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Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV For the last six years, I have answered many thousands of personal emails that you have sent to UK Free TV.
Sadly, I am unable to offer this personal service at the moment.
Until I can restore this service, please can you leave any questions you have on an appropriate page, where they will be answered as soon as possible, or below, if you can't figure out where to ask.
I look forward to your questions!
Help with TV/radio stations?
In this section
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
J
jb3812:49 AM
Floyd: The reason I basically mentioned commercial channels was that in your original posting it was only the commercials that you had referred to, albeit that you did of course include the BBC in one of your later postings.
However as far as the situation changing between day and night is concerned, this is something that's very commonly experienced by many who are receiving their signal via an element diffraction, that is bending around obstructions such as hill tops etc, and the type of situation thats very applicable where your signal is concerned, the changes in signal levels received being caused by the normally occurring atmospheric changes that take place between night and day that alter the reflective properties of the atmosphere.
Of course the simple way around this is to use a variable booster in line that can be adjusted as required to suit the occasion, as in many cases when the signal vanishes its just dropped slightly under the level required to resolve a picture and with a slight boost lifting it back up again.
But though this solution will only be successful provided that the variation in levels seen does not include the signal quality vanishing, as nothing compensates for a complete quality loss.
This being an example of the type of booster thats very successful in the type of situation referred to.
SLX variable gain (0 - 20 dB) plug in booster - item No 534 / 4235 @
£11.99.
Link to same.
Buy Plug-In 1 Way TV Aerial Signal Booster at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for TV aerial boosters.
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Thursday, 30 May 2013
H
H.J. Clarke3:32 PM
York
Thanks for you input "jb 38" !!!!!
- But yes, my (shortened)first "mail" included that "common-sense" test, which showed a very poor signal for C43 650 mhz (Strength intermitant 35 - 75 % mostly "0%")with quality = 0%.
Others eg. 26 - 514 Mhz = Strength 80 - 90 % - Quality 100%.
- "538 - 678 - 626 Mhz" all +/- Strength 80% - Quality 40 to 100 %.
The ONLY problem child is COM 4 SDN - C43-650Mhz - 50Kw (sic).
Would Emley Moor be better for YO61 1DP (seriously ?)
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H.J.'s: mapH's Freeview map terrainH's terrain plot wavesH's frequency data H's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb3811:14 PM
H.J. Clarke: Yes, I did actually notice in your original posting that you had mentioned "initial tune method", but I wasn't completely sure if you were meaning exactly the same as described by myself.
However, as far as your problem with mux Ch43 (650Mhz) is concerned, although its fully appreciated that many prefer not to do this, but its always the best policy to try and carry out a few local checks for the purpose of determining if others are also experiencing difficulties with the same channel, for simplicity best referred to as ITV3, because if they are then this saves needless checks being carried out when the cause of the problem is obviously out with your control.
If though its subsequently discovered that they are not having any problems and yet they are also receiving Freeview from Bilsdale and not Emley Moor (@ 40 miles / 216 degrees) then its not by any means unheard of for a fault of this nature to simply be caused by a faulty (slightly corroded / oxidised) connection where the coax terminates inside the aerial box, in other words and much as it appears far fetched but not!, that of being a frequency selective bad joint, this type of thing having recently been experienced by another person on this site when their transmitter had switched frequency, as hitherto all had been perfectly OK before the change of frequency.
Of course you can get this peculiar effect with satellite systems as well, and where some programme channels might be missing and yet they are on exactly the same transponder frequency as others that are perfectly OK, once again the reason being down to a faulty connection.
Another thing that I did notice when having a look at your signal strength / quality findings is that the I00Kw ITV transmitter is only being received at the same levels as the 50Kw commercials, this being inclined to suggest that although the terrain indicator gives a clear line-of-sight between Bilsdale and your particular location that the signal is likely to be passing over areas where numerous trees are located, something which very much applies if attempting to receive signals from Emley Moor, i.e: a clear line-of-sight but with the signal passing over what looks like to be quite dense woodland located not too distant from where you reside.
Maybe you could give an update should you make any local checks.
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Friday, 31 May 2013
J
jb388:09 AM
H.J. Clarke: Just a small addition, should your aerial be suspected as being the cause of your problem then provided that the feed from comes directly from the aerial and not through any splitters or boosters, then you should try a test by connecting an ohmmeter set on a low range (100ohms or so) across the end of the coax and noting if any fluctuations are seen when observed over a couple of minutes or so, the validity of this test obviously being greater if "not" conducted whilst the outside air is still.
Although an even better test is to connect the end of the coax in series with a small tungsten bulb and a 9 to 12 volt power supply and observe this over a few minutes, the tungsten type bulb being superior for this test by fact of it being a higher current device thereby better at exposing an iffy connection.
As far as the bulb is concerned something rated at about 5 to 21 watts would be ideal such as used in car sidelights or direction indicators, although a 6 volt torch bulb (not LED type) and battery would also be suffice.
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S
steve dawkins7:14 PM
how much longer do i have to listen to those kids talking about sport during every single break ?i`m sick to death of it
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Saturday, 1 June 2013
S
Steve P11:01 AM
steve d I think you are in the wrong place.
What are you referring to?
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H
H.J. Clarke11:43 AM
Hi jb 38
(H J Clarke) Sir - you are a star! Your suggested simple tests I will Do when we get back from a little break. One tends to forget high frequencies must obey the same Ohms-law rules !!
Thanks again
John Clarke
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J
jb3812:45 PM
H.J. Clarke: Yes, because with a background such as your own I am sure that you will appreciate the fact that when carrying out some of the simpler faulting tasks its not really necessary to use sophisticated measuring equipment, and indeed using same can sometimes be a disadvantage by the device tending to give misleading results, at least to the unwary anyway!
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F
Floyd2:27 PM
Luton
jb38.. I usually get both no signal level and no signal quality. Sometimes, however I get about 75% signal level but at the same time no or poor signal quality. So the booster would not help this. I am asking again, should the antenna have been changed to face the Luton transmitter and should it now be pointing vertically? Right now it is still horizontal. Last night I could not get any channels again except some pixelation. Do you still think the answer lies in telling the management here that the antenna should be repositioned to face the new Luton transmitter and this would solve the problem?
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Floyd's: mapF's Freeview map terrainF's terrain plot wavesF's frequency data F's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb387:03 PM
Floyd: Although I feel that I have already fully explained the most likely reasons responsible for causing the problems experienced in my reply made on the 29th @ 12.49am, however in answer to your immediate question with regards to whether or not the communal aerial referred to should be altered, well considering that the line-of-sight from the Sandy transmitter is indicated as being completely blocked from about 6.5 miles prior to reaching Malzeard Road and with this type of situation being one thats almost guaranteed to result in intermittent reception being experienced at certain times of the year, then "yes" in my opinion the aerial should really be facing the Luton transmitter.
Of course the downside of this being that by Luton being a PSB station it does not transmit commercial channels such as the ones you are experiencing problems with, and so if the aerial was altered there would then be no chance whatsoever of receiving the commercials unless you chose to move over to Freesat.
As said in my previous reply, the Google earth information I am looking at is not bang up to date and as such the communal aerial may have already been altered, but if standing at the junction of Studley Road / Malzeard Road and on looking up at the end of the "single" block of apartments on Malzeard Road where a satellite dish can be seen mounted on the end of along with an aerial mounted on a pole, then if the aerial is still horizontally mounted and is pointing roughly towards the right of the property seen at the very far end of Malzeard Road and facing same, then the communal aerial is facing towards Sandy and with the signal from Luton being received on almost exactly the rear of the aerial.
As you have already consulted the manager of these properties and with his reply being as one would expect from people in his position and who operates under the mandate of keeping expenses to a minimum, the "no one else is experiencing any problems" can really be taken with the proverbial pinch of salt, albeit that others would not be experiencing any problems if they were using the satellite facility, this really highlighting the reason why you should try and check with others yourself regarding this issue so that you can achieve an accurate answer.
By the way, if you still have your Goodmans GRD11 around you should couple that up and see what results you get, as although its one of the lower end devices its actually fitted with a reasonably good tuner, if you do manage to try it do NOT loop the aerial through it and into the TV in case the Goodmans RF modulator is sitting on a channel used by Freeview.
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