BBC stations on Freeview have all disappeared.

Thu 4 Jun 2020, 21:57 (last edited on Thu 4 Jun 2020, 22:01)

Guess what? Having swapped out the C49 equipment, neither C42 nor C45 has a credible signal, so I cannot get ITV, Channel 4 etc. 

Anyone else lost channels served by the Walcot repeater? I will ring Freeview and report it, but we will need reports from more than just me to get any action. I shall start a new thread on the forum showing the correct Channels that are now missing, but I have refreshed this one to help remind those that had problems before what happened.

Fri 20 Mar 2020, 19:30

Working now! Result!!

Thu 19 Mar 2020, 16:59

Mine too. 
engineer said they couldn’t see a fault, but replaced some gizmo in case, which was evidently good thinking.

Thu 19 Mar 2020, 16:58 (last edited on Thu 19 Mar 2020, 16:59)

Yep, just had the senior freeview guy on the phone while I re tuned, who said that they sent a mast operator out and although it seemed ok, they swapped out the BBC transponder. I just checked while he stayed on the phone and the signal is now fully restored and much stronger. Thanks to folks who took the trouble to ring Freeview. People power works!

Thu 19 Mar 2020, 16:32

Its working again

Thu 19 Mar 2020, 12:22

Hopefully good news. Just spoken to Freeview engineer manager.

An engineer for the mast operator (walcot) is going out today, to manually inspect.

It may be sorted by 6. 
We shall need to do an auto tune again afterwards.

Wed 18 Mar 2020, 23:48

For future reference, you can get a status update on the local transmitter here:  

https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Charlbury

CHARLBURY transmitter - Freeview: Off the air due to a fault from 15 Mar 10:03 until 15 Mar 10:57. .

Wed 18 Mar 2020, 23:38

I did phone. After going through everything ( that I’d already tried, but hey ho!) the person I spoke to said a technical manager was going to phone me tomorrow afternoon. I reiterated that there were other people with the same problems.Let you know what happens.

Wed 18 Mar 2020, 17:56

Please do phone, Sandy. I know its a pain but your call might get us past the magic five so that they actually take some action!

Wed 18 Mar 2020, 17:29

It was Monday when I initially phoned Freeview. I think I said in an earlier message that a fault with the relay station Walcot, was recognised. I had already read, and tried the aerial procedure to no avail. The stations are exactly as you said Stephen. No signal at all for 39 or 45. Maybe I’ll phone again.

Wed 18 Mar 2020, 16:38

Thank you Simon. We followed the advice you were given having lost all our BBC TV and radio completely. Following the auto retune, ariel out then ariel in, we can now find the stations but they don’t work!

We have rung FreeView and it has been escalated to a manager!

Wed 18 Mar 2020, 14:42

Just spoken to freeview to report the issue and was told to take my Ariel out from back of tele and  Auto retune with Ariel out , Wait until retune has completed, Put Ariel back into tele and Auto retune again with aerial in and this should reset your tele and free view . Will try this when I get home Tonight.

Wed 18 Mar 2020, 14:19

Hi 

Just spoken to  Freeview and the lady I spoke to say nobody else has reported it, so please more more people call, I said two people called today

Wed 18 Mar 2020, 13:43

I spoke too soon earlier. I am still missing BBC stations and radio channels (served by the Charlbury, Walcot transmitter and only C42 (ITV etc) works after a retune, while C39 and C45 are absent or have a very weak signal). 

Please can anyone that has similar problem ring Freeview 0808 100 0288 (freephone number, so no charge) and require them to record the problem against your postcode.  They will not do anything unless five people have logged the issue, so at least four of you need to act!

Tue 17 Mar 2020, 16:51

Getting BBC 1 and 2 HD not the 'normal' channels. BBC radio stations also missing on the television.  

Tue 17 Mar 2020, 16:10

My bbc channel are still not working i am on freeview

Mon 16 Mar 2020, 18:53

No problem here in Little Lees, at the top of the town and getting signals from the Beckley, Oxford transmitter.  Watching the BBC Local news at this moment.

Sounds as if it might well be a Wallcot transmitter problem, which we moved away from quite a while ago.

Mon 16 Mar 2020, 16:58

spoken to Freeview, thanks Alex for phone number.  They confirmed there is a transmitter fault, and "they are working on it as we speak”

Have to admit his ( delightful) Scottish pronunciation of Charlbury made me wonder if we were talking about the same place, but he then spelled it out, acknowledging the likely lack of recognition. So basically, patience till it’s sorted. Rachael unless you know otherwise, this might well be the same for you.

Mon 16 Mar 2020, 13:07

I had no end of reception problems with FreeView ... which is why I changed to FreeSat. Absolutely fine ... except in heavy rain or snow!

Mon 16 Mar 2020, 12:43 (last edited on Mon 16 Mar 2020, 12:47)

I use freeview & frequently lose all the channels that anyone sensible might want to watch. Re-tuning does not help! Often all that I can get is Oxfordshire TV and some shopping channels! 

BBC disappeared yesterday evening, but then came on again much later. But when freeview is dead, I can get the BBC channels via the BBC iplayer on the apps screen of my Panasonic TV. Thank goodness! 

For ITV I can watch on the ITV Hub app on my phone, & then mirror what is shown on my android phone to the TV using Smart View (found by pulling down the quick panel screen from the top of the phone). 

This would also work for those who don't have a an iplayer app on their TV, but who have a recent Samsung phone -- not sure about other makes & not sure about whether this works on an iphone.

Unfortunately this does not work for Channel 4 which I have to watch on my laptop, using the All4 website when the freeview channel is down. 

I'm intending to buy a amazon firestick fairly soon, to make things somewhat simpler!

Mon 16 Mar 2020, 10:57

Auto tune still making no difference here. 
Freeview phone link good,  I used it once some years ago and very helpful, but took a lot of time. Maybe later if still not sorted. 

Mon 16 Mar 2020, 10:01 (last edited on Mon 16 Mar 2020, 10:04)

I do too Stephen - thankfully I have a freesat box and multiple tv sticks so it's not an issue for me. The advice line on Freeview.co.uk is 0808 100 0288

Mon 16 Mar 2020, 09:24

It is the signal from the Walcot transmitter that was the issue in my case - just did an auto-retune and the BBC channels have thankfully returned. By whilst on this issue, I often have poor reception for just these channels when other channels are fine. Anyone else have this problem?

Mon 16 Mar 2020, 08:23

Mine are all OK - I use a Humax box and I guess it still memorises them.

But maybe I have a different transmitter.

Mon 16 Mar 2020, 07:25

Yep, still off Monday morning. Anyone know who to contact to expect any action?

Sun 15 Mar 2020, 22:33

Let’s hope it fixes itself.

Sun 15 Mar 2020, 22:20

I got same problem

Sun 15 Mar 2020, 20:35

Anybody else lost all BBC stations on Freeview since the power cut? No amount of retuning is retrieving them, so am hoping it’s more than just my problem.