All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
george: If the signal is problematic at the same time each day, its likely you've got 'single source interference' (there is a page about it on this site). Its likely to be your heating thermostat, etc (or someones nearby). Also check your cables - shielded are better at dealing with this problem.
Also check your signal strength - if its too high, then its the BBC that are often the first to go.
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George: I wouldn't discount anything without checking first! Check your wiring - a loose connection might be part of the problem (weaker signals being affected?).
A postcode would be a great help, since that allows you to see what the signal path is, how close to the transmitter, etc.
You could ask your nieghbours if they are having a similar problem - if so, at least your not alone. Think what could be coming on/off at the times you've identified, and at least make sure its not your own house.
JB38 has a neat trick - he suggests you use a LW/MW radio tuned to no channel, and then use it like a 'bug' identifier out of a spy film - hold it in front of you, and the sound of the interfence should be heard, roughly on the plane 90 degress to the radio - ie - in front. behind above you, etc. After that, you should be able to work out where the problem is coming from. I'm sure he will explain that much better!
If you can't get out of the rain, at least get an umbrella - check all your cabling - ATV has some RG6 aerial cables for less that £4 - even with VAT and postage, thats a good deal, and might help, shielding being part of the solution.
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Natasha: The other thing you could do, instead of getting a rubbish portable aerial (Jamie's right - although they sometimes work), is to use wifi to get on demand prgrammes.
Smart TV's are pretty much standard now, and provided you've got unlimited download limits and a decent speed, you might try something like Roku, Apple TV, etc - in essence, your using your spare TV's as monitors. Sky's My TV is very cheap, less than £15, and includes all the kit to get Iplayer and 5 on demand. Not a perfect solution, but gives you another option.
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Ron Green : Follow MikeP's advice above - if its still not working, then it might be time to replace it, since its a fault with the software.
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Jon: There are lots of boxes around now, although I havn't heard of this one. Looks interesting, and for people with dishes, it looks like an easy setup (although I'm not sure which one records as well).
But if you have wifi (or even just broadband), you can do much the same for less money (although having sat. and aerial tuners is a nice touch).
A £50 blu-ray will be as smart as any TV, and in the case of Samsung's (at least at present), you'll get all four channels on demand, Netflix, etc. This one Samsung BD-F6500 Smart 3D Blu-ray/DVD Player: Amazon.co.uk: TV has wifi built in.
There is always things like Roku, Apple TV, etc. If you just want Iplayer, the Sky Now TV box is less than £15! You might not even have to create an account.
Thanks for the heads up, and I'm now going to have to find a review!
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Tina Windsor: If you click the links by the side of your first question, you can check various things (which is why its so useful to put in your postcode - others take note!).
One of them is 'R+T Investigations' - which tells you whats happening to various transmitters, depending on where you are. Caldbeck was apparently unaffected, but Keswick and Threlkeld were off air 'from 09:36 yesterday to 14:18 yesterday' for engineering(?).
If you are tuned to either of those transmitters, you should of course have the signal back, and if your using Caldbeck, there should have been no problems anyway!
Why your neighbour does not have a signal is another matter - check which transmitters your all using - if the one with a signal is using one transmitter, and you two are using another, then your problem is likely to be a transmitter or its reception.
If its not the transmitters, logically it must be your own system where the problem lies (although You did get a signal for an hour, so its not a broken cable, but its likely to be a loose cable, a corroded connection, or perhaps something where moisture has got in (dried out enough to give you a decent signal for a bit, but then failed again?).
Check with those around youd you and your own system. The reception gurus can certainly give a better answer if it does turn out to be the transmitter or reception.
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Bill: SB is right, its has be via Sky, a BT box (you can buy them on the High Street for £199) or via an app.
see here: Introducing BT Sport - Watch the top games with BT - BT.com
However, there is a possible way round it - have a google and see if you can put the app onto the TV via either HDMI (from laptop - simple but a pain), or via wifi to the TV, perhaps via Roku or similar (with certain software on the laptop - Roku apparently wont support BT in the way its supports Sky). And of course Chromecast might be coming out sometime soon to the UK Google Chromecast - explained - BT & Google Chromecast in the UK – review 5 days in #YouTube - although you can buy it for less than £40 on Amazon, which allows you to 'cast' to your TV, as do some other devices.
Frankly, these do look like a difficult way of doing things, but 'might' work! In the meantime, an old laptop attached by HDMI streaming the app might be the easiest way.
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SB: Your (very very nice) TV has two Freesat tuners, so if the dish is working with neither of them, its a fairly safe assumption that the dish is duff. I really wouldn't bother about getting hold of another Freesat box.
Sounding by the type of workmanship they left behind (I think photo's and Facebook might be a good start to getting your money back...), that the dish was badly setup seems likely anyway.
A decently setup dish with twin LNB's is £99 where I work, so if they've charge more than that, perhaps a word with trading standards! You could always try doing it yourself - you could hardly do worse.
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Monday 25 November 2013 10:49PM
M MacRae: Do you mean that the signal is just breaking up, or the signal strength is very low? A postcode would give us your local transmitter, so we could check to see if there has been engineering work, etc. However, if your getting interference, check that its not from a local source, such as a faulty thermostat, etc. And remember that your aerial system might be at fault - perhaps a loose connection is causing the problem.