Digital Switchover - Will it improve reception ?

[psurquhart]

Hi all,

Living in Kent - we have the long drawn out saga of being the last ones in the country to get the digital switchover - July I think.

Anyway my question is this - Will it improve the signal strenghth of Freeview in my area ?

We live in a notouriously poor reception area in ME16 Kent - will the switch over boost this signal ?

Also, was thinking about getting a freeview tv for kitchen but can never get any channels on mobile indoor aerials so thinking of getting a specialist in to put up a dedicated rooftop digital aerial and sort out multi aerial points in the house. How much is a decent quote ? Was thinking kitchen, 2 x bedrooms and main living room for aerial points plus we have a high roofed house (Sky always have to get in the special height team to do anything) depending on price.

Might be cheaper to just get the kitchen aerial point done ?

Any views please and can anyone in Kent recommend anyone please ?

Cheers

 

[The_Lhc]

Well the point of the switchover is to boost the strength of the Freeview signal, so yes it should help, our Freeview reception went from poor to ok, we can actually get the main channels reliably, we don't get a huge amount else though, certainly nothing close to the full spectrum of channels but it's much better than it was.

 

[Diamond Joe]

Have a look at www.digitaluk.co.uk. If you're receiving from Bluebell Hill then power will increase from 2 - 3 kWatts to 20 kW by the end of switch over. Can't say how that's going to affect the signal reception in your house though.

 

[daveh75]

Hi all,

Living in Kent - we have the long drawn out saga of being the last ones in the country to get the digital switchover - July I think.

Anyway my question is this - Will it improve the signal strenghth of Freeview in my area ?

We live in a notouriously poor reception area in ME16 Kent - will the switch over boost this signal ?

Yes, signal is boosted 10 fold post DSO (Has/had to be attenuated pre-DSO to prevent interference with analogue) - Doesn't necessarily mean your 'notoriously poor' reception area is going to become a good one though!

Also, was thinking about getting a freeview tv for kitchen but can never get any channels on mobile indoor aerials so thinking of getting a specialist in to put up a dedicated rooftop digital aerial and sort out multi aerial points in the house. How much is a decent quote ? Was thinking kitchen, 2 x bedrooms and main living room for aerial points

How long is a piece of string?

Depends on the equipment needed, i.e aerial type, whether you can use passive splitters (i sincerely doubt) or a masthead amp is needed etc.

But a ball park figure for high gain aerial, 4 way masthead amp/psu, cabling etc £250

plus we have a high roofed house (Sky always have to get in the special height team to do anything) depending on price.

Thats Sky and the level of training their installers receive. There's no concept of 'special heights' for properly trained aerial/satellite installers, a 'special heights' job is just a job like any other.

Any views please and can anyone in Kent recommend anyone please ?

Can't recommend anyone specific in your area, but make sure they're CAI and/or RDI-LB registered installers and preferably local (as knowledge of local reception/coverage is important)

Avoid national companies (usually advertise in national press or have full page ad's in yellow pages and the like) because, they'll probably have your eyes out, may not be local and often aren't particularly choosy about who they employ.

 

[psurquhart]

Cheers all,

Have got someone coming over on Saturday to do a quote but they have quoted £130 for a single aerial point install.

They are a small local family business thats been going since 1957 and have cai / cai plus and Buy With Confidence certificates on their advert so hopefully will be fine.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Anonymous]

Just a thought, but as you're considering getting someone in you might also want to consider Freesat, which is popular in weaker Freeview-signal areas.