All posts by H J Hill
Below are all of H J Hill's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Friday 21 Nov 2014. POSTCODE BD24 9QS
My Freeview reception (in Settle) from Winter Hill is strong and of good signal quality. The appropriate part of my TV menu rates signal strength and quality at maximum with no bit rate errors on all Freeview channels SD & HD.
However, over recent weeks when watching Freeview-channels on 'com 7' UHF-channel 31 there have been brief (i.e. 1 or 2 seconds) blank screens with the set's "No Signal" message displayed. BBC News HD and BBC4 HD (e.g.) have been affected. I've never seen it happen on Standard Definition channels, nor on HD ones not on UHF-31.
I have watched BBC4-HD whilst recording it at the same time; and the signal loss has affected both TV and HDD/DVD recorder at the same moment (Both Panasonic items and less than 14 months old.). So the set isn't the problem (which was my first thought).
Is there a known transmission issue (e.g. like a simple transmission interruption problem) on UHF-37 or a known 4G issue? I'm running out of cables and items to change in my house.
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The Arqiva, COM7, UHF-31, intermittent drop-out appears to have been fixed (sometime between 27 and 28 November 2014). Whether it's another Arqiva fix that'll soon go wrong again remains to be seen.
There was a time when persistent faults were acknowledged with an on-screen message "There is a fault. Do not adjust your set." These days nobody bothers. The multiplex/transmission company sits on its hands/profits until enough members of the public complain. Meanwhile, some viewers will conclude their receiving equipment is faulty (as the unacknowledged fault has gone on for so long) and engage in trouble and expense trying to fix it. I did.
The whole business is a scandal; and I have complained strongly to Ofcom about it. Whatever happened to serving the public? I've also raised it with Channel Four Corporation and the BBC, since they have been paying Arqiva for a deficient transmission service off Winter Hill on COM7.
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Monday 1 December 2014:
Sorry to have to contradict my earlier message. The Arqiva COM7, UHF-31, drop outs have not been fixed.
Today, two hit "15-to-1" on CH4+1HD (16:18 and 16:25); and one hit "Dancing Cheek to Cheek" on BBC FOUR HD (21:23).
I'm not watching the damned multiplex all the time (I'm not paid to; nor is anyone, it seems). These are the first ones I have observed since 20:54 on Thursday 27 November 2014.
It's an utter disgrace; and on a transmitter serving 7 million.
Anyone else affected, complain to DigitalUK and report day/time of incidents. Arqiva is like dear old British Leyland: they leave it to the customer to check the quality standard of the product.
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Tuesday 2 December: 11:30
Every HD-carrying multiplex on Winter Hill is off-air (so some SD channels are therefore missing too).
The OFF multiplexes are: COM7; BBC-B; and Arq-B. These are on UHF-channels (not Freeview numbers) 31; 54; and 55 respectively.
Presumably this means they are fixing the COM7 fault on UHF-31. I certainly hope so.
If the fault had been on Crystal Palace, serving London, one suspects it would have been fixed PDQ.
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Mazbar
I have no problem. COM7 on UHF transmission channel 31 has been suffering a frequent, intermittent fault for many weeks. This affects only the following Freeview channels: BBC News HD; BBC Four HD; CH4+1 HD; CH4seven HD; Aljazeera (English) HD; Community HD; Aljazeera (Arabic) SD; Motors TV SD; Jewellery Maker SD
Do not adjust your set or spend money; the problem is Arqiva's. They never acknowledged it on-air. One wonders what the legal situation is for anyone recouping money spent unnecessarily on aerials etc.
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Tuesday 2 December: 12:40
All Winter Hill multiplexes appear to be back on normal strength.
Some embarrassment here: in my message at 11:30 today there was an error (possibly two!). The multiplexes I identified were not off. They were on reduced power. My 12-month-old Panasonic has an insensitive HD tuner (unlike its PVR/Blue-Ray buddy of a similar age). The PVR and an old Humax HD box were able to make sense of the reduced signal here (North Yorks, near Lancs border); the Pana TV just showed "No signal" making me think the multiplexes were off.
The reduced power may also explain why DigitalUK today lists "Possible service interruptions" for the "Granada" region relays, but nothing for Winter Hill.
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Mike
You can't believe how relieved I am to read your message; I really appreciate your support and information with this. I've been starting to doubt myself.
Last week (Mon 24 Nov) I complained to DigitalUK, and they asked permission to forward my details etc to Arqiva. They haven't been in touch.
Today (Tues 2 Dec) Channel 4, to whom I'd complained (and told them they are not getting what they pay Arqiva for) have requested permission to forward my details etc to Arqiva. Let's see if that makes them get in touch.
Meanwhile, whatever was going on when Winter Hill reduced power this morning (Tues 2 Dec), it hasn't cured COM7. It dropped again at 16:19 whilst I watched 15-to-1 on CH4+1 HD.
So, I just log the events!
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COM7, has transmitted on UHF-31 from Winter Hill for about a year now (since December 2013; I cannot find the exact date).
The drop out problem (in my experience) started about September 2014. I know I shrugged off the initial ones and took no notice, believing them to be freak events; but I've been taking note of it since October. Where for months there was no problem; now there is.
On the web page BBC4 HD winter hill - Freeview - Digital Spy Forums there are people complaining in August 2014 about the drop-outs. And have a look at Mike's comment timed at 2:28 pm today (2 Dec 2014) on this web page.
They are not field measuring equipment, true, but the indicators of "signal strength" and "signal quality" on my one-year-old Panasonic TV and Panasonic PVR/Blu-ray all register the same maximum readings for COM7 that the 100 kW multiplexes achieve. The bit rate error display stays unmoving at "0.00E+00".
It is also true that receivers at the limits of the service area are going to be more sensitive to any brief loss in radiated power than those closer to Winter Hill.
However, the evidence is that this is a transmission problem; not a reception problem.
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DROP OUTS ON COM7 - IMPORTANT NEWS
DROP OUTS ON COM7 - IMPORTANT NEWS
DROP OUTS ON COM7 - IMPORTANT NEWS
Today (~5pm Tuesday 9 December 2014) I have received an email from Arqiva.
They "have now identified an intermittent issue at Winter Hill. Engineers have been on site today, but have been unable to isolate the root cause at this time. Work will continue . . . . ".
I was beginning to doubt my sanity with this issue. It has taken many weeks of complaining to Ofcom, Channel Four Corporation, and the BBC. It shouldn't be this difficult. And it shouldn't be up to the viewer to keep tabs on the transmitters' outputs.
As for the Dropouts on COM7; is there a possibility that they'll all be over by Christmas (but isn't that what was said about World War 1?) !!!!
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Monday 3 February 2014 11:44AM
AlJazeera (Arabic) Freeview84 UHF31 (posted 3 Feb 2014)
My (quite) new Panasonic with HD tuner has added AlJazeera on 84 to my list. It gets all the HD channels at UHF31. However, my few-years-old Sony with SD-only tuner does not acknowledge that 84 exists, despite automatic and manual scans (at UHF31).
I'm not actually bothered about a news channel in Arabic; but I am concerned that future SD offerings in English on UHF31 will not appear on my Sony.
Any ideas?