What is the Inversion Effect and why does it effect my Freeview TV reception?
Under normal circumstances, the signals from each television transmitter can only be received by those homes and businesses that have aerials that have a direct line-of-sight to the transmitter. The part of the signal from the transmitter that is directed upwards simply escapes into space and are lost. When there is high atmospheric pressure (BBC Weather – UK Pressure chart) as the sun heats up the ground the warm air gets trapped underneath the colder air higher up. At the point where the warm air gets trapped under the cold air this creates a layer that is, in effect, a mirror for the television signals. This means that signals that would otherwise be impossible to receive can suddenly effect your television reception. The digital television signal uses a format called COFDM (coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) and this incorporates the ability to ignore reflected digital signals. However, analogue television signals do not co-operate with each other and the picture qua
