Freeview aerial guide

According to official statistics, Freeview is currently available in 6.5 million homes in the UK and is take up of the Freeview service is continuing to grow strong, due to new TV's now being available with in built Freeview receivers, as well as the additional functionality available in top of the range Freeview boxes, such as recording to a hard drive or DVD.

Freeview aerial buying guide

The chances are your reading this page to help sort out problems with your current Freeview aerial connection. First, things first. If you have just purchased a Freeview box, I hope you have checked out the availability of Freeview reception on your area by typing your post code into the Freeview website.

TV set top Freeview receiver

Setting up the Freeview box for use should be a relatively straight forward task. All that is required is to connect the antenna in socket on your TV to a compatible digital receiving aerial. A standard aerial bought from most high street retailers should normally be sufficient.

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Freeview Aerial recommendations

Depending on where you obtain your signal from can help resolve any reception problems you may have. For example, in London, if your roof top aerial is in good condition, that alone should be sufficient for receiving DTT Freeview channels.

Solving Freeview Installation Problems

Signal boosters

Using a signal booster is not actually recommended to help with your Freeview reception, as it will only add additional noise to your output.

The only time it is really recommended to use a signal booster is with a screened masthead aerial. Please proceed with caution, as there may not be any real benefit if using an old type masthead aerial.

Distribution amplifier

Should you choose to use a distribution amplifier to allow other televisions within your home to view Freeview channels, you need to ensure your Freeview box comes complete with a UHF modulator. Please make sure the signal that you choose to broadcast the Freeview signal, is an unused UHF channel within your area.

Wideband Aerials

You will need to buy a wideband aerial where the DTT signal is transmitted in a different UHF aerial group, form the existing analogue group. You only need one wideband aerial to access both digital and analogue television services.

Loft Freeview Aerials

A lot of homes have a loft aerials. Although they are generally sufficient to receive the DTT reception, there can be issues with electrical interference, such as central heating.

Freeview Aerial Cables

Since television became available to the mainstream, around the 1950, the standard cable installed in homes was the brown, TV low loss coaxial cable. The cable is off course still found in most homes, but for viewing digital TV, you should really consider upgrading. Of the various satellite cables available, the 2 most common cable types are CT100 and CT125. Most 'older' TV's come with an inbuilt single screened cable and not really recommended for digital TV. You will also find am improvement in your analogue TV output with CT100 cable, as the extra protective layer will help reduce frozen pictures and pixilation.

Missing Freeview Channels

A large amount of user questions relate to actual channels not been viewable. In our experience this has mainly been attributed to the signal quality being below of that acceptable to the Freeview set top box. As mentioned above. the signal strength of the receiving Freeview aerial is important.

It is also worth checking out the actual SCART cable, as this can have an affect on the Freeview signal. Simple trouble shooting in such circumstances, would include moving your Freeview aerial slightly and retuning the Freeview set top box, and maybe if need be, repositioning the actual Freeview aerial.