All posts by Richard Cooper
Below are all of Richard Cooper's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Brian: Hi again, Brian. The chap that does ours, Mark Davis, runs his own aerial installation company called Tele-tronics and in our case, not only did he re-align our aerial, but arranged for a tree surgeon to remove branches from a tree that was blocking line of sight from our transmitter to our estate, but once this had been done, Mark came back and re-checked our aerial once again. How about that for service? Richard, Norwich.
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Tom: Hi, Tom. Current reports state that Knock More is running normally, which must be at its full power of 5000 watts for the BBC mux,, which is pretty much standard for a high power DAB transmitter. You need to remember that Knock More transmits the BBC National DAB multiplex and Mounteagle the Inverness local mux.
I've checked Mounteagle too, and there are no problems on Mounteagle either,
so if you're trying to listen to a station that is not within this BBC group of stations or the Inverness group of stations from Mounteagle you would have to be receiving it from a different transmitter. Hope this helps. Suggest you try all the usual things: extend aerial, place radio near a window, preferably upstairs, etc. Richard, Norwich.
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Karen Scott : Hi Karen. Regretfully, the problem is not at Caradon Hill. The Government is extremely keen that as many people as possible in the UK view, "EU Referendum: The Great Debate", currently on BBC One. Here is a current quotation concerning the current state of the Caradon Hill transmitter: "This transmitter has no current reported problems-
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Caradon Hill (Cornwall, England) transmitter." I suggest you check all aerial lead and plug connections, switch everything back on and try again, the motto being, "if at first you don't suceed..." This proverb always worked for my paternal grandmother! Richard, Norwich.PS, Your programme goes on until 10 p.m., so we're barely half way through at the time of writing.
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R
Darwen (Blackburn with Darwen, England) Freeview Light transmitWednesday 22 June 2016 11:21AM
Norwich
Angela Henry: Hi, Angela. If you would normally get quite a lot of different channels, and the little rods on your aerial are flat (not up and down) you would be using the Winter Hill main transmitter near Bolton. It says on this website that viewers may experience, "possible weak signal", which would suggest that there could be some sort of engineering works going on there today. If on the other hand, you don't usually get lots of channels and you have an aerial with its rods going up and down, pointing to Darwen or Haslingden, then you use one of these two transmitters, but there's no work going on at either today. The duration of the work at Winter Hill, Bolton is not known, so if you use that transmitter, you'll just have to be patient! If you use Darwen or Haslingden, check your own setup to make sure no loose connections have developed unbeknown to you - could be pet or child accidental damage, Hope this helps, Richard.
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David Smith: Hi, David. Remember that with HD you can have 'too much signal'( signal too strong), which can overload the circuits in the receiver, and that this can cause the picture to freeze, whereas a lot of people think it's just too 'little a signal' (weak signal) that can cause a frozen picture! Check that your signal STRENGTH is around 70%, whereas 95- 100% SRENGTH would be too high! QUALITY, on the other hand is " what it says on the tin", so you can't have too much quality: a QUALITY of 95 - 100% would be very good. If you strength is too high, there are various ways to reduce it, which I can explain in a future post if you're interested! It rather sounds as if you may have one or two other issues with your HD receiver, if you're also having problems with pausing and recording, but let's sort out 'live viewing' first, shall we? Richard, Norwich.
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jb38: Hi jb38. Thank you so much for your comprehensive report on my old Sharp TU-T2 Freeview HD box. I still have a Woolworths SD box as a spare, but I expect you'll tell me that that was made by the same dodgy Turkish manufacturer, but if my Topfield lets me down, I can bring the Woolworths Freeview box 'out of retirement'. Since the Sharp TU-T2 was given to me as a gift 4 years ago, I suppose it has served me well really, if I've only experienced the freezing in the last year, and not before that. It is pleasing for you to inform me that signal issues were not the cause, in a way, because I've been worried that my signal is too strong as I'm on a communal aerial distribution system. Any comments on these? Hope to hear from you again soon, Richard, Norwich.
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jb38: Sorry - one more question. Would you know which uhf channel number is used for the rf output from the Woolworths 'Worth-it" 256 set top box? You cannot adjust this - you can only switch the antenna supply on or off. The reason I'm asking is that the SCART input socket on my tv is playing up. so I may have to revert to allowing the stb to modulate its output on to a particular uhf channel. Should the tv be able to carry out an analogue autotune to find the output frequency of the set top box if we don't know the channel number for doing a manual tune? I'm guessing it will have been set to around ch 35, but you would probably know, going by how much you knew about my old Sharp box!!! Hear from you again soon! Thanks, Richard, Norwich.
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jb38: Hi jb38. Thank you for your prompt replies. Using the Woolworth's stb, the tv, which is an old Wharfedale L1911W-A will only pick up signals on the channels between 39 and 59 on which Tacolneston transmits its most powerful digital muxes, so this is loop-through, isn't it? At a cost of 16.99 in 2009 for the Woolworths stb, I could hardly expect it to have a built-in rf modulator really, could I? Fortunately the Topfield PVR 5800 does, so if the SCART input to the tv fails, I can give the tv a modulated signal from the PVR using a simple aerial lead connection from the PVR to the tv. I can choose the modulating channel and i've chosen 53 because Tacolneston doesn't use that one. So this set-up will do me as long as the Topfield PVR lasts!!!
As far as the communal aerial system is concerned, would the engineers have adjusted the signal strength to be optimal at some 'sampled' flats, or would they have erred on the side of a 'lowish signal strength? What do you think? Richard, Norwich.
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Ivor Jones: Hi Ivor. True Entertainment only supplies its programming on Freeview to transmitters in England, not in Wales unfortunately! This answers your question, however, for how this decision was arrived at you would need to carry out your own further research with 'Sony Pictures Television', who owns the channel and/or the regulator Ofcom. Richard, Norwich.
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Tuesday 21 June 2016 9:26AM
Norwich
Good Morning. Have just seen the following on a516 digital:-
Small Scale DAB: One year on, driving technological advancements
Monday, June 20, 2016 Digital Radio , Editorial
A year after Ofcom first announced the winning applicants in a trial of "small scale DAB", the new independent operators have started to outdo existing operators with technological advancement on the platform.
Small scale DAB was devised as a more affordable way for smaller stations to launch a DAB digital radio service across smaller geographical areas than traditional DAB services. In June 2015, Ofcom revealed who would be part of the trial, giving new, small operators in places including Glasgow, London, Manchester, Norwich and Portsmouth the chance to run a so-called DAB 'minimux'.
Already the signs are that the new entrants to the world of DAB are shaking up the status quo: two of the operators - Niocast Digital in Manchester and Solent Wireless serving Portsmouth have led the way in adopting the newer DAB+ standard, with half or just over half of all services on their multiplexes now using the standard. Compare that to the multiplexes operated by the big radio groups, where original flavour DAB with mono sound still rules the roost, and that's despite the ever growing number of devices that can now handle DAB+ - now a common standard in most countries that use DAB for terrestrial radio services.
Whereas traditional operators have tended to fill their multiplexes with mono offshoots of their services in original flavour DAB, the new smaller operators utilising DAB+ mostly broadcast in stereo and can still save on DAB distribution costs - thanks to lower bandwidth requirements - opening the door to DAB for more stations.
Now, an increasing number of services using small scale DAB services have started to activate slideshows. A common feature on DAB in other countries, slideshows allow users of DAB devices with a suitable display, including the DAB compatible LG Stylus 2 and many in-car systems, to see additional information.
The Slideshow function can be used to show album art, programme information, news or just an enhanced station logo image. Previously only available on Heart and Capital on London DAB, DAB slideshow has been introduced on Indulgence on the Solent Wireless DAB multiplex, The Breeze on the Bristol minimux and is available on Angel via the Aldershot, Birmingham and Norwich minimuxes. Ash Elford from Solent Wireless confirmed they're working on making slideshows available on other services on the multiplex in due course.
Originally, the small scale DAB trials were due to come to an end now. But given their success, Ofcom has extended the trials for another two years and it's looking likely that these multiplexes will in time become a permanent fixture in the UK's DAB landscape once the legal licensing technicalities are sorted out.
Despite the small coverage offered by these services and the many niche services being carried, the technological advancement offered by these trials: making use of newer technology to make DAB distribution more affordable, maximising the use of DAB radio displays and providing listeners with more than just the usual radio content recycled under the "Extra" banner, small scale DAB is providing the platform with a much needed boost from the grassroots of radio.
Could be of interest to viewers of the UKFREE-TV website, I thought!