All posts by Richard Cooper
Below are all of Richard Cooper's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Paul: The BBC runs a department called the 'Radio & Television Investigation Service' (RTIS) and they will investigate any transmitter faults on your behalf, whether the channels you're missing or not receiving are BBC or non-BBC, it doesn't matter; they'll investigate anyway. The difficulty most people have is making contact with a 'human being' at the BBC RTIS department. It's probably easiest to use the 'contact us' facility on the BBC reception website because they don't publicly advertise a phone number. Someone will get back to you, as I myself have used this service. The transmitter operating company is called Arqiva, but it doesn't like members of the public contacting it by email or phone. Hope all this info helps you, Richard. People at BBC RTIS and Arqiva don't have time to sit around reading these posts on the UKFREE.TV website, unfortunately. More's the pity! Richard, Norwich.
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Bruce: Hi, Bruce in Cobham. I believe you mean a Group A aerial rather than Band A. Anyway if some of the strands of copper braiding on the outside of the inner polythene insulator surrounding the central thick copper conductor of aerial cabling become frayed or unintentionally disconnected from the casing of an aerial socket or aerial plug, this can lead to poor reception on one multiplex, which is the issue from which you are suffering. What you need to do then is to carefully inspect all aerial lead connections all the way from the aerial on the house right down to the signal feed into the tv set or receiver/recorder box. This requires some patience and ingenuity, as well as a ladder and some particular health and safety care, as well as self-risk assessments! Good Luck and if you need any further assistance post a reply / further question back on the www.ukfree.tv website. Richard, Norwich.
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Hi, John. Did you mean to give your opinion of BBC Radio 3 as 'incessant drivel', rather than 'insecent drivel'? I agree that Classic FM broadcasts 'easier listening': I didn't realise that BBC R3 has 'talking pieces' in-between the music pieces until I just switched one of my radios on to the station! Incidentally, we 'listen to' radio stations rather than 'watch them' unless you enjoy watching the display screen on your DAB radio, that is! Richard, Norwich.
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Peter: Hi, Peter. Since Magic is on COM 6 which is channel 39 from Tacolneston, that channel cannot be affected by 4G mobile phone signals because its frequency is too far away from the channels 59 and 60 that 4G can affect. If you were affected by 4G interference it would be your main commercial tv channels such as ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, etc. that would be wiped out rather than any commercial radio stations! By the way, in my posts to you, I am assuming that you get your television signals from Tacolneston near Attleborough, South West of Norwich, rather than from the Great Yarmouth tv relay transmitter. You can tell by looking at your tv aerial. If its little rods are flat (horizontal), and the aerial is pointing West-South-West, you are indeed using Tacolneston, but if the little rods on the aerial go up and dowm and the aerial is pointing South-East'ish, you're usin the Yarmouth relay. If you can't do a manual retune on your tv, the only other option, after checking all cables and connections is two full re-tunes, the first with the aerial lead disconnected, to force the tv to forget all its channels and then another retune with the aerial lead reconnected, each time making sure it says something like 'first-time installation', rather than 'add channels'. If you're not using Tacolneston but are using the Yarmouth relay, post back again to let me know. Richard, Norwich.
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Marjorie Stephens: Hi Marjorie. Could you tell us what station you get Rawhide on these days and also can you tell us how you get your tv service? Freeview through an aerial? Cable tv (if so, which company?) Sky TV or Freesat? Your rough location would help us too. Once you've given us this information we shall be able to investigate the reason that you missed Rawhide on Friday last. Richard, Norwich.
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FAO: Ian from Pinxton, Alfreton, Derbys. According to Digital UK, you should be using the Waltham on the Wolds transmitter in Leicestershire, rather than the Emley Moor transmitter near Huddersfield. Have you tried to use Waltham, because from there you'll receive programmes especially for the East Midlands on BBC1 SD and ITV SD.Richard, norwich.
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FAO :Ian from Pinxton. Thank you for explaining the reason for Emley being your only option due to geographical topography and tree foliage. When you said a 25 mast amp, I wonder if you meant a 26-decibel mast-head amplifier, as this is the spec I installed for my father in East Suffolk, where he, too, was experiencing reception difficulties. I must say that I would be very disappointed if I were unable to watch the news for my own region from the BBC and from itv, so I am assuming you receive your regional news by studying it online or by making use of regional press? Richard again in Norwich.
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Nikki Pomroy-Levien : Hi, Nikki. The recommended transmitters for Aylesbury town centre are the main full Freeview transmitters at Croydon, South London, or at Beckley, just North-East of Oxford, depending upon whether you would prefer to watch BBC London, itv London, BBC South (Oxford) and itv Meridian/Central from the Whiteley itv studios between Southampton and Portsmouth. It depends whether your allegiances are more to London or to Oxford, really. Either way, you ought to be using an outdoor aerial, or at least a loft aerial, rather than an indoor aerial, and I'm fairly certain that other contributors to this website would confirm this. I've also heard of people in the east of Aylesbury using the Sandy Heath, Bedfordshire transmitter, from which you would receive BBC East (West sub-region) and itv ANGLIA (West sub-region). To work out the best transmitter for you, along with the correct type of outdoor or loft aerial, we need to know your Aylesbury location more precisely. The name or number of your nearest main road would be a useful starting point if, as a consequence of privacy issues, you do not wish to part with your actual postcode. Hear from you again, shortly. Rixhard in Norwich.
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James: Good Morning, James. I'm sorry that I'm replying so late - an hour or so after your post! Dave is on channel 12 on Freeview. I'm currently watching Top Gear: Burma Special. Transmitter Engineering has reported 'possible interruptions' on the Moss Bank St Helens transmitter, so if that's your local transmitter, it would explain the reason for your inability to receive Dave at the present moment. Hope this helps - Richard, Norwich.
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Monday 12 September 2016 9:43AM
Peter: Hi again, Peter. In addition to what I've just said in the post I made at 9:33, a few minutes ago, I would recommend that you save up for a brand new digital DAB and DAB+ radio, with a digital tick mark on it to ensure you'll get the new DAB+ standard (like 'HD radio!). You'll then be able to listen to Magic on it rather than have to have your television on!! Just a suggestion! Richard in Norwich.