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All posts by Simon

Below are all of Simon 's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.

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Arqiva press release on Oxfordshire switchover | Switchovers
Thursday 6 October 2011 11:05AM
Buckingham

Hi all,

An update from me, so I have just tried the coat-hanger as an aerial test (after a full factory reset) and confirm that I get no signal on any channels.

I then plugged my roof aerial back in (with no channels tuned) and can confirm that I still get no signal on C59, whilst the other channels receive their signal as before.

The fluctuation of the signals received on almost all the channels makes me want to plug my signal booster back in as this affects their viewability (clearly not a real word!).

Since this switch over last week I have lost all the channels on C59 and my viewing experience on the channels I do receive has been downgraded. It's hardly progress!!

Any help gratefully appreciated.
Simon

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Arqiva press release on Oxfordshire switchover | Switchovers
Thursday 6 October 2011 11:12AM
Buckingham

Hi Chris,
you replied as I was writing my reply!

when I removed my signal booster I removed both the power unit behind the TV and the box in the loft from the circuit. I did say my signal had improved before but back then we had a high pressure system with clear skies and no wind. I now think that this may have caused the improvement, as now the weather has turned the signal is worse than ever.

I've done a full reset this morning, I didn't let it automatically tune, in manual tuning I selected C59 and there is no signal, this is all without the booster.

I've no idea what aerial is on the roof, I rent the house and it was installed long before I arrived!

As for trying the channels on a good known box, I've already tried it on the inbuilt freeview tuner on my Samsung TV with exactly the same results.

I really don't think I have signal overload, I have a fluctuating signal on all channels which disturbs my picture and sound, and I have no signal on C59. I think this all points to a problem with the new signal being sent from Oxford.

Thank you for your ongoing support, I look forward to any further ideas.
regards,
simon

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Arqiva press release on Oxfordshire switchover | Switchovers
Thursday 6 October 2011 5:02PM
Buckingham

I've just done a full factory reset, and then went into manual tuning using a standard set top tv aerial that doesn't have any integrated booster. And the results are.....




no signal on any channel. I really don't think I'm struggling with too much signal here in Buckingham!

Thanks,
Simon

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Arqiva press release on Oxfordshire switchover | Switchovers
Thursday 6 October 2011 6:47PM
Buckingham

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your reply. I've just reset the TV tuner and manually tuned in the Oxford channels (to avoid Cambs and Beds getting their channels in there first).

As before there's no channel 59, BUT channel 60 is uninterrupted. I can't find a way for it to display how strong the signal is, but as far as I can tell it's perfect, it doesn't appear to be fluctuating which I think is key. Just before I did this I checked the signal on C60 which was varying between good and very good, to which I'd think the picture would be good, but it was really interrupted and almost unwatchable. I think it's the signal fluctuations on the Sharp box causing the 'blocking' rather than the strength of the signal itself. what do you think?

So now I can watch all the channels I have on the TV perfectly, but I can't record obviously which is a shame, and I still don't have C59 channels.

To confirm too that this has all been done without the booster in the circuit.

Thanks for your ongoing support.
best regards,
Simon

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Arqiva press release on Oxfordshire switchover | Switchovers
Thursday 6 October 2011 6:50PM
Buckingham

sorry, to tidy up my last comment:

The picture is perfect on the Samsung TV tuner but still no C59 (and no facility to record).

The signal varies from good to very good on the Sharp box and the picture is very interrupted.

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Arqiva press release on Oxfordshire switchover | Switchovers
Thursday 6 October 2011 8:43PM
Buckingham

Hi Chris,

I have previously tried it through the Samsung with the aerial booster in the loop and there was no C59.

The set up before with the booster was roof aerial to booster box in the loft, from there into the wall. out of the wall in the living room, into the powered booster unit and from there into the Sharp box, connected then to the TV by Scart.

i have done the Sharp suggested in the order you suggested but nothing untoward happened. the same channels had the same signal strength as before.

I can try putting the booster back in the loop for the Samsung TV tomorrow, it's quite a job as I have to change all the ends of my coax cables over in the loft!

I get all the C62 channels without interference. I'm not convinced the booster will solve the problem into the samsung, as I've said, I've tried it before into the Samsung with no results, and it's not like i'm getting a weak signal, there's simply no trace of C59 at all since the switchover.

Thanks for your thoughts,
Simon

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Arqiva press release on Oxfordshire switchover | Switchovers
Thursday 6 October 2011 10:26PM
Buckingham

Suzanne,

Glad you have your channels back! when you say the core is copper, do you mean when you strip back the outer casing of the wire you have lots of thin copper strands or do you mean the thicker central wire?

I've already checked and refitted all of my connection points and heads, and I have no splitter, also I think all of my leads are copper but I can check that.

Thanks,
Simon

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Arqiva press release on Oxfordshire switchover | Switchovers
Friday 7 October 2011 9:25AM
Buckingham

Chris,
That's really helpful information, I will do that, although I'm away again for a few days so will report back when I can.

I think ITV, C4 and 5 have been ok, I don't watch them often to be fair. actually I know that 5 is usually quite bad but it's fine watching through my TV tuner now.

Interestingly, on my Samsung TV tuner, I noticed that C59 was searching on 778.000Mhz so I changed it to 777.8000Mhz as I believe this is what C59- is on, but it still didn't find any signal.

I'll write back with my findings as soon as I can

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Arqiva press release on Oxfordshire switchover | Switchovers
Monday 10 October 2011 10:43AM
Buckingham

Hi all,

sorry about my delayed response, I've been away with work again!

I checked with my next door neighbour and he has C59 so I can rule out a signal fault, the fault clearly lies with my box, but is also shared by the tuner in my TV. I've ordered a Serial - USB cable and when that arrives I can update the software in my Sharp box and hope that fixes it.

Does having pigeons sitting on my aerial affect the picture quality do you know?

Many thanks,
Simon

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Arqiva press release on Oxfordshire switchover | Switchovers
Sunday 16 October 2011 4:55PM
Buckingham

Windows is currently struggling to recognise my Serial-USB cable which would enable me to update my software!

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