill in Plumstead (London), she can't get one channel clear. We tried various idoors arials but even the most expensive one has absolutely no effect. She also has one on the roof but it might as well be not there.
In comparison, about 10 years ago my hubby and I lived in north London and had excellent reception without an indoors arial and at othertimes very good reception with just an indoors arial alone.
I am sure there is a plot to get us all to subscribe to cable or sattelite. Maybe these companies are paying for the broadcasters to reduce the signals or something... :sceptic:
 
Unless all these mobile phone masts are distorting the signals.
 
boynamedsue said:
leeh said:
I dont know about TV reception getting worse, but TV itself is going down the drain. In fact i dont think it can be dumbed down any lower !! ;) !!
Click to expand...

You'd think so wouldn't you? But that's what we thought when Big Brother came out.
Click to expand...

Yea. I think the Big Brother on TV is probably worse and more torturous than the Big Brother envisioned by George Orwell ! :cry:
 
At least Orwells BB didnt make you dress up as a pirate or talk to Dermot Leary
 
Channel 5 used to come through crystal clear.Now its fuzzy and blurred.What a shame. :rolleyes:

I think 'they' have done me a favour.

Oh no hold on, now there will be no more;

100 best of worst of funniest pointless countdowns of all time ever!!!
 
Well, it was back in the days when Channel 5 showed the first series of Angel. That's why it became vitally important to get it back, and get it back quickly!
 
Ravenstone said:
Well, it was back in the days when Channel 5 showed the first series of Angel. That's why it became vitally important to get it back, and get it back quickly!
Click to expand...

Oh dear! :D
 
This seems to be appropriate...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/4273095.stm

"TV disrupted by new police mast

Tetra masts have proved controversial across the UK

Residents have called for compensation because their TV reception has been distorted by a new police radio mast at Holyhead on Anglesey.

Up to 200 people saw their TV pictures become fuzzy and blurred when the Tetra mast on top of the local police station was turned on in December.

The company which put up the mast, 02 Airwave, said it was completely legal.

The problem can be solved by a special filter or by switching to satellite or digital TV services.

Residents said that both of these solutions were unpopular because of the cost.

One local woman said she had been surprised by the problem.

"I feel they should have been more considerate and warned us," she said.

"The interference can almost always be resolved by the fitting of an appropriate filter" - Ofcom statement

"We just didn't expect it - I had no idea a mast could call all this problem."

Holyhead's mayor, independent councillor Jeff Evans, said he thought it was unfair that people had been inconvenienced.

"I consider it that morally wrong in that, through no choice of their own, no involvement of theirs, the public are now being denied access to previously excellent reception in that area," he said.

02 Airwave, which put up the mast, has said it was completely legal.

"The Airwave service mast installed on Holyhead police station is fully compliant with the operations under the Wireless Telegraphy Act and this has been confirmed by Ofcom to local people," a spokesman said.

No obligation

An spokesperson for the watchdog body Ofcom said the problem had probably occurred because viewers have had amplifiers fitted to their television installations in order to boost the signal.

"The interference can almost always be resolved by the fitting of an appropriate filter," added the spokesperson.

"[02] Airwave is transmitting in accordance with its licence and is under no obligation to fund the remedy."

The spokesperson also pointed out that no-one had a legal right to good television reception.

Tetra (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) is a digital mobile radio system which has been chosen by the Home Office for a new communications system for emergency services, including the police.

The system has proved controversial across the UK because of health concerns."
 
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