All posts by KMJ, Derby
Below are all of KMJ, Derby's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Tom Nichols: On checking the BBC status report for transmitters serving your location it appears that the Abercraf relay transmitter was off the air from 08.31 to 09.22 on 4th September 2012 and again today. If your aerial is pointing NNE with the rods vertical you are served by the Abercraf transmitter, however if your aerial is mounted with the rods horizontal and pointing West to Carmel your receiver has locked onto the Abercraf relay when scanning and ignored the stronger Carmel signal. In this event, to receive the correct set of frequencies, clear the channel list, then do a manual tune to C60, C53, C54, C58, C61 and if required C57(HD).Alternatively, if a manual tuning option is not available do a rescan with the aerial unplugged for the first third of the scan to miss out the Abercraf frequencies, then reconnect the aerial for the remainder of the scan.
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Floyd: If you had good reception before switchover it suggests that you might now have a signal which is too strong if you have amplification or a very large aerial. Alternatively, in the face of stronger signals being available, your tuner might have found and stored weaker signals that were not available at your location before switchover. The symptoms experienced with signals that are too strong or too weak to give robust reception are similar when viewed on the TV! Which transmitter is your aerial pointing to? As you had Freeview before switchover this would be either Sandy Heath or Crystal Palace. Check that the correct frequencies have been tuned in by the STB for the transmitter to which the aerial is pointing, note there is now a third possible transmitter, the Luton relay serving your location. This only transmits the three PSB muxes (Freeview Lite), but could have been selected in error when scanning for channels. Regarding agencies to consult over reception problems, the BBC now has responsibility for investigation of interference problems, but would only be expected to be consulted after the viewers aerial/receiver and tuning were all correctly set up and interference was still being experienced.
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khalid khalifeh: The Backbarrow transmitter was reported back on air at 17.01, Friday 7th September 2012.
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Bryan: According to Digital UK it is planned to have each stage of switchover at Weardale complete by "mid-morning" on both dates.
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Simon: It is difficult to do a reception check for your location without more precise information, such as a postcode. Generally speaking however, the Oxford transmitter gives very patchy coverage in the Newbury area, Hannington in many parts delivering a much stronger (and more reliable) signal.
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IAN MALKIN: There are no plans at present to transmit Radio Stoke on either Freeview or satellite. With the emphasis on saving money the only expected change to BBC local radio in general is the phasing out of analogue transmissions and improved coverage of DAB, which is being forced on the BBC in order to facilitate the proposed analogue switch off for all BBC and principal commercial radio stations.
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Mel: To give specific advice it is necessary to have more precise information regarding your location, such as a full postcode for yourself or a nearby public building, so that predicted reception for the area can be checked. Which transmitter does your aerial point to? Belmont or Tacolneston would seem to be the expected options. In either case, check that your TV is tuned to the correct set of frequencies for the chosen transmitter.
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Kate: The William Hepburn's tropospheric ducting forecast, which basically predicts when you might receive out-of-area TV and radio signals due to the inversion effect, shows that the conditions in the SW should now be changing back to "normal" There is a possible return on Thursday (13th September 2012) of conditions during which the inversion effect might again be experienced. If you know of any local residents who use a different transmitter to that used by yourself it might be useful to compare notes on when they experience poor reception - if at all. It is sometimes beneficial to have aerials on two different transmitters if it is found that reception problems occur at different times on the two transmitters.
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Liz Fhima: If you have retuned and no longer have any BBC channels in the channel list the TV will select channel 3 as the first available channel when pressing 1 or 2 on the remote. You will need to do another retune when you are able to receive the BBC mux again in order to restore the BBC channels to the channel list.
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Wednesday 5 September 2012 11:28AM
A Appleby: Without knowing where you are located, preferably by a postcode, it is not possible to give specific advice based on predicted reception in the area. However there is a general problem to the North of the Durris service area affecting the COM muxes. This began after switchover when the COM muxes from Durris changed frequencies to share those in use at Knock More for the PSB muxes. The problem was noticed particularly in the Huntly area and other locations where signals are present from both transmitters. In some cases within the overlap between the two transmitters it is necessary to use two aerials, reception of the PSB muxes from Durris combined with the COM muxes from Knock More giving a full service. In cases where the Knock More signal is at too low a level to give reliable reception, but strong enough to interfere with reception from Durris the only option is to try to find a position for the aerial where there is a null for the unwanted Knock More signal. If this is the problem in your area it is quite possible that at half a mile away trees, hills or some other obstructions give screening from the interference.