Don't know if anyone else has noticed the warning from UKTV History that they've been broadcasting since the weekend:

The last showing of The World at War - ever.

According to the voiceover, this will be the last time the series will ever be repeated on television, Whether or not this refers only to UKTV History, or the whole of the broadcasting industry throughout the world for all time to come is not clear, but if they have the exclusive rights to the programme, then it could well be if they put it in a box and lock it away somewhere.

It's been showing on the channel fairly frequently, since about 2000 or some time thereabout - I can't remember exactly when due to some problems I had at the time, but finding it on every night at the same time probably helped keep me sane at the time, so I have a bit of a soft spot for the series, even though I'd like it anyway.

The series will be shown in its entirety over the forthcoming holiday weekend, with all 26 episodes played over the Saturday, Sunday and Monday, then in batches over the next few weeks - then, apparently, that's our lot. It's off our screens forever.

And I think that's both a shame and an affront, as the series is a milestone that can never be repeated in the sense of being remade. It was created when the memories and realities were still fresh in the survivor's minds, and there are so few people alive today that were alive during the conflict, there's no way it can be recreated.

I think it's something that should always remain freely available somewhere - not just as a set of DVDs someone has to buy/rent or be able to afford.

I couldn't agree more. I saw it first time round and have never lost interest. I managed to acquire the complete set of The Great War last year when a national paper was giving them out, and I would really like The World  at War to go with it.

What a pity I cannot get Freeview as I would have liked to watch it too.  On Sky it is a pay channel - I refuse to subscibe to any pay channel, particularly one which is free on Freeview.

I knew it was a desert, and that there were problems with some channels, but I didn't realise it was that bad

Agree with you completely on the subs - I'd rather do without, or arrange even an awkward alternative, if possible. It's money for nothing, especially for something you are obliged to use in some way. The supplier gets the cash up front, and even if you never use it, there's no refund and they pocket the money whether or not they have to work for it. I don't touch subscription services - apparently not having a mobile phone sub of £30+ per month places me below the official poverty line!

Although many of me neighbours get Freeview with no problems the only channels I can get are the trashy music channels and the shopping channels.  No chance of the Beeb or ITV. I imagine this is because they require a bigger data  transfer for their services.

Freesat works well although the channel list is a bit depleted at present due to C4 and five having contracts with Sky's videoguard coding system.  The BBC HD channel is superb, particularly on travel programmes.  There is so much detail at 1080 that the pictures are almost 3 dimensional.

If I read your description correctly "me neighbours get Freeview with no problems" then you should be able to get it as well if your neighbours are literal neighbours, and within a few metres of your domicile.

If this is the case, your aerial either needs to be raised, and/or genuine low-loss cable - and I stress the word genuine, not just something a cowboy stamped the word on the roll - together with an amplifier as close to the aerial as possible, not stuck at the back of the receiver - there's no point in trying to amplify a signal that's already been strangled and lost coming through the cable.

The cable can be a swine, especially if it looks like low-loss, but is rubbish or counterfeit made to look the same, but of the wrong stuff. I installed a 10 metre run to replace an ordinary cable and was puzzled for days - adding amplifiers to no effect - when things got worse instead of better. Eventually I gave up and ripped the lot out, replacing it with fresh stock from a new roll. You guessed it... everything worked perfectly the first time I plugged the new cable in, didn't even need an amp.

I have a external aerial which just about works provided I amplify the signal as the cable enters the loft. It's a nuisance, since I'd have to have it moved, or take a chance and scramble about the roof if I wanted to adjust it.

Instead, I got a smaller aerial I could mount in the loft. Even thought it's smaller, receiving through wood and slate, and mounted lower down than the external aerial, because I can adjust and point it easily, I'm now getting better reception than with the outside item.

One thing I did find early on was that the height is critical - there is a point at which I can literally raise or lower it by the matter of an inch, and all the channels from the Channel 5 transmitter are completely gone, If I didn't know they were there, I wouldn't have a clue that they were. Yet simply raising and slightly repointing the aerial bring them thundering in as if they had always been there.

Unlike the analogue signal, which may have been unintelligible and useless for viewing but gave mush that proved it was there, the digital signal doesn't do this (unless you have the appropriate test kit) and if the digital receiver doesn't receive a decodable signal, then it simply doesn't send anything to the TV. As soon as the signal is intelligible and can be decoded to provide a viewable - you get picture and sound.

Before anyone rushes to correct me, of course, if you are just on the threshold of reception, then the digital circuits will drop in and out of operation, and a useless, pixelated and broken image will result, but that should be relatively rare - unless you happen to sit the aerial just on the threshold, like I do when I bump the thing.

This house is set back a bit behind the line of the others and large trees get in the way too.  The cable is not a problem as it is satellite grade cable from a  reputable source.

I remember when C4 first started.  I bought a long aerial pole and a new aerial.  A pal came round and we stood the pole up at the back of the house and got a good signal. I was quite happy but my pal, a real perfectionist , insisted on trying it all round the garden to see if there was a better spot.  An hour and a half later we were back to the original site which was the only sweet spot!

Basically I like satellite TV in any case and have the technology (motorised dish) to watch TV from most countries in Europe or I did have until local trees blanked off a lot of the signal but fortunately not from 28.2 and 28.5 East where the UK signals come from.

The aerial pointing is a classic. Same happened when I quickly stuck the one I mentioned up in the loft. Perfect where I threw it, on to of a carboard box just to get it up there quickly. When I later went back to position it "properly", I suffered a week of losing odd channels until I organised things so it landed where it had when i first shoved it on top of that box - now it's just jammed in place with a huge block of polystyrene, waiting to be screwed place, one day.

Lucky you, sounds like you did what I almost did.

A few years ago now, but we had a Chapparal satellite system dealer nearby (might still do for all I know now) and I was assembling a 2 metre dish and Monterey system to go chasing anything that might be available for free reception from any satellite. Unfortunately - or fortunately as it turned out - problems meant I had to abandon the idea at the time. In a way it wasn't a bad thing, and fortunate, as I would have just finished the install prior to all the satellite gear going digital, which seemed to happen very rapidly, but more importantly, with little warning. They clearly wanted so sell all the analogue kit, and seeemd to have been able to keep the digital change really quiet until it arrived. When I was able to take a look back a few months after abandoning things, I couldn't believe how miuch had changed, and how much had gone obsolete or needed updating - apart from the cost of the Monterey system to start with, updating would have cost another small fortune to keep it working.

A 2 metre dish, now that is a big one.  I have always managed with an 80cm dish - doesn't need planning permission!.  I bought a new one recently from Lidl for £8.99 as the LNB arm on the old one wwas rusting away.  Mind you it must have been at least 20 years old as it wasn't new when I got it.  

Digital in many ways spoiled the fun as there were suddenly too many channels and the chance of finding something of interest was much reduced.   There is a lot of strange TV out there, I came across several programmes that were so odd as to be totally inexplicable to the average Brit.  One example being  a childrens' version of The Price is Right from Poland broadcast at midnight (UK time) where the winner, a boy aged about 10, won a washing machine(!).  He was bittterly disappointed as he clearly had his eye on the fridge-freezer.

2 metres was the size for hunting back then - don't know if it's still the same, or even if it's still a decent game - as you say, the number of channels has spread the quality (even of the rubbish) thinly now.

It's the same with radio. I used to while away hours, able to receive anything from 100 kHz to 1.2 GHz with the gear I have, but I put it all away years ago when cellphones when digital. All the radio stuff went digital, the cellphones went digital, and there was nothing to listen to without adding clever kit. All the mobile and service (two-way) radio went to the new kit which couldn't be listened in on, and rather than contract to radio services, user just use mobile phones now.

Unless you're a millionaire, or a criminal, you can't really listen in on anything for fun now.

Even the amatuer stuff is now largely rich folk with boxes - it used to be populated with blokes that had been in the services and learnt their trade their, and experimented, but they're all dead now. One of the most well-known ones this end was manager of the Rolls-Royce factory at Hillington during the war, and relly interesing to listen to. That was how I learnt about the workers' strike there during the war - when strikes were illegal of course.

I remember when you could listen to Police chases with just an FM Radio.

Incidentally I was aware of German claims to have invented TV from a satellite programme from RTL a few years ago.  If I understood German I would probably have picked up more.

I think it would be a shame if they stopped showing World at War.  I may be paranoid but I suspect some of this could be the PC brigade wanting to get rid of any war type shows thinking "War is nasty", to which I reply, "No mess".  However, the old saying about those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it applies.

WaW was a very indepth series which really went into the conflicts and causes, though I regret they never covered the Nuremberg trials a bit more.  If it wasn't for the scale of it, I think it should be a required showing (at least the highlights) in schools.

I got my set through the Daily Mail, and later obtained the 60's Marius Goring series "The Great War".

Another good documentary to watch is "Auschwitz, the Nazis and the Final Solution".  I recently got this from Amazon and it was absorbing and disturbing at the same time.