Reception problems and captions

Teletext Televisions

Reception problems are related to difficulties with your equipment or location. Reception problems may occur on all of your free-to air TV channels or you may experience problems on just one of the channels.

The caption signal that is transmitted from the TV station to your TV set is a delicate signal so you will need an antenna that receives a good strong signal. It is unlikely that you will be able to receive perfect captions with an indoor antenna (e.g. rabbit's ears). If any of the problems shown below affect your television picture, you might have trouble getting clear captions.

	Ghosts - caused by reflection of the television signal from nearby buildings, hills or passing aircraft
	Interference - from another electrical appliance or vehicle outside
	Patterning - caused by transmission signals from another TV station
	Snow - caused by a weak signal

Common factors to be considered that may affect your reception of captions

1. Distance and “line of sight” from main transmitting towers.
   The quality of reception received is directly related to the physical distance between your location and the transmission towers of your local TV station. This can explain why you may be able to get captions on one channel but not another.
   
   Good reception should be expected up to approximately 50km from your nearest transmission tower, though this is not the sole criteria. Also important is whether there is a relatively clear line of sight (i.e. no major physical obstacles such as mountains or tall buildings) between your location and the transmission towers. Generally speaking, the closer you are to a transmission tower and the clearer your “line of sight”, the better your chances in receiving good TV reception.
2. Physical environment.
   If your line of sight is impeded by physical obstructions, then this may effect the quality of TV reception you receive. Do you live in a valley surrounded by high mountain ranges? Are you surrounded by a number of tall buildings? Tall trees? You could be living in what is known as a reception “black spot”.
   
3. Condition, age or type of existing antenna.
   There are approximately 7 million households in Australia. It is estimated that only 600,000 antennas are sold every year and that the average age of each household antenna is approximately five years. A lot can happen in that time, from a gradual deterioration of the antenna and cabling itself, changes to the local environment, or even changes in network transmissions (such as the introduction of digital television from January 1, 2001).
   
4. Changes to your TV/home entertainment set up.
   This is quite common (especially if there is a DIY enthusiast in the house!). Not many people realise that this has a direct effect on the quality of TV reception they receive. Have you recently:
   • Added extra TV points (and even more televisions off the single antenna).
   • Extended the distance between your TV reception point(s) and your antenna.
   • Changed the physical location of your external TV antenna.
   • Manually (or inadvertently) adjusted the direction of your external antenna
   • Upgraded your Home Entertainment System (particularly to Digital TV).
   • All of these factors may have a bearing on the quality of reception received.
     
5. Condition of your TV
   The age of your television may be a contributing factor to TV quality.
   
6. Local and sporadic interference
   Finally, poor TV reception could also be caused by local (and sporadic) interference such as the usage of electric devices, machinery and so on.

Steps you can try at home to resolve the problem

1. Check that all your equipment is connected properly.
2. If you are using an indoor antenna (rabbits ears) you will probably need to get a good outdoor antenna possibly with an antenna booster.
3. If you already have a good outdoor antenna try manually fine tuning your TV. The instruction manual provided when your TV was purchased will describe the best method of tuning for your particular unit.
4. If you have problems with captions on the Seven network there is a test that you can do to find out if your reception is good enough. If you have a teletext TV press the teletext button on your remote control. Page 100 of the Channel 7 Austext information service will appear on your screen.Next, press the numbers 698 or 699 on your TV remote control. If the page is filled completely with numbers and letters you have fine reception. If there are any letters or numbers missing you may have a reception problem. So follow steps 1, 2 and 3 above.
5. Check with your friends or neighbours to see if they have any problems with their picture quality or captions. If your neighbours are experiencing the same reception problem, it is likely the reception problem is caused by some sort of interference in your area. Make sure that the reception difficulty your neighbour describes is the same as your own and happens on the same channel(s). If your neighbours are not experiencing the same reception difficulties, check your TV antenna equipment.
6. If you live in a block of units, hotel or caravan your TV signal may be distributed from a shared antenna system. If this is the case and you are experiencing reception difficulties, particularly on more than one channel, consider contacting the Body Corporate or landlord to arrange for an antenna specialist to check the system.
7. If your problem persists you will need to contact a TV and antenna specialist to discuss how to get the best reception in your area. Make sure that the technician is familiar with captions and what they do.
   

Reception problems with a digital set-top box

If you are using a digital set-top box to watch captions then caption display problems due to poor reception is unlikely. With a digital signal you will either get a great picture with great captions or no picture and no captions at all.

If there are caption display problems on screen on multiple stations it usually means that the software in your digital set-top box is faulty and will need to be upgraded. Contact the manufacturer of your set-top box to arrange this. If you are getting problems with only one station, it is possibly a transmission issue.

Making a complaint

Media Access Australia would like to know about any captioning problems you have encountered on television. They have set up a system to make it easier for you to make a formal complaint about television captions. Go to http://www.mediaaccess.org.au/complaints
Related articles

• Captions on your television
• DVDs and captions
  

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Reproduced with permission.
Date reviewed: 12.11.2008