Why is it ???

PacMan

I had chorus mmds for many years and noticed that most of their stations could be tuned in to the tv on a dedicated channel. I could assign sky news to Number 5 on my tv etc. The only drawback was that to view the british stations (BBC1/BBC2 etc) i had to view them through the chorus mmds box.
When Sky digital arrived I dumped my old sky annalogue and then Chorus. Lately I have found that I can receive Channel 4 and sometimes Sky News on my tv when I am doing a scan. Although Sky News picture and audio is bad , Channel 4 comes in perfect in black and white stays for about 30 minutes then goes.
My question is Why does this happen. I assume the pictures and sound are from Chorus. But not one of my neighbours have Chorus. We all have Sky. Anyone have any answers on how this happens and perhaps give me an indication as to what I need to improve Ch4 reception as its not on Sky Digital.

Mossy Monk

Channel 4 on its own channel away from Skyy Digital. it has got to be from something else like Chorus because i certainly can't tune in Channel 4 from the Sky digibox on the seperate channel numbers. the aerial has to be plugged in for me to be able to do that

PacMan,
Where exactly are you?
Do you mean you are getting a weak ch 4 and sky news when you Scan the UHF band on your tv?
If so presumably your tv is connected to an outdoor aerial for RTE/tv3?
Is that a UHF or VHF aerial?
It appears then you are picking up a deflector signal?
If you are, then the way to improve that is to simply swing your aerial around to where it's coming from.
mm

PacMan

I live in Tipperary. Yes I have both VHF for RTE and UHF for TV3/TG4. I have them connected to a booster in the attic for distribution around the house.I am also getting "Faint" signals on UHF and if memory serves me correctly, Chorus MMDS used to broadcast Sky premier and the racing channel on these bands. I have to add that for a long time and it may be so now, that Chorus MMDS (Annalogue) used to broadcast the movie channels and racing channels in the clear. I dont know why as I never paid for them. in fact most of my friends did not either. Yes I think these faint signals are coming from chorus overspill. But I am not near a mast so the signal must be strong.

They could not be coming from chorus as their signal is microwave.
You would need one of their boxes for to receive it, and indeed,that box would have to have a chorus mmds sub paid before it receives anything.
Unless you live in a town and there is chorus cable running along the gable of your house.
However that would be a VHF and not a uhf signal.
So I reckon what you are picking up must be from a deflector somewhere.
That means if you put up a separate uhf aerial for it you should get it fairly good-seeing as you have a trace of it with nothing at all to bring it in.
mm