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: To start with the easy bit, the digital switchover does not affect the services available on a Sky box. Now for the more technical bits. To receive Saorview transmissions it is necessary to have a receiver that supports MPEG4 signals. A run of the mill standard definition Freeview box will not work. There are a few standard def. boxes such as the BT vision box that will work, but usually you will need to obtain a Freeview HD box when choosing one intended for the UK market. Viewers who rely on the proposed NIMM for reception of RTE etc. will have to have a Freeview HD box as the transmission will use DVB-T2. Viewers who currently receive RTE on analogue will often find that they are served by the full Saorview service after switchover. For those who are not served, a new Saorsat service will provide coverage, but this will require a new box and dish to receive. For reception of BBC, UTV and C4 after switchover you can use any Freeview box, but it might be better at this stage to go for an HD box simply for its advanced technical capabilities.
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Colin: What was your analogue reception like on ITV1? The Ceefax test would only be relevant on the frequency that you were receiving at the time - C39 perhaps? You could try repositioning the aerial in the loft to see if there is a location where there is a better quality signal. You could also try reception from Whitehawk Hill. This could give you more channels if you are able to receive a satisfactory signal. If the loft fails to deliver a good signal you might do better to consider mounting the aerial outside if that is permitted in your locality.
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Keith: The HD frequency for Ridge Hill is 482.2MHz. The signal you have found on 626MHz is coming from Sutton Coldfield.
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I can't see that being on Freesat would be cost effective. Consider the small percentage of viewers not served by Freeview, then subtract those within this percentage who already receive Dave on Sky or Virgin Media and you are left with so small a number of extra viewers that it would hardly lead to an increase in advertising revenue, but as Mike Dimmick said above they would lose the subscription revenue from Sky. The way forward seems to be a move towards pay tv, especially with HD channels, this being the case in other countries as well as the UK.
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Chris: ITV3 used to be on PSB2, but changed places with Channel Five so that C5 would be transmitted from all masts. I think that after the SDN mux was added, as promised, to the Ferryside relay it was realised just how much it would cost to repeat the exercise at all the relays in order to give the required coverage of C5. ITV4 was also displaced from PSB2 to make room for ITV1+1.
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ben: You are predicted to have good reception of all six muxes at your location from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter. To receive S/C you need a group B aerial set for horizontal polarisation and pointing NW. This prediction is, of course subject to there being no local obstructions such as trees or tall buildings in the signal path. The local Allesley Park relay is a PSB only transmitter, so does not transmit the COM muxes.
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Conor: There is no way RTE would consider going free-to-air on the Sky /Freesat group of satellites as such a move would cause problems with TV rights with the signal being available over so many countries in Europe. That is why Saorsat is using a satellite which does not reach beyond Wales. There are many viewers in England who would welcome the chance to receive RTE, but sadly real choice has actually gone down (without using equipment to receive from other orbital positions) since satellite transmission was first introduced on Astra 1A in the early days of Sky.
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MRS J: Look in the 800s of the channel list for alternative BBC1 and ITV1 regions. If there are any, is one of them for the East Midlands? Your aerial might be pointing at Sutton Coldfield, which would give the strongest signal on West Midland services, or it could point at Waltham which should give a stronger signal on the East Midland channels, but due to the West Midlands being found first when scanning for channels, it often results in these channels being stored in the "normal" positions in the channel list with the different (East Mids) versions being stored in the 800s.
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Saturday 9 June 2012 9:20AM
Mark Fletcher: The plan for Belmont is quite interesting if the suggestion to use C22/25/28 for the COM muxes at most transmitters (including Belmont) is adopted. The suggestion is that Belmont would transmit Yorkshire TV SFN with Bilsdale to the North and Anglia TV/BBCEast SFN with Sandy Heath to the South. Presumably the existing BBC region from Belmont would become defunct as it would need to become Humberside and N.Yorks.on the Bilsdale frequency. This plan could actually give Belmont viewers a better service, especially in East Anglia. As you say Waltham (and Tacolneston) would become Group K, Belmont and Sandy Heath would revert to group A. Viewers living anywhere near a 4G transmitter, as a first line of defence to reject interference, would then be best advised to ditch their wideband aerials and fit one for the correct group for their transmitter.