All posts by Tim Collins
Below are all of Tim Collins's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Dave, thanks for your detailed reply.
Your explanation of multiplexes and the reduction to 6 representative UHF channels is very good and I can almost say that, for now, I get it!
I've taken a look at all three FV tuners to determine what UHF channels I'm getting. The TV is next to impossible to fathom, but the FV+ box and the DVDR are much easier to read, though they're offering slightly different strength and quality info...
Here's what the DVD reports...
MUX | Channel | UHF | strength | quality
PSB1 | BBC ONE | 24 | 10 | 10
PSB2 | ITV1 | 27 | 10 | 10
PSB3 | BBC1HD | | |
COM4 | ITV3 | 25 | 10 | 7
COM5 | Pick TV | 22 | 10 | 7
COM6 | Yesterday | 28 | 10 | 7
FYI, here's what the FV+ says
PSB1 | BBC ONE | 24 | 9 | 8
PSB2 | ITV1 | 27 | 9 | 8
COM4 | ITV3 | 25 | 8 | 8
COM5 | Pick TV | 22(+1) | 7 | 7/8
COM6 | Yesterday | 28 | 8 | 8
So this confirms that we're tuned to Rowridge. As this is effectively a problem free moment I'll save these numbers and see how they compare when we suffer issues.
It's interesting that you mention cross-channel interference back in the analogue days we did suffer occasional ghosting, though I was never able to work out what might be appearing or where from...
Looking at what you've said whilst the problem may be interference, without knowing what station is interfering, in order to confirm their horizontal or vertical broadcasting, my switching to a vertical aerial may not necessarily fix the problem? Or have I got that wrong?
Reflection? That sounds like a can of worms!
I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts now we're a little clearer on where my signal is coming from.
Thanks again...
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Friday 22 June 2012 11:09AM
Brighton
Hello,
I'm hoping that somebody can shed some light on our occasionally serious Freeview reception problems...
To set the scene (with due apologies for any lack of tech-savvy!) we're in Brighton with a roof-mounted, powered-aerial supplying several RF points around the house. The aerial receives its signal from the Rowridge transmitter, signal from the nearby Whitehawk Hill transmitter being blocked from us by a high-rise building.
Switchover happened in March and generally speaking signal quality massively improved prior to switchover it was so bad that I had to contact Digital UK to ask whether things would get better. However, occasionally we suffer from pixelation and drop-outs, and recently these have become so severe that watching television at these times is impossible.
When I look at the Rowridge transmitter's performance (when I can understand it) it always seems to be working normally, and in posting a message on the BBC's Reception Problems website, their comments in reply were solely aimed at my equipment. So presumably it's not the transmitter but rather something at my end?
We're using two of our RF points with (1) a Freeview TV and (2) a Sharp Freeview+ twin-tuner and a Panasonic DVDR. When the signal breaks up, it breaks up across everything.
Given that we've now had three instances of severe reception problems across the last fortnight I'm trying to identify possible causes, and if all the FV boxes are affected but the transmitter is AOK, then I'm guessing it must be our aerial? But we're talking an intermittent problem...
Given problems on the 7th June prompting my BBC web posting and their reply I've come over all train-spottery and I've started to log what's going on. Signal was appalling Sat 16 June between 20.00 & 22.00 when it was windy, but fine from 22.00 when the wind dropped to gusty, though patchy in the afternoon when it was sunny with a light wind. We suffered minor pixelation on 18/6 when there was no wind and the weather was fine. 21/6 was very windy and we lost signal between 19.30 and 22.15, after which the wind dropped a little and the signal was fine.
So is this wind-related? I can see that the aerial-pole is flexing in the wind, but they all are! Is wind-based aerial movement enough to wreck digital signal reception?
Your thoughts and suggestions would be most welcome.