[Wolves] OT: Freeview and the WV postcode

[Adam Sweet]

--- David Goodwin <david at codepoets.co.uk> wrote:

> 
> > One of our neighbours was bought a freeview box
> for xmas but has been told that
> > they can't use it in the WV post code. I'm not
> sure if it's a bit more specific
> > to the postcode here (WV10). They have asked in
> various "national chain
> > consumer electronics stores" and been told the
> same thing: "you need a new
> > aerial".
> 
> This is (or at least) the standard thing "they"
> would say incase you 
> take the box home, and find it doesn't work... and
> then ask for a refund.

This I believe is mostly the case. I live in WV10
(Coven Heath) and have been looking at a Freeview box
and the official wbsites say we can't get it, but a
bit of research says that most likely we can, it's
just that some channels will be poor quality and so
they won't officially endorse it. As Baza says, you
then have to contentd with local obstacles (trees,
high buildings etc).

To predict your signal strengths from the local
transmitters have a look at
http://www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe (it's a cgi,
not a Windows exe).

Also look at http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/tvfaq.html

Depending on your signal strength you might either
need a wideband aerial or a high gain aerial (see
above link for diffs). Search Ebay's consumer
electronics for Televes and Triax Unix
(interestingly).

I am particularly interested in the outcome of this as
our aerial is old, rusty, inside the loft and no doubt
terrible quality (we don't use it, we're using a set
top one until I get up there, align it and see if it
actually works). I've held back on buying a new aerial
until I know it's going to be worth it as I may also
have to pay someone to climb up the chimney to fit it.

I would be grateful if anyone knows more about this
than me about the usefulness about these aerials.

The short answer to your question of course is I don't
know.

HTH,

Ad

-- 

http://www.drinky.org.uk

http://blog.adamsweet.org


		
___________________________________________________________ 
To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com