No digital signal on BBC1 or 2

[Dave2002]

I seem to be okay. Have had very good advice and a new digi box from TVonics, at a price, but all channels seem to be there now.

Good luck to those that live under the transmitter.

Seems OK now. Had to do our upstairs set twice, as portable antenna presumably pointing in the wrong direction and only pulled in a few stations. Everything now seems OK with all known channels (including the bunny ones, and the home shopping - really need those ) working well.

Quite why they're bothering to tell people on the Breakfast programme right now I'm not sure - anyone who hasn't already got a digital set won't get the information because there's no analogue signal now. Sad thing about the comment about some old people being confused. My mother was hopelessly confused years ago before she died. Didn't really understand the digital box, and for several months she said that the TV only came on at 7pm. Once she also admitted to watching a Harrison Birtwhistle opera which rather puzzled me. It was only later that I realised that somehow she'd got into digital, and was set up pretty solidly on Channel Four. I think that happened for at least one month, possibly two. I disconnected the digital after that. I'm convinced also that on at least one occasion when I was trying to tell her how to switch channels over the phone that she had at that stage thought the telephone (which was red) was the remote as every time I mentioned the red button she said that she was holding it. It sounds funny, but it can be very distressing for older people with confusion.

[salymap]

That's very sad Dave. We elderly folk have had so much to take in over the years and seen so many changes that it's easy to get confused.
Anyway this changeover in the greater London area seems to have been well organised IMO. best wishes, saly

[Dave2002]

I'm glad you're doing OK saly. You seem to be well on top of things.

The point I was making was that some people really can't cope (including I'm sad to say some much younger ones than my mum and dad, and even some younger than me), and it's easy to assume that because say 80% of the population manage well, or at least moderately so, that the remainder won't have real problems which will really matter to them - and indeed upset them, which makes things a lot worse. As members of, hopefully, a caring society we should be aware of this.

I was about to write something about people living in rural areas i.e being out of touch with people, but actually no, some rural areas have a good community. There may be isolated people in all parts of our society (even in city centres) who are unaware of what's going on, and will find this change over confusing. We should watch out for any people who have this problem. They could well be fiercely independent people who have largely resisted help, but who are on the verge of not being able to cope. They are also likely to be people living alone, or people who have recently been bereaved of their partner. Often people in couples compensate for each other's problems, or indeed cover them up, which can be pretty catastrophic when one of them goes.

[Nick Armstrong]

I seem to be okay. Have had very good advice and a new digi box from TVonics, at a price, but all channels seem to be there now.

Good luck to those that live under the transmitter.

Birthday fun, eh saly?! Glad it's all sorted...

My father (b 1930) has also been wrestling with it, his digital TV system and broadband are all from BT and they have been very good on the phone when he's needed guidance. We equipped him with a digital HD widescreen telly as a joint family Xmas pressie a couple of years back. All seems sorted. He seems to be glued to ITV3 during the afternoon (endless murders ) and then BBC4 during the evenings...

[Bryn]

I can well believe that many in my situation could get confused enough to at least miss out on getting the best signal available to them. I live approximately equidistant to two principal transmitters, Crystal Palace and Hannington. The post code predictor assumes I only receive from Hannington, which 'upgraded' some time ago. However, I, like many in this area, have aerials directed at both transmitters. The advice I received when checking with the post code predictor facility was that I had no need to re-scan today since Hannington had completed its conversion process. My tuners actually get a stronger signal from Crystal Palace, due to the considerably more sensitive aerial I use for that transmitter. If I, and others in a similar situation, do not re-scan today, I will miss out on the Crystal Palace upgrade. No mention is made of this on the post code predictor page.

[Dave2002]

Bryn

I'm not sure they bother with informing people like yourself who are technically competent. It would perhaps be too confusing for many people, and you have found out anyway. I don't know what happened with us. We could be getting a mix from Redhill, Crystal Palace, Guildford, and maybe even one North of the Thames. I think Hannington is just a bit too far and probably out of line of sight. During the transition period things were rather hit and miss, but now things seem much better. I'd expect that most of the signal now comes from Crystal Palace. Are they running a complete single frequency network now, at least for national channels?

[mangerton]

If I, and others in a similar situation, do not re-scan today, I will miss out on the Crystal Palace upgrade. No mention is made of this on the post code predictor page.

on the digitaluk.co.uk site (which I imagine is the one you're using), there's a tick box "I am in the aerial installation trade". Ticking this gives a lot of useful information.

[Bryn]

on the digitaluk.co.uk site (which I imagine is the one you're using), there's a tick box "I am in the aerial installation trade". Ticking this gives a lot of useful information.

Thanks for that, mangerton. I am not in that trade, though I did install my aerials, (somewhat after the manner of Mr. Pastry), shinning along the apex of the roof to get to the chimney to which I tied myself with a length of old rope.What little technical knowledge I have has been gained from the Internet, visits to the library and bookshops, plus trial and error.

[mangerton]

Thanks for that, mangerton. I am not in that trade, though I did install my aerials, (somewhat after the manner of Mr. Pastry)...........

Yes, I remember him well. Laurel and Hardy also had trouble erecting a radio aerial. I'm sure you fared better.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

That's very sad Dave. We elderly folk have had so much to take in over the years and seen so many changes that it's easy to get confused.
Anyway this changeover in the greater London area seems to have been well organised IMO. best wishes, saly

Of course, any remaining problems might be caused by these chaps, sals!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yolLqx6k1OM

[salymap]

Oh lovely, thanks ferney xx

[Ferretfancy]

I use two Freeview tuners, one from Sony and one from Humax, and until now they have both worked well. Retuning the Sony was a piece of cake, but I have had quite a lot of trouble retuning the Humax. After repeated attempts I failing to get about half the channels including BC 1 & 2.
It's rather a nuisance only being able to get Red Hot Babes and no Channel 4!
This might be a useful tip. Have a look in the book, or on the menu, and see if you can find a default setting. Select this, and it will restore everything inside the box to the way it was when it left the factory. I did this, and the automatic tuning did the rest. Silly, I know, but it isn't really the thing you expect to to do.

[Dave2002]

Ferret

Tuners -Yes.

PVRs use only as a last resort in case the hard drive gets reformatted.

If that might be a problem, some PVRs, eg. some Humax boxes, allow you to copy to a hard drive, though it could take a long while. i'd suggest that if you do go that way and try to reset a PVR that you stop as soon as you get a warning message about possibly reformatting your HD, then go onto model specific forums to find a way round. With some kit, including some Humax boxes, apparently disconnecting the aerial, and also completely disconnecting the power from the mains for a while (at least a minute) can solve some problems. One of my Humax boxes locked up, and I trid the obvious power off on cycle, which didn't work (repeatedly). Complete disconnect followed by reconnect some time later did solve the problem that time. That procedure shouldn't reformat the HD, so worth knowing.

[Dave2002]

PS

It's rather a nuisance only being able to get Red Hot Babes and no Channel 4!

Some people might not mind!

[Ferretfancy]

Dave 2002,

My Sony Freeview has a good hard drive, which also allows editing and the facility to burn to DVD, and I have no problems with it at all.With the Humax I did try disconnection,but re-tuning was still difficult until I restored everything to default settings. I always appreciate your suggestions, but in this case the difficulty was mercifully short lived. Incidentally the Humax instruction book is virtually incomprehensible, but that is par for the course these days.
Bws.
Ferret