All posts by Kevin Barrett
Below are all of Kevin Barrett's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.Brian,
Thank you for your reply even if it was, sadly, as expected; no criticism meant just recognition of frustration caused by the fringe and overlapping areas I live in.
As current aerial is on standard 75ohmn aerial cable (less than 5 years old) rather than satellite grade would changing to satellite grade and use the XB22WB (with masthead amp? - Humax has masthead amp power as built in) or diplex two good quality narrower band aerials give reliable reception or am I just so far away and it's signal noise rather than strength that is the problem. (Yes I have been doing some reading at www.aerialsandtv.com.)
Costs of my above suggestions are getting very close to HD Freesat + Satellite installation and as Humax PVR9150T isn't HD your original suggestion about going Freesat may still be the best solution!
If I stick with existing setup just how bad will things get after April?
Note channels - strength - quality tonight are:-
24 - 77 - 100
27 - 77 - 100
56 - 63 - 100
62 - 60 - 100
67 - 60 - 100
and Film4+1 still not tuning!
That's added a little confusion and possible option. BBC1 is on Ch27 and ITV is on Ch24 so that means it's picking up the Chiseldon repeater. Whilst this transmitter is vertically polarised it is only 100yds away so no surprise really!
Does that add weight to the suggestion of high quality aerials diplexed. Cost may still shift the balance to Freesat though but my thoughts are repolarise existing aerial to vertical further improving Channels 24 and 27 and then buy a high quality C/D aerial (plus masthead amp?) and target Mendip with that.
You may have guessed that I am reluctant to go Freesat as I just don't like the look of those darn dishes - weird maybe but that's my view.
Finally, if it's worth noting, I am also getting weak BBC1 etc on Ch34
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A little research later and I note that Freesat with 5x TVs and 2x PVRs gets really complicated and rather expensive!
Lounge
Master bedroom
Kitchen
Son's bedroom
Daughter's bedroom
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Brian,
Thank you but could you also comment on my first post yesterday posted at 10:46pm.
Total costs will be quite a bit more than just the Freesat box as all my internal cables are buried in walls and under floors etc. and are NOT satellite grade. Also Freesat at £30 doesn't include cost of dish, upgrading to Satellite grade cables or replacing existing Freeview recorders with Freesat recorders.
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Wideband horizontally polarised chimney mounted aerial pointing at Mendip.
My house is SN40NW postcode (Butts Rd, Chiseldon.)
Megalith.com shows line of sight to Mendip obscured (just.)
4 way amp/splitter loft mounted.
Cheap single insulated airgap down cable but despite all the above reception has always been good.
Over the last two weeks freezing every 1 or 2 minutes for 3 or 4 seconds on BBC1 and occassionally BBC2.
I have checked the cables for damage and water ingress.
I have turned off dimmer switches, heating controls and under floor heating - no change but proves no interference from them.
I have bypassed the amp splitter with no improvement.
I have also replaced the chimney mounted aerial with a loft mounted wideband vertically polarised one pointing at Chiseldon repeater. Then repeated all the above tests and no improvement. I know wide band is not ideal for Chiseldon repeater but being less than 200yds and very clear line of sight it shouldn't be a problem should it.
Now Chiseldon and Mendip transmit BBC1 on different channels so is it other local interference or is the repeater just repeating a freezing channel from the main transmitter.
Do I ask neighbours if they are having problems, report to BBC or try something else like a group A aerial pointing at Chiseldon and Diplex the Chimney aerial as there are no problems from that on other channels.
Help please.
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JB38: Yes your reply is really confirming my suspicions and I will talk to neighbours. I was rather hoping that XMas day would give a reliable signal and I could perhaps think about local interference but XMas day was no better.
The local transmitter even at "only" 16 watts will have some effect as it can easily be received on my daughters cheap TV and got 48% signal and a good picture from just 15ft of cheap aerial cable that wasn't connected to an aerial or amp.
However,from previous tests and previous reliable signal I don't think it is that relay causing the problem.
In summer with lots of leaves on trees and the slightly obscured signal from Mendip I would expect it to be poor but why in winter and usually worst when we have clear rather than wet and wind days.
Talk to the neighbours it is then.
Although today it has been perfect. Do the transmitter maintainers read these pages and fix things without saying anything? Triple time to fix something on XMas day might help?
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Reason for hoping XMas day would be good was no one working so no industrial electrical noise and no taxi transmissions but then there isn't much near here anyway.
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Odd this morning. Retuned the PVR and it has ignored Chiseldon (I have both aerials diplexed) and it has locked all channels to Mendip showing 68% strength 100% quality.
When tuned yesterday it selected the low frequency MUX (Chiseldon) as the primary ones and put all the duplicates (Mendip) at channel 800 and above.
Today the signal strength is lower AT 68% when it is usually 72% - 75%, picture is rock solid and it has ignored Chiseldon.
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Now 16:50: picture suddenly freezing and breaking up every few seconds. Signal down to 45% and quality fluctuating between 25 and 75%
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Retuned and BBC channels are now from Chiseldon repeater. Picture slightly better but still intermittently freezing. To me this proves that the repeater is receiving and rebroadcasting a poor signal as the Mendip signal is still fluctuating all over the place but, despite freezing, Chiseldon is solid at 72% strength and 100% quality.
This seems to be a repeat of yesterday; OK(ish) through the day but deteriorating in the evening.
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Page 1
Monday 21 February 2011 8:56PM
Swindon
Postcode is SN40NW (Butts Rd). Fringe(ish) reception on Mendip, Oxford and Salisbury. Often drop one or two channels all together when retuning (Film4 and Film4+1 are usually first to go) and blocking and freezing quite often on others especially in poor weather but not always weather dependant but I do realise weird atmospherics can effect things even when weather (for us humans) is good.
Aerial is pointing at Mendip rather than Oxford as 24months ago (when installed) this gave best reception.
Humax PVR9150t (with latest software updates) is used for all reception with nothing on output of PVR pass-through and TV connected via scart. TV tuning (Samsung LE26R pulls far less channels and less reliable than PVR)
I have followed your retuning guides with no improvement.
Will moving it to Oxford now or a better aerial get me reliable reception? Current aerial is fairly standard digital wideband yagi.
FWIW signal (via Humax built in meter) on Film4 is strength 55% and quality flickering 40 - 80%
BBC1/Channel4/ITV (all) strength 78% and quality solid 100%