All posts by Dan T
Below are all of Dan T's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
@MikeP
Hmm, mildly annoying - though I'd never even look at most of the channels in those muxes, with the occasional programme missed available through catch-up. I imagine people paying for the BT channel will be more annoyed.
Broadcasting at such low power, barely receivable from more than a couple of miles away, seems like a token effort - "yep, we're carrying those channels!" - to appease broadcasters and advertisers.
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MikeB: Apologies for the very late reply.
This is what tvheadend reports for me right now (Sunday 27th May, 20:50, a bit stormy outside).
For the ones that are ok for me - they have no issues at all, even the 'data heavy' ones eg Channel 4 HD being around 2.5GiB/hour (1080p + AC3).
These work ok:
474.2MHz
67% signal strength
24.1 db
482.2MHz
62% signal strength
23.1 dB SNR
498MHz
67% signal strength
25.2 dB SNR
506MHz
65% signal strength
24.6 db SNR
522MHz
71% signal strength
30 dB SNR
530MHz
68% signal strength
27.6 dB SNR
The two muxes I can't pick up:
746MHz
58% signal strength
17.9 dB SNR
754MHz
56% signal strength
15.2 dB SNR
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Mike B: Argh... I accidentally had the low noise amplifier turned on for both tuners! The strong signal overcame this before, and was only an issue until those two new muxes being broadcast at only 140w.
A TV or regular STB would probably toggle that automatically as required. The problems with 'rolling your own'.
Those two muxes come through at 70% signal, but are clear. No non-correctable errors within a few minutes of viewing.
474.2MHz
82% signal strength
29.8 db
482.2MHz
80% signal strength
31.9 dB SNR
498MHz
83% signal strength
34.1 dB SNR
506MHz
81% signal strength
32.2 db SNR
522MHz
83% signal strength
34 dB SNR
530MHz
81% signal strength
32.5 dB SNR
746MHz
70% signal strength
26.1 dB SNR
754MHz
70% signal strength
25.9 dB SNR
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StevensOnln1: yes. Everything is still fine here. My point was, the transmitter is fine and it is indeed an issue with Geoffrey's gear :)
NB I am 4.4 miles from the transmitter, as the crow flies.
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Is anyone else having issues with stations on C55 / COM7? A recording of BBC Four HD on the 13th came out unwatchable. Since then I can't pick up any of those channels, and they don't appear on a rescan; forcing C55 gives zero signal strength. Same for several TVs and tvheadend.
I'm a few miles from the transmitter with a relatively new aerial and coax (~4 years). The other multiplexes give 75-80% signal strength - though they are 1-2kW.
Perhaps related to things being phased out for 5G? Though the official Freeview site and the BBC's checker both imply the channels should still be available.
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D
Fenton (Stoke-on-Trent, England) Full Freeview transmitterSunday 26 December 2021 3:07PM
Stoke-on-trent
Hi both, thanks for the responses.
Regarding not retuning yet, it's a bit late for that. :) (In some cases auto-retuning takes place).
Tvheadend will keep the existing stations until I delete them myself. If I tune to one of the channels on C55 and then check the status it shows a signal strength of 65%, but with countless errors. After a while, perhaps a second of garbled video/audio.
If I try and manual tune of the regular TVs to C55, they show 0% strength.
No new cabling/things moved around (mains, HDMI etc).
The official Freeview checker says "Good" signal strength for my postcode.
I've had nothing through the door from restoretv.uk, and checking on their site implies there shouldn't be an issue at my postcode.
The predictor here at ukfree.tv/prediction lists all the channels for my postcode. The map also shows an EE mast being almost directly between myself and the Fenton transmitter, but much closer. EE's coverage checker says weak 5G outdoors here - though I don't know if that particular mast is 5G, anyway.
Checking back on my older posts here - it looks like I was getting 70% on C55 in May 2018 so perhaps they were always borderline for me.
I only use this multiplex to record BBC Four HD maybe once a month to watch back without the iPlayer watermark in the corner - otherwise it's no great loss to me. I'll keep half an eye on it and see if it reappears or if ukfree.tv thinks I need a filter after all.
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Friday 27 April 2018 9:52PM
Hi all,
Will COM7 and COM8 be increasing from 140W any time soon? Frankly, it's next to pointless. I can barely get COM7 with a large amount of data errors, making it unwatchable; this is from only 4.37 miles away, with a recently installed Triax UNIX 32 LTE 800 antenna (C21 - 60, 470 - 790 MHz). This picked up both fine before they moved. I can't get COM8 at all.
Also, the main section of the page with the multiplex and channel info needs to be updated for them:
COM7; was C32 / 562MHz, now C55 / 746MHz
COM8; was C34 / 578MHz, now C56 / 754MHz