UK Freeview receivable in France?

[sonnetpete]

I'm asking this following a posting this evening on an ex-pat forum.

An expat living (I'm assuming) on the west coast of the Cherbourg Peninsula has been receiving UK analogue transmissions from a Channel Islands transmitter. Today he lost reception as they have switched over to digital.

Is it conceivable that he could still get transmissions if his aerial was upgraded? Some 'informed' comment believes that the transmitters will be powered up to the same level as the old analogue ones, but I have my doubts.

Any facts and figures as to how this can/cannot be possible or just opinions welcomed. I'd like to post a reply on the ex-pat forum with 'backup' if possible!!

 

[Analoguesat]

The digital transmission powers are normally quite a bit lower than the analogue power.

 

[Analoguesat]

Hes probably been watching Fremont Point

-http://www.ukfree.tv/shutdowndetail.php?tx=XD908280

According to that site they are radiating 3 digital muxes at a piffling 3200W

 

[Channel Hopper]

I have a couple of happy customers in Coquelles using 26 element group A antennas pointing towards the UK but Cherbourg is quite different, both in terms of distance to the South of England, and the terrible output from transmitters near there firing north and to the west.

I would offer them Freesat as a viable alternative, for no more than 30 quid they could go for a 1metre dish on Astra2/Eurobird and have no signal worries.

 

[UK Sat Online]

I would offer them Freesat as a viable alternative, for no more than 30 quid they could go for a 1metre dish on Astra2/Eurobird and have no signal worries.

£30 am i missing something?

 

[Analoguesat]

I have a couple of happy customers in Coquelles using 26 element group A antennas pointing towards the UK but Cherbourg is quite different, both in terms of distance to the South of England, and the terrible output from transmitters near there firing north and to the west.

I would offer them Freesat as a viable alternative, for no more than 30 quid they could go for a 1metre dish on Astra2/Eurobird and have no signal worries.

You dont even need that - a 60cm should do fine in northern France - theres enough 2D overspill..

 

[sonnetpete]

Yep, I think the concensus on the ex-pat forum is for Freesat. Serious doubts are being cast over the possibility of picking up a usable UK DTT signal from the Channel Islands. Thanks for the advice chaps. (Oh CH, if you can supply Freesat for £30 here you'd have a queue a mile long, waving £ notes at you...or Euro's even lol)

 

[Analoguesat]

Somebody could do a nice sideline in importing Freesat boxes to northern France . ;)

 

[sonnetpete]

At the risk of straying OT, there are quite a few 'firms' who offer supply and installation of Freesat systems. Needless to say nowhere near to £30, in fact you could probably add a nought on!

I'm not posting anything further on the ex-pat forum thread. The OP has had four pages of 'advice' now. Some of it valid, some just plain weird. One poster advising, "ask someone to point your dish at Hotbird1 or Hotbird2 where you can get German mature content, Bulgarian mood music, cricket and CBeebies all for free" I do despair sometimes!!

 

[Channel Hopper]

£30 am i missing something?

£30 is the price difference between a 48cm and 1m dish from my supplier (£28 actually)

 

[sonnetpete]

Just to wrap up the thread. There have been another couple of posts about missing analogue signals on the ex-pat forums. Today, someone posted a reply that she is receiving a DTT signal from Jersey. However, she only lives a couple of miles inland and opposite Jersey which she reckons is about 15 miles away. What might happen when the weather closes in may well be the subject of more posts from irate ex-pats!!

 

[Analoguesat]

Will be interesting to see what happens when they get a decent high pressure lift

 

[PaulR]

When the DSO happens it's in two stages.

Firstly BBC2 analogue disappears and you need to do a rescan to get the digital channels on their new frequencies. But this is only a temporary measure and when the other analogue channels go another rescan is needed. When this second stage happened here in the north west they also turned the power up on all the digital channels. Is there not a corresponding second stage power increase for the Channel Islands?

 

[sonnetpete]

Is there not a corresponding second stage power increase for the Channel Islands?

I've absolutely no idea about the DSO on the CI, mainly because I've no chance of picking it up where I am. I'd imagine it's rare for ex-pats in Normandy to be recieving signals from there, as I reckon it will only be possible on that coastal strip on the western side of the Cherbourg Peninsula. Having said that if I drive half an hour North to a place called Mortain, there's clear line of sight out across the Bay of Mt.St.Michel. Do you know if I lived up there I'd be tempted to try.