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Help with TV/radio stations?
In this section
Friday, 27 April 2012
C
CWHerts4:03 PM
Rickmansworth
Chorleywood. I have lost all the BBC channels which is really upsetting as they were the only ones I watched. I have lots of other channels (IVT etc).
I can get the channel BBC for a few seconds & then when the signal is full it goes off & says 'Due to technical problem...... try later' !!
My Freeview box is Bush. I have found out that I should get the Hemel signal. I phoned the helpline for Digital switchover but didn't help me.
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CWHerts's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
CWHerts: If you have a booster, remove it. Then perform and automatic retune with the aerial lead unplugged until it gets to 30%.
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J
jb388:47 PM
Mary Middleton: Judging by the various directions that the aerials are seen facing in your area strongly suggests that its a problematic one for reception, and so it depends on where your particular aerial is pointing at.
The reception predictor indicates your best options for reception as being from either Crystal Palace or Oxford, Crystal Palace having the edge over Oxford on the main PSB stations (BBC / HD / ITV) but with the commercials being indicated as variable on a permanent basis, whereas Oxford indicates OK on five of the six multiplexes and with the remaining one (ArqB) being variable.
If you are not sure where you are receiving from carry out a signal check on BBC1 and note the mux channel number associated with the indication, if its from Crystal Palace it will be Ch23, whereas if Oxford Ch53. Once completed select ITV and carry out another signal check on it and likewise as before noting the mux channel seen indicated, Crystal Palace being Ch26 and if Oxford its Ch60.
Of course its not guaranteed that reception would ever be perfect in your area, and in cases like that Freesat scores every time.
Anyway, maybe you could give an update on findings of the channel test.
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M
Mary Middleton10:17 PM
Henley-on-thames
jb38: I thought I was tuned to the Oxford transmitter, but BBC1 is channel 45, ITV1 is channel 26 if that means anything to you?
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Mary's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Mary Middleton: You live high up appear to have direct line of sight to Hannington (21 miles), Oxford (16 miles) and Crystal Palace (43 miles). This, on the face of it, would appear to mean that you may be in an excellent reception area.
As jb38 says, check that you are tuned to the transmitter to which your aerial faces.
If it's not tuned correctly, a workaround can be suggested.
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Mary Middleton: I cross-posted with you.
In answer to your question, BBC1 is tuned to Hannington and ITV1 is tuned to Crystal Palace.
Because of the way in which the frequencies of these three transmitters are spread out, you can unplug the aerial lead during the scan to avoid picking up the ones you don't want.
Oxford is north north west and transmits BBC Oxford and ITV Central. To ensure that you are only tuned to it, run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged up until 57%.
Hannington is south south west and if your aerial is pointing at it, then start the scan with the aerial unplugged up until 30% and then unplug at 57%.
If, after doing this, you are missing and channels and you have manual tuning on your TV, tell us what they are and we will tell you what you need to manually tune to in order to add them. You will need to say what transmitter you are using.
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Mary Middleton: Your problem appears to be that the aerial faces one way and the TV has tuned to another transmitter(s) which would explain poor reception. This can happen in areas where signals from different transmitters can be picked up.
You need to establish which transmitter the aerial faces so as to get it tuned correctly. My suggestions for Oxford and Hannington are above. Hannington broadcasts ITV Meridian by the way.
If your aerial faces Crystal Palace which broadcasts London programming and is east, then run the scan with the aerial plugged in and unplug at 30% and leave it unplugged until the scan completes.
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Saturday, 28 April 2012
J
jb3812:12 AM
Mary Middleton: As Dave lindsay has said your two main PSB stations (BBC and ITV) are tuned to different transmitting stations and with that likely being the reason for part of your reception difficulties.
However although I realise that Hannington is indeed closer to you it doesn't appear as being very promising as far as reliability of reception is concerned, and that's why I purposely did not bring it into the equation.
The reason I say this is, that even although it presently indicates in the green (good)for reception its not near so good as the other two stations mentioned, and worse! as from June four of its six muxes dips into the category of variable reception, which in plain simple terms means that glitches can be expected, the muxes concerned being - ITV1 / HD service / SDN (ITV3 etc) / ArqA (Pick TV, Dave etc) and so I dont think its best to plan for reception from that station because of this, even allowing for errors in the predictions made.
Another aspect concerning Hannington being, that as Dave Lindsay has also mentioned it does appear on the face of it as though a clear line of site exists between Hannington and you, but! the signal path plotter does not take trees and other types of obstructions into account and your area is one where you cannot travel far without coming across trees no matter what direction you travel, and so I personally take these type of signal path plotters with the proverbial pinch of salt, albeit admittedly that they are handy for indicating if any hills are in the way.
By the way just for your info to assist in judging where your aerial is facing: Hannington is @ 205 degrees / 21 miles - Crystal Palace @ 103 degrees / 43 miles - Oxford @ 336 degrees / 16 miles.
If any Sky dishes are near you then they face roughly 155 degrees, as you could use them as an approximate guide for direction.
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M
Mary Middleton7:05 AM
Henley-on-thames
thank you both Dave Lindsay & jb38. from the orientation, the aerial points to Oxford, I've tried running the scan with the aerial unplugged and it didn't pick up any stations BUT .. I do remember reading about needing to clear previous settings, there doesn't appear to be a 'first time setup option but it looks like that's what's happened now, I've run the scan again with the aerial plugged in and BBC is 53 (Oxford), ITV is 26 (Crystal Palace) with max signal strength/quality on both. BBC from Hannington last night was showing minimial signal strength and quality. all I need now is either some sunny, clear weather or a some heavy rain to see whether the reception holds up ... at least I know where my aerial points and to find out which channels are from which transmitters, thank you both so much for your help. the set does have a manual tuning option but I hope not to have to use it!
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Mary's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb388:29 AM
Mary Middleton: Judging by what you have reported could suggest that even although there didn't seem to be anything stored in the memory that there possibly has been otherwise the rescan would not have missed BBC on Ch23 from Crystal Palace when it picked up ITV from there on Ch26, although and as you will probably appreciate, that CP is being picked up on the semi-rear (about 50 degrees out) of your aerial and likely because of its sheer power which is double that of Oxford.
Just out of curiosity, when you referred to having set your recorder what model of device is it? and do you use this for the general viewing of Freeview or do you also have a dedicated Freeview TV, and should this apply then its model, my only reason for requesting this info being that three of Oxfords channels have offsets on their frequencies and some types of equipment cant cope very well with this situation, and which can result in glitches being seen in an otherwise OK signal and this aspect has to be eliminated.
I have to also say that although things like the inversion effect does play a large part in the recent bout of bad reception reports I do feel that a lot of your problems are caused by reasons of vegetation, (trees) as they can have different blocking effect levels dependant or whether they are wet or dry, plus a more erratic effect when their branches blow about in the wind, and as aforementioned in my previous posting trees are not exactly in short supply all around your region.
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