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If you can receive reasonable quality reception of analogue channels 1 to 4 at the moment, then you will probably be able to receive Freeview. However, there are some exceptions to this general rule. The Freeview web site http://www.freeview.co.uk includes a postcode reception predictor. For more detailed information visit Wolfbane http://www.wolfbane.com . If your neighbours can receive Freeview then it is highly likely that you will too, assuming that you have a similar aerial setup and that there are no obstructions such as buildings or trees. You could try borrowing their Freeview box for a trial. Some retailers allow you to return Freeview boxes if you discover that you cannot receive a signal.

All television aerials can receive both analogue and digital signals. There is no such thing as a "digital aerial" and any retailer or installer offering such a product should be regarded as being highly suspect. However, more sensitive aerials are available. In addition, for Freeview some areas require wideband aerials which can receive signals from the entire UHF band instead of the normal aerials which are optimised for that section of the band used for the analogue transmissions from your local transmitter.

Freeview is broadcast on UHF channels, as are the conventional analogue television channels.

Freeview is broadcast as a series of multiplexes. Each multiplex is a single transmission on one physical UHF channel, but it contains a number of Freeview channels. There are currently six multiplexes. If and when analogue television transmissions cease, more multiplexes may be introduced.

In an attempt to explain the concept, a multiplex has been likened to a sewage pipe. Given the quality of most television programmes, this seems an entirely appropriate analogy.

National Grid Wireless also operate a number of the television transmitters in Britain.

Some sources say that Multiplex C is operated by BSkyB. Other sources say that BSkyB have never operated a Freeview multiplex. There are several possible explanations for this confusion, including historical changes, and the fact that this multiplex is often referred to colloquially as "the Sky multiplex" or "the BSkyB multiplex" since most of the television channels that it carries are Sky channels.

Freeview (external link verified Mar-04) is generally described as being a marketing organisation, promoting digital terrestrial television in the UK.

The Digital Television Group (external link verified Apr-05) (DTG) administer the technical aspects of the Freeview system, including the transmission of on-air downloads (OAD's) for set-top boxes supplied by their manufacturers. DTG also establish the technical standards for UK digital terrestrial television and its MHEG text system.

National Grid Wireless, formerly known as Crown Castle (external link verified May-04), who are owned by Transco, operate some (all? most?) of the UK's terrestrial television transmitters. However, NTL are also involved in the transmitter system, possibly only in respect of the links from broadcasters to transmitters, possibly actually operating some transmitters.

A mysterious organisation called DTV Services appears to actually own Freeview. DTV Services appears to be partly or wholly controlled by the BBC but information about the organisation is not easily obtained and often contradictory.

The Digital Network (TDN) is an organisation (or possibly just a committee) involving all the multiplex operators. According to some sources, TDN allocate the logical channel numbers (LCN's) on the Freeview system.

Switchco is a government funded organisation which promotes the move from analogue television to digital television. However, recently (Oct-05) the name "Digital UK" seems to be used instead of Switchco. I do not know if this is the same organisation or not.

Alternatively, a small number of televisions include Freeview decoders. These are called Integrated Televisions.

However, there is a subscription charge for the encrypted Top-Up TV channels (see note), but subscription is entirely optional. One of the Top-Up TV channels broadcasts pornography and requires an additional subscription charge. A compatible set-top box is required in order to receive the Top-Up TV channels; very few Freeview boxes are compatible.

One non Top-Up TV channel, namely Yoo-Play Games, requires viewers to dial a premium rate number on a conventional voice phone in order to obtain a code number, which provides access to the games. Use of this service is again entirely optional. In most cases the first level of each game can be accessed free of charge.

There is currently one pay-per-view pornography channel. In addition, Top-Up TV offer a pay-per-view sampler channel but this is not currently broadcasting programmes.

Sound quality on Freeview is generally reported as being far superior to that of DAB. In additional, Freeview boxes are generally far less expensive than DAB radios.

NICAM sound on analogue television is transmitted in digital form. However, the sound on Freeview is almost certainly compressed with a lossy algorithm similar to MP3 and therefore of a lower quality.

The sound quality on the Freeview radio channels is generally reported as being far superior to that of DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting), the UK's digital radio-only system.

The gaps in the channel numbers are not wasted space, because all Freeview channels are only logical numbers. The technical constraints on the number of possible Freeview channels are the number of multiplexes and their compression algorithms, not the number of available logical channels.

There are also obvious commercial, financial and legal constraints on the number of Freeview channels.

A complete list of Freeview channels is available on this page of the Digital Spy web site (external link checked Dec-04). That list is kept reasonably well up-to-date.

For example, currently (Nov-05) CBBC and BBC3 timeshare on MUX1, CBeebies and BBC4 timeshare on MUXB, 302 and the Community Channel timeshare on MUXB, ITV4 and ITV News timeshare on MUX2, and all the Top-Up TV (see note) subscription encrypted channels on MUXA are timeshared in various combinations.

Currently, the most extreme example of timesharing is the combination on a single data stream of UKTV Food, Bloomberg, Toonami, British Eurosport and Red Hot.

Most timeshared channels display a text caption when they are not transmitting programmes.

• New channels often have blank screens for some time before programming commences. This may be for a period of time of just a few days, or in some cases for months.
• Each of the Top-Up TV channels (see note) only broadcasts programmes for a limited number of hours per day. When a Top-Up TV channel is broadcasting programmes, it is encrypted and appears as a blank screen unless you are a subscriber. On some Freeview boxes a message may be displayed explaining that the channel is encrypted. When a Top-Up TV channel is not broadcasting programmes then a caption is displayed which can be seen by all Freeview viewers.
• Freeview channels 301 and 302, the BBC's extra channels, sometimes have a blank screen instead of the normal caption which is displayed when they are not being used. In particular, channel 302 has a blank screen each morning when its bandwidth is being used to transmit the Community Channel's programmes.
• Freeview channel 303, which controls the BBC Parliament and BBC News 24 rolling news quarter screen channels, is intentionally blank at all times.
• Freeview channel 300, which transmits a programme guide that can only be received by a few particular Freeview set-top boxes, is intentionally blank almost all of the time.
• A multiplex may be temporarily off-air due to engineering work or a fault.

If any additional multiplexes are introduced in the future, something which is unlikely to happen for many years and which may never happen, then you may need to make the Freeview box scan for them. This is identical to the process which occurs when you first turn the box on.

If you move to a different transmitter area and take your Freeview box with you, then you will need to perform a complete rescan because the multiplexes will be on different UHF channels. The manual will explain how to invoke a rescan. This is normally a simple operation which only takes a few minutes.

Opinion: The lack of Freeview channel numbers for the rolling news quarter screens makes them difficult to access, and I suspect that most Freeview viewers never discover them, or having accessed them once by accident never discover how to do so again.

Some organisations, notably NTL, use the word "interactive" to refer to digital text services.

The BBC uses the word "interactive" to refer to the selection of extra television channels (not text services) by means of the text system on digital television. On Freeview, these extra television channels (301 and 302) can be accessed free of charge, despite the word "interactive". There could possibly be a charge for accessing these channels with satellite and cable television, since their set-top boxes do have telephone connections, but in practice that seems highly unlikely.

Since almost all Freeview set-top boxes are not connected to the phone system, there is no information path from the viewer to the broadcaster, so these additional channels are not actually interactive in any sense. Some people argue that selecting a channel by means of the text system involves pressing a button on the remote control, making the process interactive. To me, that process is no more "interactive" than selecting a television or radio channel by any other means.

As mentioned before, these are not actually interactive in any sense, but merely extra normal BBC television channels which can be accessed free of charge. They can be selected by their Freeview channel numbers or by menu options in the BBCi text system, but normally only from one specific normal BBC channel. In some cases selecting these channels via BBCi gives access to a text system which provides some additional information, whereas selecting them via their Freeview channel numbers does not.

These channels are used by the BBC as and when required, for special items such as extended sports coverage or additional material related to a programme on a normal BBC channel. In many cases the broadcasts on 301 or 302 are transmitted for a much longer time than the related programme, starting many hours before and ending many hours later, and sometimes even on additional days.

There is usually no indication in programme schedule information that a programme has an associated broadcast on 301 or 302, and never any indication of when such coverage begins. The "i" symbol in programme listing indicates that a programme is truly interactive, involving a premium rate phone-in competition, viewer's poll, etc, or that it is a shopping channel. The "i" symbol is never used to indicate that a programme has associated material on 301 or 302.

When 301 and 302 are not being used a caption is shown on those channels, or sometimes just a blank screen. The caption has virtually no information.

In some cases, especially during multi-day sporting events, some limited schedule information is displayed on 301 or 302, or on their text system. However, in most cases no schedule information whatsoever is available for 301 and 302, which is most regrettable. I feel there is just as much of a case for providing schedule information for 301 and 302 as for any other normal television channel, and far more of a case than for the shopping and 24-hour news channels. Because of the nature of the material normally shown on 301 and 302, appropriate schedules would usually be very much in a summary form, and subject to late changes.

Some sources claim that the BBC are restrained from publishing schedule information for these channels by the terms of their charter. According to a posting on the Digital Spy forums from someone claiming to have inside knowledge, this is nonsense and there is no such restraint. Certainly those making the claim have so far been unable to support it with documentary evidence. I suspect that they may be mistaking regulations governing the excessive on-screen publicising of truly interactive services involving premium rate phone calls.

It is highly regrettable that amongst the flood of trailers for the BBC's other programmes, there are none for the often excellent programmes on 301 and 302.

As some BBC programme presenters themselves are now using the Freeview system privately, they are gradually starting to mention 301 and 302 and becoming increasingly embarrassed by the marketing nonsense word "interactive".

BBC Sport are on record as being highly in favour of having schedules for their programmes on 301 and 302. The reluctance to do so lies elsewhere.

Update (1-Oct-05): Schedules for the sports programmes on channels 301 and 302 are now available online on this page of the BBC's web site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/grandstand/4220562.stm

Freeview channel 303 is a BBC channel, but very different to 301 and 302. It is generally thought to control the BBC Parliament and BBC News 24 rolling news quarter screen channels, although the technical details are vague and complicated. It only ever shows a blank screen. According to some sources, 303 also carries the CBeebies text system games for young children.

• Receiving signals from two transmitters.
• A channel changing multiplex.
• A problem which prevents the box detecting the correct channel numbers when it scans a multiplex. This is usually due to weak reception or an error in the broadcaster's configuration of a multiplex, rather than a fault in the Freeview box.

• Rescanning the multiplex of the relevant channels. In some cases it may be necessary to delete the channels in the 800's before rescanning.
• Performing a complete rescan.
• Waiting until atmospheric conditions change and you no longer pick up unwanted signals from a more distant transmitter.
• Adjusting the aerial so as to prevent or reduce the reception of unwanted signals.

Depending on your Freeview box, some of the following ideas might help to hide the hated "Press Red":

• Try pressing the Green button. This has recently been discovered to hide "Press Red" with no side effects. However, it might not work on all types of Freeview box.

• Switch subtitles on. However, you may feel that subtitles are no less intrusive than "Press Red".

• Switch on subtitles and change the subtitle language option to Welsh or Gaelic, with the intention that then no subtitles should be displayed. However, on my Freeview box English subtitles are displayed even when the language is changed.

• If your Freeview box has such an option, disable the entire MHEG system. This hides the "Press Red" button but also makes all the text systems inaccessible.

Top-Up TV can only be received on a Freeview set-top box which has a slot for a subscription card. This is called a "Conditional Access Module" (CAM). Old OnDigital and ITV Digital set-top boxes have such a slot. There are also a small number of Freeview set-top boxes currently being manufactured which have a card slot. In addition, most televisions which include a built-in Freeview box ("integrated televisions") have a card slot.

Subscription to Top-Up TV is entirely optional.

Each of the Top-Up TV channels is only broadcast for a restricted number of hours. When programmes are being transmitted the channel is encrypted and appears to non-subscribers as a blank screen. When programmes are not being transmitted then a caption is displayed which can be seen by all viewers.

Some Freeview boxes can be configured so as to ignore encrypted channels such as the Top-Up TV channels, so that they will not appear in channel lists. On some Freeview boxes a key symbol indicates an encrypted channel.

With both of these channels viewers have to make a premium rate voice phone call in order to obtain a key. When the key is entered on the viewer's Freeview set-top box, the channel can be viewed for certain length of time (the remainder of the current day, I think, or maybe 24 hours). There may be difficulties if the viewer shifts channel or switches their Freeview box off and on. Each viewer is given a different key which can only be used once.

Technically, the channels work by displaying a text mask in front of the picture so as to hide it. When the correct key is entered the masking text is removed. This technique is called MHEG protection, MHEG being the name of the digital text system used on Freeview.

Unlike the Top-Up TV encrypted subscription channels, the pay-per-view channels can be received on almost all Freeview set-top boxes.

There is considerable speculation as to how many, if any, Freeview channels might convert to pay-per-view in the future.

For what it's worth, my own personal favourites are the extended sports coverage on BBC channels 301 and 302, the annual Tour de France coverage (ITV2, maybe moving to ITV4 next summer), Raven (an outdoor fantasy adventure game on CBBC), and Millennium: A Thousand Years Of History (UK History).

The schedule for Freeview set-top box on-air software update downloads can be found at http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/download_schedule.pl or on Teletext (Freeview channel 9) > Welcome > last sub-page.

In addition, a few set-top boxes (notably the Goodmans GDB2 and GDB3) have an RS-232 socket. A software update for these boxes can be downloaded via the Internet and then, with a suitable cable, transferred to the set-top box. However, the details of this procedure are relatively complicated and beyond the scope of this document.

When a Freeview box locks up, unplug it from the mains, leave it a few seconds, then plug it back in and if necessary switch it back on. This will almost always fix a lockup.

Because of the enormous complexity of broadcasting from a variety of sources with various different technical specifications to a variety of transmission methods with various different technical specifications, broadcasters make mistakes fairly frequently. A failure to transmit subtitles is probably the most common mistake, closely followed by aspect ratio errors. The frequency of these mistakes is much greater on Freeview than on analogue television.

It is often very difficult to know whether a transient problem lies with the broadcaster or the Freeview box.

On-air downloads frequently include attempts to fix software problems. However, as with computer updates, they often introduce new problems.

The OfCom web site includes this section with full details of all UK analogue and digital terrestrial television transmitters, including UHF channel numbers, ERP (Effective Radiated Power), polarisation, and Ordnance Survey grid references. (External link verified Jan-05.)

Wolfbane's Digital Terrestrial Television Reception Predictor allows you to enter your postcode or Ordnance Survey grid reference, and returns full details of the nearest transmitter(s) including distance and bearing. There are options for local, distant and DX (very long distance and special atmospheric reception). The same web site offer a very similar facility for analogue transmitters, and a list of UK Freeview digital television multiplexes and physical UHF channels for each terrestrial transmitter. (All external links verified Jan-05).

The schedule for Freeview set-top box on-air software update downloads can be found at http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/download_schedule.pl (external link verified Jan-05) or on Teletext (Freeview channel 9) > Welcome > last sub-page.

The BBC web site has a daily transmitter engineering report (external link verified May-04). Scheduled transmitter power reductions and service interruptions are also posted on Ceefax.

The Digital Spy web site has news and discussion forums which cover all aspects of UK digital television, including Freeview. There is also a list of the Freeview channels. (External link verified Jan-05.)

tvradiobits offers some very useful information and sensible advice about aspect ratios and widescreen. (External link verified May-05.)

Before deciding on the purchase of a Freeview box, it may be useful to download the manual from the manufacturer's web site, in order to check the specification and features.