After a stressful day, you get to finally watch your favorite TV show together with your family. You are comfortably sitting at the couch, not worrying about a thing, just enjoying your favorite pastime. And then suddenly, your TV reception starts to play up. A real bummer, right?

Ever since the big switch from analog to digital-only TV in Australia, we have come to embrace the numerous benefits of this new evolution in the television technology. We can’t deny the fact that digital TV offers more advantages. They are much better in terms of video and audio quality compared to analog.

You get access to more free-to-air channels and have an electronic program guide to see program schedules on screen. With its many advantages, we still can’t avoid facing certain problems with it especially with the quality of the reception.

There are a number of factors that could cause bad reception. The size, location and quality of your antenna are included among those factors. If you’re having trouble with your TV reception, the best thing to do is call a qualified local electrician, such as ACE Sydney Electricians, to check your antenna and identify the real cause of the issue.

There are some minor reception problems, you can manage to fix on your own.

Here are some common digital TV reception problems, their causes and simple ways on how to fix them:

1. Poor Signal Coverage
Do you constantly experience frozen or pixelated screen? This is probably the most annoying thing that could happen while you’re watching your favorite show. When your screen freezes, gets pixelated, or produces popping or distorted sound, you may already have a problem with your signal.

There are a number of factors that could affect your signal. It could be that you’re living in a location where television transmitters could hardly reach you. If so, contact a reliable broadcaster who can confirm whether TV signals are available in your place. You may also visit mySwitch to see the digital TV coverage and satellite access in your area.

Another cause for weak signal is that your receiver may not be tuned or set up to the correct channels. You just need to retune your receiver according to the instructions provided in the manufacturer’s manual to fix this. You may set it up for auto-tuning but if this does not solve the issue, use manual tuning instead. Manually tune your receiver by selecting the channels of the transmitter that provides the best coverage in your location.

2. Issues With The Receiving Equipment
It could be that your antenna is the one thing that’s causing the reception issues. You need to make sure that the equipment you are utilizing is the appropriate one you need. You should also correctly install and maintain this equipment. It should be installed outdoors, facing the right television tower or transmitter and is properly polarised. You have to inspect it as well for rust and broken parts from the ground. Getting up on your roof is very dangerous and we do not recommend this.

This may be too technical for you. That’s why you will need the assistance of a professional electrician. They should be able to provide you with good recommendations on optimising your antenna system to ensure that you only get reliable reception.

If you currently have a signal booster, look into it as well for this equipment may be the reason behind your reception problems. Living near a mobile broadband base station while having a signal booster can cause sudden changes to the quality of your reception especially when the system is not properly set up. Remove it if it’s not necessary or you could insert a filter to prevent further problems.