All posts by Paul
Below are all of Paul's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Alistair / John: The COM mux FEC change in simple terms is a change to how the data is transmitted which increases the capacity of the respective muxes (the extra capacity could be used for an additional channel). It will not solve the issues that you are having.
See this link for details:
This week's commercial multiplex changes | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
or if you want a bit more info, see the "Forward Error Correction" section on this page:
Freeview modes - a simplified explanation | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
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Graham: There are hills to the south-west (in fact, there are hills to the west in general) of Balmedie which do seem to be between you and the Durris transmitter. The trees which are there to provide a sound barrier between Balmedie and the bypass to the west probably aren't helping either.
As jb38 says, the terrain is the likely cause of your problems.
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Shrimper: Firstly, Freeview and Freesat are very different. Not only is one broadcast from terrestrial transmitters and the other from satellites but they use completely different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum so there is no way that the work at Talcolneston could impact on your Freesat reception.
Secondly, who said that Sudbury was being "cannibalised for parts" for Talcolneston? That's complete and utter rubbish. Sudbury's COM multiplexes are being transmitted at a lower power to avoid a clash with transmitters in the south-east which have yet to switchover. After this happens, the COM muxes at Sudbury will adopt their final allocations and power levels.
It's clear from comments on this site that there does seem to be an issue receiving the ArqB mux from Sudbury for many people although there could be several reasons for this. Which channels are you having trouble receiving at the moment? It may just be a case of waiting until the final power levels are adopted in mid-2012. I appreciate how frustrating that is though as the COM muxes on my local transmitter were at low power for months after DSO.
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Hmm... they seem to be having issues with the Wells Next the Sea relay if the Digital UK website is anything to go by. It was supposed to have completed the switchover by mid-morning. That was pushed back to midday then subsequently to mid-afternoon. It's still showing as incomplete.
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Dave/Tim: There is no reduction in power prior to switch-off. The analogue channels broadcast normally as they always have done right up to the point at which they are suddenly switched off. It's basically a flick of a switch.
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Briantist / Anyone else who Knows: I'm curious. I seem to remember at the very beginning of digital switchover a few years ago that it was said that the UK switchover would finish in London in 2012. I've just found the following FT article from 2007 which seems to confirm this:
FT.com / Media - Purnell checks progress of switch to digital TV
Did the switchover plan change? Here we are with switchover taking place in London yet there are still a few regions to go (including the NE of England which is like an island in the middle of switched regions).
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I live in Bonnyrigg and although all channels were good in the past, some channels are now unwatchable due to breakup and pixellation. This page has been continuously reporting engineering work at Craigkelly for months. Is this going to be permanent? Do I need to switch to Sky in order to get the channels I want? More info please!
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Saturday 12 November 2011 9:37PM
Stephen Lyon: The BBCA multiplex is not going to change at all on the 23rd. As suggested above, check whether your receiver supports the 8k mode.
Another possibility however is that the signal you are receiving is too strong. Mux1 (which carried the BBC channels before) only had an effective radiated power of 10kW compared to BBCA's much higher 100kW. If the signal is too strong for your receiver then you may not be able to find the channels on this mux. If you have any signal boosters installed, try removing them before carrying out a factory reset.
If that doesn't work, try installing an attenuator to reduce the signal strength.