All posts by Richard Cooper
Below are all of Richard Cooper's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Jason: Wondered if you were still having any lost channels problems? It would be useful to know whether you are using the Rowridge transmitter, situated on the Isle of Wight. You can tell by looking at which way your aerial is pointing. If it is pointing roughly Eastwards then you probably are getting your signals from there. There are alternative transmitters, however, but for us to help you, we need to work out which you are using. If you want to come back to us and simply say which way your aerial is pointing, and whether the little rods are horizontal or vertical, that would help greatly. Richard, Norwich.
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Good Morning. This is Richard in Norwich on Monday 6th June, writing at 9:30 a.m. I normally receive my tv signals from Tacolneston, 8 miles down the road from here, however, this morning, I did a re-tune and discovered I had duplicate channels for the PSB 1 and PSB 2 services. A closer inspection revealed that these were coming in on channels 44 and 41 respectively, which must be from Sudbury, more than 50 miles away! This must be due to tropospheric 'lift' or 'inversion' conditions. I wonder how long it will last?
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Natasha: Hi Natasha. Sorry to hear you are having Freeview issues, but the good thing is that it's not only you! If you know other people in your area are having difficulties too, the chances are that it's not down to your setup. I have just checked transmitter engineering and works, and apparently there are no reported problems at either Bilsdale West Moor nor Belmont, one of which I take it you are using. If I were you, I would check around with neighbours again this morning to ascertain whether their Freeview reception has come back. I not, you are entitled to contact individual programme providers of programmes you can't get, to inform them of your issues. Hope this helps, Richard in Norwich, Monday 6th. June at 10:15 a.m.
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B Singleton: Good morning Bee. I am so sorry to hear that you have lost Freeview logical channel numbers 1 to 5 and many more channels. You ought to check first of all that your neighbours have lost reception too, then the chances are that it is not down to your individual setup. I assume you get your signals from Belmont, for which there are no reported issues or engineering works currently. I have noticed this morning that we have high atmospheric pressure which could cause Belmont to reflect its signals up in the atmosphere, causing them to interfere with signals using the same channels from a transmitter elsewhere in the country ( or even abroad!). Wee call this "co-channel interference" or "CCI" and it could cause you to lose reception at your location. What you are entitled to do is to contact the programme providers for the programmes you can't get so that they can investigate for you. I hope all this will help you, Richard, Norwich, Monday 6th. June at 10:25 a.m.
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Mark Elvidge: Hi Mark. There are no issues with either the Belmont or Bilsdale West Moor main transmitters this morning that would require the attention of engineers, so it is unfair for any heads to be rolled! What is apparent, however, is that the UK has high atmospheric pressure conditions which can cause transmitters in the UK (or abroad) which use the same channels to interfere with one another. We call this, "co-channel interference" or "CCI". It has the effect of corrupting the quality of your received signal to the extent that you may experience picture freeze and loss of sound on your Freeview channels. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done to overcome the effects of high pressure; the viewer simply has to wait until lower pressure conditions prevail - which could be a matter of waiting several days. In the meantime, one could view television online instead of using Freeview, or one could invest in a 'Freesat' setup. You are, of course, entitled to contact programme providers, to inform them of your issues, but I anticipate you will get a similar response to mine. I am sorry that I could not have been of more assistance to you, Mark. Regards, Richard, Norwich, Monday 6th. June, 10:45 a.m.
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Tony Denton: Good morning Tony D. The atmosphere used to wreak havoc with analogue signals even more than it does with digital terrestrial television: one would have to switch off the tv for hours on end, hoping that when one returned that one would have a watchable picture. The switch from analogue to digital cannot, therefore, be blamed for signal loss due to atmospheric conditions: it is not a case of "thinking anything out" because there is nothing to think out, other than suggesting that tv viewers switch to 'Freesat' or view tv online when these high atmospheric conditions prevail. One is, however, entitled to inform the programme providers that one is unable to watch the programmes using the 'Freeview' platform, so that they may contemplate the situation, however they are unlikely to suggest anything more than I have suggested in this post. I am sorry that your loss of 'Freeview' signal is causing you such great consternation, Richard, Norwich, Monday 6th. June, 10:50 a.m.
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Peter Gilbert: Hi Peter G. There are no faults or engineering work at the Lark Stoke transmitter this morning of Monday 6th. June, 2016. There are, however, high atmospheric pressure conditions which can cause co-channel interference with other transmitters using the same channels that Lark Stoke uses. Unfortunately, this is down to the vagaries of our climate and weather, so all you can do is to wait until lower pressure conditions prevail, view tv online or invest in a 'Freesat' satellite tv setup. You are entitled to contact programme providers to inform them that you cannot view via the 'Freeview' platform, but I doubt they will say any more than I've said here. Sorry I couldn't have been of more help, Richard, Norwich, 11:00 a.m.
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Natasha: To leave ukfree.tv membership, you need to click on the envelope icon along the UKFREE.TV Help! coloured bar near the top of your browser window and this will give you the 'leave' option. I wonder if you'll remain or 'leave' the EU in two and a half weeks' time! Richard, Norwich.
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Tricia Maile: Hi Tricia. I just checked to make sure you should be using Tacolneston in Edgefield. While I was checking, the following message popped up on the 'digital uk' webpage: "Latest News: Some viewers living on the East Coast of England or Scotland may experience temporary disruption to their TV signal today due to high pressure. We advise that you do not retune - reception will return to normal once this weather system passes." Having quoted from the official body, I would advise that UKFree.tv members take note and follow this advice! Richard, Norwich, 11:15 a.m.
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Sunday 5 June 2016 8:36PM
Norwich
Hi Brian. I am using the latest version of Firefox, which is 46.0.1 at the time of writing, and I am very pleased to say that all of your improvements to ukfree.tv are rendering perfectly. Thank you so much for all of the hard work you have put into this site.