Freeview HD in Lower Hutt, aerial or box problem?

Hi, today I setup my sister's UK TV, there was no "New Zealand" option for the built in tuner so I tried to use my DishTV T1020 Freeview HD STB instead. It finds all channels, but keeps dropping signal every 5 seconds, if I change channel it will be ok for 5 seconds then stop\stutter and say no signal, sometimes it starts working again for a few seconds. I checked the signal on ch2 while it was going and strength was 91%, quality was 53%, I assume quality needs to be much higher but what might cause it to keep dropping the signal? The T1020 was slightly better at my last flat in Newtown, Ch1 and 2 were watchable, 3 was not, it just stuttered constantly.
Our place has a YAGI-type UHF Aerial, it looks like it's pointed at Kaukau, I'm in Lower Hutt (Epuni), so thought it might be pointed at Fitzherbert, only 2 houses around me are pointed at Fitzherbert, rest are all pointed in Kaukau direction. Does distance to transmitter make a big difference? I don't know if the houses around me are actually using Freeview.
Any tips?
cheers

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Permalink Reply by forumuser on April 28, 2015 at 18:30

Hi Gareth

There are some variables with the type of antenna and the distance of the transmitter, ideally you should be directing your antenna to the transmitter closer to you. But this can vary depending on the environment.

Is you aerial nested high or is fairly low close to the roof?

You could try facing Fitzherbert and see if you encounter any drop outs with the signal.
Ask your neighbors to see what use to get Freeview.

Let me know if this helps :)

Kind Regards
Joshua

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Permalink Reply by Gareth Clarke on April 29, 2015 at 21:33

I tested my box at a mates place a few streets over (also pointed at Kaukau) and it worked fine, so must be the aerial here. I'll have a good look at it tomorrow. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by forumuser on April 29, 2015 at 23:39

Thanks for the update Gareth

The issue must be isolated to your aerial, check to see if there needs to be any connectors/cabling replaced and check your aerial for any rust/degrade and alignment.

Let me know how you get on.

Cheers
Joshua

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Permalink Reply by Gareth Clarke on April 30, 2015 at 18:06

It's a low aerial. Don't have a ladder to get closer to it, hopefully I can find a mate with a ladder this weekend.

There is only 1 wall socket marked "TV", and it has the usual Belling-Lee socket, that's what I've been testing on, gives 90-100% signal strength but 50-60% quality. I tried again today with a different cable and got 62% quality on TV1 (and +1), they were watchable, but only got stuttery TV2 and no other channels.

There are a few wall sockets that are like what you get on the back of a satellite box (2nd photo), but slightly larger, so the Belling-Lee to F Type (? screws on, single sharp wire in the middle) adapter doesn't fit. There are also some F Type cables poking out of the floor and walls, I get no signal at all from them, I assume they are connected to the satellite dish.
I did find a UHF\VHF Booster, it has 6 cables around it, all with F Type connector, it's not near any power and some of the connections look pretty dodgy so I didn't try to use it, the cable labelled "out" goes no where. Maybe the landlord or a previous tenant used it.

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Permalink Reply by willis on April 30, 2015 at 23:55

and does the aerial look straight into the roof ridge?

try a 1m mast extension and see if you can pull thru more cable

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Permalink Reply by nzdtv.com on May 1, 2015 at 1:57

All that wiring looks a shoddy mess! The antenna is probably the least of the problems. You shouldn't need a UHF VHF booster , the signal loss and unreliability of reception is probably coming from the wiring.

It Would probably be best to get a tech to call in and sort it out.