Page 1 of Freeview advice for beginner

Hi all
I live in Milton Keynes, where external TV aerials are not allowed.
I don`t want to buy a Sky digibox or dish. We have cable, but its analog, and NTL will not convert to digital in the foreseeable future.
I thought I might buy a freeview box, which is being advertised a lot, and has been discussed in these forums. But these require an external antenna, I am told.

One of my neighbours bought a portable telly, with an external antenna, but the picture was rubbish, and improved only marginally after he used a signal booster.

What are my options?
Advice please.

Regards

Tarzan

Freeview boxes do not, necessarily,require an external aerial.
I know 2 people who quite happily watch their freeview boxes through the crappiest indoor £5.99 argos aerials you`ve ever seen !
I didn`t believe it could be done until I saw it.
I suppose you`ll just have to suck it and see.

We run a Freeview box via an indoor aerial, admiiedly we live in London. The signal strength is about 4 out of 5.
Hope this helps.

Dave

Quote:
I live in Milton Keynes, where external TV aerials are not allowed.My commiserations for you having to live in MK :D Don`t wish to put a damper on your plan, but if you put your postcode in here http://www.dtg.org.uk, it may tell you that you can`t get all Freeview channels. As said previously, it will be a case of "suck it and see". You`ll have to get a Freeview box that can be returned if it doesn`t work out. They are excluded from Argos`s 16 day return policy BTW. As regards an aerial, then I think your best option would be to get hold of an amplified indoor aerial such as the OneForAll series of aerials (they plug in the mains) and get the one with the highest gain figure. Good luck.

JohnF

GW6UFO is QRT at the moment

This item was edited on Wednesday, 24th September 2003, 19:08

Quote:
You`ll have to get a Freeview box that can be returned if it doesn`t work out. They are excluded from Argos`s 16 day return policy BTW

I am pretty sure you will be ok for returns if you get one from Makro if you have or know anyone with a card , also I am using a cheap loft aerial ( with booster ) and I get a very good signal / picture .

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Wayne

This item was edited on Wednesday, 24th September 2003, 22:03

Have a good look round and see if anybody has a discrete outdoor aerial tucked away.Where we are the official line is no aerials,but I got a freeinstall of one in the On Digital days.Unless your neighbours object you should go for it,obviously trying to tuck it away as best as possible.
It would be useful to know which transmitter you pick up signals from.You are only 10 miles from me ,but I know that MK is covered on analogue by Anglia,Central and London.I would think Sandy Heath would be the one.As you are further away than me,I would suspect that an outdoor aerial would be needed for reliable DTT signals

This item was edited on Wednesday, 24th September 2003, 22:21

Quote:
I live in Milton Keynes, where external TV aerials are not allowed.

Excuse me but why can`t you have an outside ariel?

I live in a new house in Leicester that as got a socket in the wall, I plug in and the picture is excellent there is no aerial on my roof so where it comes from I don`t know, but I can still put an aerial up if I want to.

If they won`t let you put up an aerial then they should supply a communal supply for you all,I mean concrete cows ...do us a favour!!

Oscar.

This item was edited on Thursday, 25th September 2003, 13:48

A decent external aerial mounted in your roof-space/loft usually does the job just as well as a full-blown external one, in my experience. It depends on where you are, though.

Indeed.When On Digital first fitted an aerial they insisted on putting it in the loft.Despite me telling them it would be a waste of time,they went ahead,and were back a couple of weeks later to move it to the outside.
With weak signals a loft aerial is rarely sufficient for reliable continuous viewing

All
Thanks for the replies and suggestions.
Fitz - I tried the website, and my area is not supported by Freeview, so its back to the drawing board I guess!

Oscar- Milton Keynes was one of the first towns to be "wired up" with an analog cable system in the 70s - every house has a TV point in the living room. It used to be run by BT Cable, who sold it to NTL, who are skint, and will not replace the cable to digital.
The council introduced a bye-law, which prevents anyone from mounting an external aerial. This doesn`t seem to cover satellite dishes, because many houses have them.

Thanks again.