Switchover starts in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV This week sees the first stage of the digital television switchover for 747,300 homes in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
From 6am Wednesday 3rd August 2011, you must to a perform a "first time installation" retune (sometimes "Factory Reset" or "Shipping Condition") on your Freeview box or television set if you use the Belmont or Oliver's Mount full service Freeview transmitters. This is because the old "multiplex 1" BBC service will be replaced by the BBCA multiplex on a different frequency.
If you use the Grimsby (by noon), Hunmanby (9am), Lincoln Central (by 9am) or Weaverthorpe (by 6am) relay transmitters, from Wednesday 3rd August 2011 you will be able to receive the BBC Freeview services (with the exception of HD) for the first time, and you will no longer be able to view BBC TWO on analogue.
You MAY find that old equipment will no longer work - see TVs and boxes that do not support the 8k-mode
On Wednesday 17th August 2011 will see the second stage of switchover, which provides the final Freeview configuration, including Freeview HD for all transmitters in this region.
On this date, you will need, once again, to do a "first time installation" as indicated above.
A small aside
Whenever I hear the name "Belmont", it reminds me of seeing this card on the ITV button in the morning
Which was accompanied by this music and voice: Yorkshire Television Theme Tune which I guess must have been some early inspiration for this site...
Help with Freeview, aerials?
In this section
Thursday, 4 August 2011
J
jb388:59 PM
Briantist: I see I will need to scroll up before posting, as I was unaware you had posted a reply of a similar nature, it being under the masking.
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jb38: Yes... It's probably worth pointing out you can get a Freeview HD box for £20 -
Isis - Isis Freeview HD Set Top Box - ISI-DVBT2 - Best Buy UK
- and they all will present a "select your preferred region" menu if they find signals from more than one transmitter.
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J
jb389:28 PM
KB Aerials Sheffield: Yes, had a look at the Fringe version you mentioned and it fits the purpose as far as frequency range is concerned.
Although in practice its really one of these cases where a large portion of hit and miss comes into it because of the number of variables involved, like what strength the unwanted signal is at after passing though the filter Vs the sensitivity of the TV / box that the signal is being fed into, and considering that some sets like Panasonics and a few others are extremely sensitive devices, the end result might be that the receiver still locks on to the unwanted signal.
I would certainly be interested though to hear reports on the outcome of any tests carried out using this type of filter, that is if it was being used in an attempt to alleviate the type of problem experienced by David, I have to say I do have my doubts on the effectiveness of it, but one never knows!
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D
David10:08 PM
Brian, the BestBuy box can't be had for delivery and when I tried to order for collect in store it said they can't check stock.
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David: OK.. There's a £30 Tesco one - Technika STBHDH2010 Freeview HD Digital Set Top Box - Tesco.Direct .
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Friday, 5 August 2011
H
Harold2:55 PM
Since the switch over in North Lincolnshire our picture very so often either distorts or freezes.This was not here before as we had new sat dish/aerial installed with boxes etc. 3 months ago and no problems.
Any idea what can be causing it after the retune on the 3rd August ?.
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Harold: Odd as it might sound, but you may have to strong a signal.
If you have a booster or amplifier in your system, try removing it.
It is hard to be specific without a full postcode.
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KB Aerials Sheffield
4:38 PM
4:38 PM
THE channel band filters work really well - if the signal is quite strong perhaps placing an attenuator before the channel band filter will help as 45db signal strength at the set will work happily - like this morning Ive installed an aerial on Belmont in Sheffield the signal on the new ch 22 mux was 66db so would work with an 18 db attenuator leaving 48 db at the set
if you want to crack this once and for all and never have an issue use a channel filter like Taylor Bros make - this device will only let the signals through that are required these are £87.50 plus vat and really need someone who knows what they are doing installing one - but this is a task for after switchover when the analogue signals have gone -unless you want to buy 2 filters for the month or so we have left that would just be a waste of cash
Take a look
http://www.taylorbros.co.….pdf (S201EG)
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KB Aerials Sheffield
8:05 PM
Sheffield
8:05 PM
Sheffield
Harold Im assuming that the problems relate to the BBC channels? the signal from belmont has just moved from one frequency to another - they have upped the signal quite substantially what brian is saying is in relation to this the signal can be too strong - reducing the signal may help but on the other hand there are still 5 more multiplexes that are much weaker so if an attenuater was fitted then this will make BBC work but may stop the rest of the channels working its a bit of sticky position to be in you may have to put up with this until the next phase of switchover then reduce the signal
im assuming that how the system works would be that the aerial is from the roof into the sky box then distributed to the rest of the house -- then the attenuator would go at the rf input of the sky box
Im afraid we in the aerial installation industry have been expecting this but we've had to make a decision will the system work now or in the future as we wouldnt get paid if said --- now madam we installed this aerial for you - it wont work properly till after switchover people just wouldnt accept it - and in some cases weve had to make the system work when we installed the system knowing that we will have to return to slightly alter any work to compensate for the dramatic rise in signal strength - if an distribution amplifier was installed to distribute sky to other tvs then this will still be needed as removing it will give you a poor reception of sky on other tv's in the house also if sky eyes are installed the amplifier powers the eyes enabling you to control your sky box from other rooms therefore the increase in signal strength needs dealing with by reducing it to a level where it work after the sky box and through a distribution amplifier
attenuators are less than a fiver - getting an aerial installer out to install an attenuator would be around £45 plus parts so you could try solving the problem yourself or get a professional who can measure the signal and get the system running smoothly its like one of those questions- do I service my car my self or get a mechanic who knows what he's doing to do it correctly
Keith KB Aerials Sheffield
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KB's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
KB Aerials Sheffield
8:15 PM
Sheffield
8:15 PM
Sheffield
Brian - I can see that in some case removing an amplifier may solve a problem but in some situations like the one described in my last post would be detrimental to this kind of system and an attenuator on the aerial input to the sky box may be a better solution than simply whipping out an amp - for instance if an aerial was distributed to say 6 or 8 televisions where the amp is in the loft or the cellar then rather than stripping down a professionally installed amplifier where the cables are all tacked neatly and distributed correctley then an attenuater placed at the sky box input would serve well and would be a simpler to deal with by a diy'er than figuring out what to replace the amplifier with
if its a system with no sky distribution and simply an aerial to several points again an atenuator to the value of the signal increase is a simple workable solution would you not agree ?
a set back amp feeding one tv - certainly try removing that to improve reception where the signal has been increased
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KB's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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