For the last 3 days I’ve had serious problems receiving Freeview. Until now I’ve had no problems, but as we’d had some very strong winds locally, I thought a likely candidate was the aerial being knocked off alignment. I carried out various other checks of cables, amplifiers etc. and couldn’t find any issues, and consequently decided to investigate issues with the aerial. I have a large high gain aerial spare, and as I’m currently in rented accommodation I decided to try my aerial in the attic space, rather than attempting to get onto the roof of the house. I lugged my aerial up, and thanks to a combination of aerialsandtv, google earth, and megalithia terrain was able to line up on the nearest major transmitter — Emley Moor. I connected the aerial directly to the TV card in my TV server and used my laptop to check that everything was fixed. It wasn’t!After some cursing I decided to check the signal was strong enough — after all the roof could be impeding things. I retrieved a powered splitter with the intention of running a longer cable from it down to a TV which has a signal strength indicator built-in to the digital tuner. The next problem was a lack of socket — all 3 were in use! After some more cursing I checked what I had plugged in. The server couldn’t go, and neither could the network switch. However, the 3rd item could be temporarily unplugged. That third item is a Fonera Simpl which is connected into my network. By sharing my net connection with others, I can share theirs. Mainly this means I can use consumer BTOpenzone hotspots (but not the commercial ones though, don’t let BT mislead you!).
I unplugged the Fonera and connected up the powered splitter. Having done this I turned back, and noticed that the laptop was suddenly displaying a flawless stream! Problem solved, but how? The obvious test was to plug the Fonera back in, which I did. Freeview was once more a serious of coughs and hiccups. So, the Fonera was breaking the TV reception. Now this is interesting because Freeview is broadcast in the licensed 400MHz — 700MHz range, whereas the Fonera is supposed to operate in the unlicensed 2.4GHz frequency range. I experimented with my normal wireless router but have been unable to get it to interfere with the TV signal at all, as expected. So, the Fonera appears to have a serious fault. I will be RMAing it over the weekend. If you’re having Freeview reception issues make sure you check other devices are sources of interference — even if those other devices shouldn’t be operating anywhere near the Freeview frequencies. Cordless phones, microwaves, Bluetooth devices or various other household electronics could be at fault.
“I've been on this hunt a few times myself. I still have my Aluminus ultra in black (only 5 5.25…”