Be Excellent To Each Other

Our external TV aerial is fucked and has been ever since we moved in. Downstairs we have Sky, so it's not really an issue, but we've just got a new TV for the bedroom and the reception is terrible from the crappy internal aerial I bought for the old 14" portable we used to have in there. We've got by as we usually watch DVDs, but as this one's got a freeview tuner built-in, I'd like to take advantage of it.

My plan is to get the external aerial fixed in the spring/summer, but which internal aerials/boosters would you recommend to tide us over until then?

TBH man it's practically impossible to reccomend one because every single one I ever tried was absolutely shit. Even the expensive amplified one thats been chucked in the cupboard somewhere.

In the end I fitted a seperate one in mum's loft for the upstairs by tying it to the beams with decent sea fishing wire and following the directional point on the roofs around her house. We get every freeview channel here.

I am too lazy to install an aerial in my loft so I went through the entire Argos indoor aerial range.

Best one I found and I am still using today with good reception on all freeview channels is this model #tabrev">http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... htm#tabrev

You have to plug it in to the mains but it won't let you down. Fully rotatable and adjustable so you can find the sweet spot.

Hmmmm....

It depends on how far you live from the transmitter. If you live next to Crystal Palace you'll get a signal on a damp piece of string. 30 miles out and nothing other than a good rooftop aerial will help!

Well I live in Bromley not sure how far it is but definitely not 30 miles. With other aerials I either got no signal at all or intermittent with breaks in picture and sound but with this aerial I have had no problems. I suppose the only way to know is to give it a try as the reviews prove it will not work for all.

Argos have a no quibble 30 day money back guarantee so you can try for free. That's how I tried their whole range.

I'm about two miles from the Nottingham freeview transmitter, so should be ok. Thanks for your help!

Living in Hayes, the quality got from an internal aerial varied quite considerably, even with a decent unit. Every time I wanted to watch something, I had to spend the preceeding time moving my aerial around the room, and sometimes couldn't get a decent signal.

My outdoor aerial was borked and I spent muchly time (about three weeks) trying every indoor aerial I could lay my hand on. The one that Nemmie points to is the only one that I got to work, and once I found the 'sweet spot' as Nemmie put it, I blu-tacked it down and it worked a treat.

I have reserved one, and Ange is picking it up tomorrow.

It looks nice too...

And... it finds a whopping TWO analogue channels. Worse than the old one.

Ok, now I've managed to get five fuzzy analogue channels. No digital at all.

Try moving it around lots and adjusting it until you find a suitable place.

I wouldn't hold up much hope though.

The stupid coax cable that came with it is so short that I don't really have much choice of where to put it. Gah!

Get an extension. I always seem to have 5 or so hanging around.

Yeah I do have an extension as I read that freeview reception is better if the aerial is further away from the TV/Tuner

I'm not getting any digital channels at the moment. Will dig out an extension cable later.