All posts by KMJ, Derby
Below are all of KMJ, Derby's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
A Sharkey: Worth remembering that when your receiver tunes to Moel-Y-Parc from Wales before finding signals from Winter Hill you will find Channel 4 on button 8 and Granada TV should appear in the 800s of the channel list.
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Catherine: further to jb38's advice, when you do a manual tune it is the frequency of the nultiplex that carries the required services, not the position in the channel list that is entered into the tuning menu. A lot of confusion has arisen recently over the differing uses of the word "channel" Incidentally I suspect that the weak signal on ITV2+1 was due to the frequency for the local relay at Ilchester Crescent having been stored by the receiver instead of the correct one from Mendip.
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Tony: The services you mention as having interference problems are on C26 and C28, which are not frequencies suggested to be most at risk from 4G signal interference. It is possibly worth looking for more usual causes, say an RF modulator on a VCR or Sky box set around C27. Also if you have an HDMI cable or fly leads linking various pieces of equipment, try repositioning them in relation to the receiver to rule out any interaction between them.
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Ian: The reliability of Freeview depends largely on where you live. If you receive a strong signal from one of the larger main stations, such as Sutton Coldfield, this is likely to be the most reliable service of all the possible options. I have only known analogue transmission to fail 2 or 3 times in 30 years from Sutton Coldfield! Some relays, however seem to fail regularly, often due to vandalism or the poor state of the electricity supply cables in some areas. It makes sense if you are a regular viewer to have back-up whichever platform is chosen. If you can receive from two or more transmitters fitting an aerial to receive the alternative transmitter, at least on one TV, is a good idea. Anyone using satellite or cable is better off having Freeview as back-up in areas where reception is possible. Remember too that satellite is most likely to let you down when the weather is bad (snow or heavy rain), it is these times you are most likely to be indoors watching TV!
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conor: I doubt that most poeple would bother about ultra HD. It has even been suggested that it would only ever be used professionally, say for cinema chains to distribute films to their outlets. What interests most viewers is being able to watch TV for little or no payment!
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Adrian Taylor: Digital switchover was the first step towards reducing the amount of spectrum given over to broadcasting and transfering it to other uses. Advances in technology have both presented ways of reducing further the number of frequencies that may be required to maintain existing levels of broadcasting services, and created a demand for freed up spectrum for mobile broadband etc. Unfortunately for consumers some of the changes result in existing equipment being made useless or requiring modification to allow its continued use. This is a far cry from the days of 405 line TV being switched off when nearly all 405 line only receivers had been replaced. OFCOM's prime function is arguably to raise revenue by any means possible.
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Betamax_man: No doubt the broadcasters now consider that most radio listening is on portable receivers in mono, or stereo with the speekers about a foot apart if you are lucky! Also running two radio stations instead of one stereo one is more likely to add extra listeners for the same transmission cost. Oh for the days of Armstrong tuners, Leak amplifiers and a pair of Celestion ditton 15 speakers.
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Angie: Which transmitter is the aerial pointing to? Hannington is North, Midhurst (roughly)NE and Rowridge SSW. Check that the TV is tuned to the correct frequencies for the chosen transmitter. It is worth mentioning that if Midhurst was chosen, this is not predicted to give particularly good reception. If Rowridge, there is an additional vertically polarised signal transmitted from this mast since switchover. Changing the aerial to vertical polarisation could improve reliability of reception from Rowridge. When doing an automatic scan for channels signals for Rowridge are found first in the scan. If you intend to receive from Hannington (or Midhurst) do a manual tune for each of the correct frequencies after first clearing the channel list, or alternatively start the scan with the aerial unplugged, then plug it in at C38 after the scan has gone past the Rowridge frequencies.
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Tuesday 23 April 2013 9:37PM
jamie: ArqB on C55 is intended to be transmitted at half the power of the PSB services on C49/C54. This will continue at least until about 2018 when the COM muxes might be allocated different frequencies and also, possibly, the network reconfigured.