All posts by KMJ, Derby
Below are all of KMJ, Derby's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Chris Roads: The engineering work advertised for the Waltham transmitter is only supposed to affect the SDN and HD muxes. As you say you are receiving ITV3 (carried on SDN) with good reception I wonder whether or not your receiver is tuned to the correct frequencies for Waltham on the other muxes. The Waltham signal on C29 for SDN is the first transmission of that mux found when scanning for channels so it would duly be stored as required. However the other muxes are found at the end of the scan, with options from Nottingham/Kimberley, Sutton Coldfield, Belmont and possibly Emley Moor available at your location. When BBC1 is selected check the frequency/UHF channel that is being received. If it is Waltham it should show C61, if it shows C27 it has stored the signal from Kimberley instead of Waltham. The other options for BBC1 would also show a different local news region- Belmont (C22) or Sutton Coldfield (C43). If this is found to be the case manual tuning of the Waltham frequencies is recommended after first clearing the channel list by doing a factory reset or delete all channels.
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Cathy Delaney: The BBC currently have no known reception problems in your area. As a general point, if you are receiving from a relay transmitter at times of extreme weather conditions reception is more likely to be lost due to mains failure at the transmitter than would be the case with a main station- Winter Hill in your area. Otherwise, if you are in an exposed location aerials and satellite dishes being blown out of alignment in strong winds is the most likely cause of lost reception. Check that this has not happened, also check that cables and connections are still in good order.
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Mike: As a matter of interest how does the M&S set perform when ITV3 or QVC are selected? I make this suggestion as the SDN mux is still in its pre-switchover state, ie 2k mode at 20kW.
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Briantist: Regarding the transmitters still using C61 and C62, according to Digital UK most Emley Moor group relay transmitters are already using their final allocations of C39+, C40+, C49 or C50. The exception to this was, as you correctly listed, Keighley which still uses C61 and its dependant relay Skipton is currently using C49 until 2013.
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Avril: Crystal Palace should deliver a much more reliable signal after switchover as the power increases to 200kW on each mux. You can keep your ordinary Sky box in the other room as it will continue to receive non-subscription channels, including when using your Sky card, any free-to-view channels that are soft encrypted and which a freesat box cannot decode.
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Richard Johnston: The Digital UK postcode checker predicts excellent reception from Divis should be possible at your location both now and after switchover. Reception from Divis requires an aerial pointing NW and mounted with the rods horizontal. If your aerial is set with the rods vertical and is pointing to Black Mountain you will have to wait until switchover for Freeview transmissions to begin. Good reception is predicted from Black Mountain, but only the three PSB muxes will be transmitted as Black Mountain is a Freeview light relay transmitter.
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David: To be fair the current six Freeview muxes will be transmitted from Salisbury on frequencies within the existing C/D aerial group. It is a set of proposed new services that are indicated as using out of group frequencies. It will be up to the viewers to decide if they wish to receive the additional services in the event of them coming on air. In the case of Salisbury and also viewers receiving Freeview light transmitters, a replacement or additional aerial will possibly be required for reliable reception of the new services, as will a new set top box for those not in possession of a receiver able to support DVB-T2 signals. Such is the nature of progress.. The frequencies are the only ones available to Ofcom and will be shared with Rowridge where they are in-group!
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lee jackson: If I could add to what Brian posted above. You might still desire the COM muxes on Freeview. If so there are a couple of possibilities shown, albeit with variable reception. After 13th June 2012 you might find Heathfield will give acceptable reception (aerial pointing WNW with rods set for horizontal polarisation). Also after 27th June 2012 Bluebell Hill is also possible, for the COM muxes only. Aerials need to point 10 degrees W of N, again set for horizontal polarisation. The problem with your reception from Hastings, incidentally, is the signal from Crystal Palace will be using the same frequencies. If you can find a position for the aerial where CP is nulled out you could find that Hastings is actually possible, you just need a lot of time and patience to try out the various options. Hastings is vertically polarised, CP is horizontal.
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Bipin: What direction is the window facing? To have any chance of reception the aerial will most likely need to point through the window, as such it is also more likely to pick up signals from whichever transmitter is in that particular direction. Sandy Heath is E to SE. Additionally the PSB1 and PSB2 muxes could possibly be available from Waltham (N), Sutton Coldfield W to NW or Oxford (SSW). If possible manually enter the frequency for whichever transmitter is being searched for, then adjust the aerial position to obtain a usable signal quality before storing the channels. It might otherwise be necessary to take the TV to a higher point in the building in order to store the channels, after which experimentation with the aerial in his room can take place.
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Tuesday 17 January 2012 6:26PM
janet: If you retune when a Mux is off the air, blocked by interference or signal level has dropped below the digital cliff, many receivers will delete the channels from the channel list. To get them back you will need to retune when the signal returns. If manual tuning is possible try tuning C32 for MuxA/ SDN from Crystal Palace. When you have a full set of channels in your channel list do not retune except for advertised switchover events or to add new channels. A stored channel which is showing "no signal" will return by itself if its absence is due to a temporary signal problem.