Help with Freeview, aerials?
Monday, 7 May 2012
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Stephen P4:35 PM
Ian you can get attenuators to reduce the strength of the signal from the aerial.
Variable Attenuator 20dB from Aerial Shack by: Konig - Aerial Shack -
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Stephen P4:39 PM
Incidentally if you can stick the wire coat hanger into the centre of the coax socket it will probably do the job. Known technically as a "Sketchley Loop Antenna"
Or an unpowered indoor aerial
Indoor Aerials from Aerial Shack
Or experiment with a bit of unshielded wire connected to the inner bit of a coax plug.
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Friday, 11 May 2012
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andrew watson4:46 PM
Tonbridge
i have just installed freeview but when scanning i get repeated no cnannels found?
is this atmospherics?
i am about 10 miles from the tunbridge wells transmitter
any comments welcome
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andrew's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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KMJ,Derby5:37 PM
andrew watson: It is unlikely that atmospherics are affecting your reception this afternoon- there was a slight possibility of tropospheric ducting this morning, but this has now subsided. If youre aerial is pointing to the Tunbridge Wells transmitter you are not currently expected to receive any usable signal, due to the low power transmission and frequencies shared with Bluebell Hill. On 30th May 2012 Mux BBCA starts at 4kW from Tunbridge Wells, with the remaining muxes available from 13th June 2012. At present you could possibly receive a full service from Crystal Palace and a selection of muxes from other transmitters when using a suitable aerial, however with switchover commencing at the end of the month you might decide that it is best just to wait for the full power transmissions to begin.
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andrew watson: I don't think that you are going to get anything from Tunbridge Wells until switchover.
One of the main issues you have to contend with is that it shares some digital channels with Bluebell Hill before switchover. The Digital UK Tradeview predictor (click the link next to your posting) thinks that Bluebell will be good where you are. Plus TW is on very low power to avoid interference.
After switchover, the situation will be different and Tunbridge Wells is expected to be excellent for you.
If you have a set-top aerial, you "may" find that you are able to receive some level of service from Bluebell now, until TW completes switchover on 13th June.
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Wednesday, 30 May 2012
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Robert10:31 AM
London
Was any engineering work logged against the Crystal Palace transmitter on 29th May 2012. Ariva Spend the day removing and rebuilding the Digital Pods from the top down. I will continue to watch with interest. Since 4th April 2012 my pervously 'Digitally perfect' Freeview reception stopped. It can become unwatchable when it rains (In Crystal Palace) with 20-30 error pixels splatters and the sound chopping half words. Boosting from 20MW to 200MW did not work.
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Robert's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Stephen P11:38 AM
Robert what if anything are you using as an aerial? Digital can be TOO strong, and as you are at the bottom of the tower that may well be the problem.
Try nothing at all or just a fly lead in the ae socket.
How's the Sweet Lass?
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Thursday, 31 May 2012
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Robert5:43 PM
I bougth a new 'HD' indoor aerial and run it though a 6dB attenuator. But got no improvement over the original indoor UHF aerial which served me well for years. My last changed was Oct 2011 when I went HD and have recorded over 700 hours of perfect freeview up until 10th April when a BBC4 program demonstrated error bursts of 20-30 pixels every few seconds. Unwatchable TV the sound cuts out on half words and you get a digital kiss every so often. I have been monitoring at the quality and power indicators on the muxes and channels and this was a first clue that Arqiva were adjusting the transmitter (some days before). The pods going up and down attached to a guide wire and a man in a cage was a bit of a clue. My Freeview is 'digitally perfect' at the moment the problem is intermittant and linked to rain at Crystal Palace. I also bought a UHF signal finder and was looking for an alternative signal but no luck. The pattern of errors suggest it is co-channel interfence and the corruption to the data is so massive that the built in error correction is totally overwhelmed yet the quality signal can stay in the green. I have enough spare equipment to confirm my belief it is the transmitter at fault. I did a local survey and no one who uses broadcast Freeview had not noticed a decline in reception quality.
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Stephen P9:59 PM
Robert - IIUC you are about 100 yards from the TX ?
That close, with that much power, all sorts of things could be happenning. I suggest you contact whoever runs XPal and ask them to check it out!
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jb3811:27 PM
Robert: May I thank you for alerting me to another piece of total tripe regarding the advertising of aerials, I thought it was bad enough when I started to see aerials being advertised as "digital" when in reality no such thing exists, but now this has been taken a stage further by the manufacturers of such devices further misleading the general public by inferring that an aerial can magically differentiate between different modes of transmissions being picked up, then I feel that its a step too far and requiring it to be brought to the attention of the so called "trading standards" as such that operates in the UK.
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