All posts by KMJ, Derby
Below are all of KMJ, Derby's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
jane66m: The Digital UK postcode checker predicts that you should currently have good reception from Crystal Palace on the channels that you are missing. Does your aerial point North with the rods horizontal? (ie pointing to CP). If it is pointing to the Caterham relay, that is SSW with the rods vertical, you will not necessarily get reliable signals from Crystal Palace. After switchover on the 18th April 2012 the Caterham relay will only transmit the PSB channels, however Crystal Palace will transmit all six muxes with a ten fold power increase, so after re-tuning on 18th you should find you have all your missing channels. Remember that a factory reset or "first time installation" may be required on that date to clear the channel list of all old data before you scan for channels.
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Tony: Without more precise information about the location as mentioned by Mark Fletcher I can only guess that, by looking at the frequency information you are currently receiving Mux2 and MuxA from Reigate which were increased in power to 2kW in order to avoid possible interference problems when Rowridge switched over. The other frequencies you mention are all from Crystal Palace.
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Helen: Any TV can be adapted to receive digital signals. If the TV has a scart socket it is just a matter of connecting a freeview box to the TV with a scart lead. If this is not possible you will have to receive an analogue signal via the aerial socket on the TV. To supply the analogue signal it is necessary to use a Freeview box with a built in modulator (or a Sky box or a VCR which also have a modulator built in). Of course, if you decided to use a Sky box it would have to be connected to a satellite dish, whereas a Freeview box would use the aerial which used to provide your analogue channels.
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Ed Stockings: There are several reasons why Sandy Heath could be selected in preference to CP for your PSB3 mux. Firstly, it is found first in the scan being on the lowest frequency. Secondly, depending on the type of aerial in use and local reception conditions, it could be the strongest signal arriving at your tuner. As you say, CP is 200kW but is 59km away, SH is 180kW at 25km, making SH the stronger signal before terrain and receiving aerial characteristics are taken into account. The Digital UK postcode checker predicts that reception is better from Sandy Heath at your location. If you require the Crystal Palace signal to be tuned in, rather than SH it will be necessary to do a manual tune on C30 after having either deleted the data for C21 or clearing the whole channel list. I assume that you selected "London" if you were presented with a choice of regions when tuning.
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Fleming Campbell: The Digital UK postcode checker predicts that you will only be able to receive transmissions from the Londonderry relay. This should give excellent reception on your existing aerial, but only on the PSB muxes as this transmitter is a Freeview light service which, due to economic constraints, is not planned to carry the COM muxes. The reception prediction does not take into account any Saorview services which might be available from the Republic, or the additional Northern Ireland Mini Multiplex.
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Derek Sparrow: The reception prediction for Crystal Palace is variable at your location, with a very low chance of reliable reception on some muxes. Sudbury is shown as giving good reception on the PSB muxes at present, the COM muxes being good from 27th June 2012, when the power is increased to match that of the PSB muxes. The reception predicted is of course subject to there being no local problems such as trees or tall buldings blocking the signal path.
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Linda Dale: I have just checked the BBC status report for the Leek transmitter. It was off the air between 13.21 and 19.08 today, 25th April 2012.
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Ann: A bit of information that you probably won't want to hear- Midhurst is planned to use C56 instead of C61 later this year as part of the clearance for 4G. With regard to Rowridge, the transmitter now transmits all muxes at 200kW with vertical polarisation, this is double the power normally used to cover the former analogue service area, so together with the polarisation difference you might now have a usable signal. It is important to use a group "A" aerial for Rowridge in difficult reception areas.
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Sunday 15 April 2012 2:06PM
Emma: The Digital UK postcode checker shows that you are predicted to have good reception from Heathfield, both now and after switchover. However this does not take into account possible problems from any local obstructions in the signal path, such as trees or tall buildings which might not have been an issue in the past. Additionally, as switchover has progressed there are more high power digital transmitters in service, both in England and on the continent which can either cause interference to the current low power signals from Heathfield, or cause your receiver to tune to the wrong transmitter, resulting in an unreliable set of channels being stored. On 18th april 2012 the power of MuxB from Heathfield on C47 is set to be increased to 2kW to take account of anticipated interference from Hannington, which on that date, has a removal of the restriction on the signal sent out in your direction on C47. Regarding your friend having better teception than you do, it is quite possible for reception to be completely different when moving an aerial a matter of inches in any particular direction, resulting in next-door neighbours sometimes having completely different reception. As your switchover is only a few weeks away it is not really worth exploring whether changing the aerial position would improve reception at your location, but it is worthwhile checking the condition of cables and connectors, also making sure that correct Heathfield frequencies have been stored by the receiver on each mux.