Full Freeview on the Bluebell Hill (Medway, England) transmitter

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

11:19 AM

John Buchanan: I wonder what it does as far as automatic retuning is concered. It might not be retuning as such, but adding new .

I can think of two possibilities:

1. The TV adds new services that are being broadcast by transmitters that you already have multiplexes stored for. Perhaps either that information is carried on those multiplexes (information about new services) or it does a through the band to see if there are new services available from the same (s), ignoring those that are from other transmitters.

2. The TV scans through the entire band and stores any signals from any transmitters that it has never stored before.

If it is 1, then you might get around it storing new services (and those of other transmitting stations within range) by either preventing it from storing them when you do the auto tune scan or deleting them (if the allows).

If it is 2, then disabling the auto service update might be your only option. However, if it puts new services in the 800s, this might not be such an issue, although I find that when mine does do this, I have to go through the menu to skip them so that from 728 upwards, the next logical is 1.

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

11:22 AM

John Buchanan: Yes, a lot of people will be confused and perhaps carry out unnecessary scans thereby causing more problems such as getting the wrong stored as the main one. Perhaps some will assume that this is the correct one and wonder why it is that their transmitter is now a poorer (breaking up etc).

Storing of the incorrect transmitter (i.e. the one for which the does not face) is obviously a common problem, particularly in certain areas. The same thing happened with and this usually meant a poor picture.

Jeremy
3:22 PM
Maidstone

Advice as to and combination. I live halfway down and have noticed that my neighbours with external aerials have them pointed somewhat , rather than north. I assume they're therefore using . I only have a aerial: I've never put any import on a working aerial until now as I have HD. However, given the weather (snow often blocks the Sky ) AND the fact I have a shiny new large LED telly with built-in, it's worth having it, even as a back-up. Questions: I assume I should get an external one fitted. Bluebell Hill isn't going HD until 27th June. Should I wait til after that, and use that transmitter, or should I stay with Crystal Palace, and get HD now? Thanks in advance to all you knowledgeable people.

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3:52 PM

Jeremy: I would stay as you are and use the on Blue Bell Hill.

Be aware that being so close to a high you may find that you have to higher level than your TV can cope with. You may need to fit an attenuator. See this page:

Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

I wouldn't bother trying for in order to get HD because I think that you won't receive it at your location. CP does transmit HD, but its HD is at lower power than the definition . It was shoehorned in to provide HD before . HD is not part of the normal Freeview offering before switchover; Crystal Palace is one of four exceptions.

You could, of course, go for Crystal Palace at switchover on 18th April, but then Blue Bell Hill's switchover will only be ten weeks away.

M

Mark Fletcher

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

4:05 PM
Halifax

Jeremy,Maidstone.The world is your oyster.If you want to remain with then yes you will most certainly need a new external ,a group A Yagi 18A or X-Beam XB16A as such,however if you decide to use instead then you can use either a group B,group E or a group W aerial.However dont buy a group W wideband aerial for Crystal Palace itself if you remain with this transmitter,as being an all group A you will find that group W wideband antennas have a poor performance on all the in the group A band in a poor /marginal signal area within that particular transmitter itself.One final option you may consider diplexing your aerials using group A Yagi or X-Beam aerial for Crystal Palace and either a separate group B,group E (recommended) or even a group W wideband aerial for Bluebell Hill itself.Look up the ATV Aerials and Televisions of website on new aerials,co-ax cables,co-ax plugs and diplexers,i am sure they will be of very valuable assistance to you and believe me they are IMHO the best aerial retailers in the business in the UK today.

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Jeremy
4:44 PM
Maidstone

Dave & Mark,

Thank you both for those amazingly fast responses! I bought a new to replace the one in the , and when it's pointing at , the is all right, just a little disappointed I can't get . It sounds like the options are to invest in an aerial to hit CP (and risk not getting HD in any case) or stay with Bluebell Hill and wait. I wanted to go for a good generic solution as the TV goes into a Loftbox and then onto the other TVs in the house which are all getting Freeview built-in (one or two will have Freeview HD too in time I guess). Most of them just use the HDMI that I have sent around the house over Cat6, but in the event I want to use the tuners in them, I needed an aerial with a reasonable signal. Thanks to you guys it sounds like I'd best wait (not something I do well!) until after for Bluebell Hill, and that should meet my needs. Thanks once again guys.

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C

chris greenstreet
6:34 PM
Gravesend

why when my is facing do i receive anglia which i dont want i have re scanned many times

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7:35 PM

Chris Greenstreet: At the moment, Blue Bell Hill hasn't switched over, and so is on pre- low , whereas, (the Anglia service I presume you are picking up) has switched.

The three powerful multiplexes from Sudbury/Rouncefell (these operate on the same /frequencies) that you are trying to avoid picking up are on channels 44, 41 and 47. The other three multiplexes are on low power, so hopefully won't be an issue to you.

Blue Bell Hill uses (at the moment, before switchover) 59, 24, 27, 42, 39, 45.

What I suggest that you do is run the automatic tuning with the unplugged between 20% and 70% (or after channel 27 and before 59 if it gives UHF channel numbers whilst scanning). Then manually add 39, 42 and 45.

Post switchover, you *could* have similar issues with the wrong . Due to the channels used, it will be much more difficult to use the automatic tuning if it does not pick up the correct transmitter.

If you do have an issue, then post on this site and someone should be able to you.

M

Mark Fletcher

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

10:04 PM
Halifax

Jeremy.Sorry for not responding back to you quickly enough due to work committments,but let me say it has been a pleasure in assisting you of course not just me but Dave Lindsay himself too who just beat me into responding to you while i composed mine.Waiting for Wednesday 27 June 2012 when (and also too) goes all TV is probably the better option.Happy Viewing !

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Derek Brice
10:56 PM
Gillingham

What is the current status of the transmitters? Are they still using temporary aerials lower down the tower?
My wife still likes to use analogue because she likes the old style teletext and intends to keep using it right up to .