All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Julian: At 82%, I'm not surprised they break up!
Firstly, DigitalUK thinks you should eb perfect for Oxford, so use that. Next, look at your signal strength - the BBC4 mus is relatively low powered compared with BBC1, etc, yet your still getting over 80% signal. Thats far too high. And of course there is no need to retune, although its worth checking which transmitter your actually using.
And rather than solving your problem, the booster has almost certainly made it far worse. Tune into Oxford or Sandy heath (depending which way your aerial points), bypass or remove your booster and look at your signal strength - 75% should be perfect on the main muxes.
Look at this page - Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you
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Ale: Does the TV say 'no signal'? If so, thats what it is, and you can check at the top of the page for the status of the transmitter. If its working, then your system isn't.
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henry Ainsworth - check your signal strength over all the muxes. You should be on Belmont (check that the Humax is on belmont), with a good signal strength (see for yourself if you follow the links). If the signal strenght is low, then you have a problem with your system.
Classic reason is that your lead into the back of the TV is dodgy, and just about getting one frequency, but not another. The fault could higher, if your getting problems during rain.
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Col: Look at the links your postcode has brought up - there is an obstruction about a km from you, but other than that, your 35km with a clear signal path, and Digital UK reckons you should be fine.
You havn't said what the signal STRENGTH is - very high or very low? If it was always low because of the obstruction, then a booster isn't going to help that much - personlly, I'd just go Freesat. But if your signal is actually fine, then the booster might be causing more problems than its solving. If your all using boosters, and your all having the same problem, then it might the fact that your all using boosters that IS the problem. And if the booster etc isn't working properly, then that would kill your signal.
Yes, your neighbours are having problems, but are they the same problems? If they are, then could it be a high pressure system? But that would lead to a lot of people losing signal. The transmitter seems fine, so its not that. You might have a problem with your system, but it might be a different problem from the others.
Check your signal strength, and the same goes for the others. If its very high, try taking the booster out of the circuit - and then see what strength/quality is like. In the meantime, search for 'too much of a good thing' on this site.
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Gareth Markey: If your tuned to Ridge Hill, you should have a very good signal, so check your system, because its almost certainly a problem with that.
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D. Radbourne: Firstly, never ever give out your telephone number, etc - this site is clearly not an 'offical site', and nobody is every going to email or phone you personally - you've just opened yourself to malicious people on the web.
And since its not an offical site, nobody here can do anything to fix it.
Next - since you've put in your postcode into the site, the links below your post show if there is anything in the way of your signal, direction of transmitter, an estimate of the signal quality, transmitter status, etc. You can clearly see that there is something between you and Ridge Hill about 15km away, but DigitalUK reckons your fine overall.
Since the transmitter seems to be working normally, then that just lives your own system. And almost certainly thats where the problem lies - could a be a lose connection, water getting into a cable, frayed wire, etc, but thats the likely problem, and you need to check it.
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Phil: To add to Steven's excellent reply, if you do want to dip into Sky occasionally, a lot of my customers who have Sky are going for a Humax Freesat PVR instead (which have wifi and ondemand as well), plus a Now TV box.
You have to be careful with the terms and conditions, but for about 15 (unless you have newish LG smart TV, in which case the app is on the TV), you can get an Entertainment package, etc for some months. So you get to record and watch, plus stream the usual channels, for a one off purchase of the Humax, plus you can 'top up' with other services from Sky/Now TV. Strangely, I have a couple who have asked how to get Sky Arts, and gave them exactly the same advice!
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Joseph Tonner: Its not like we havn't heard either of those two (totally debunked) arguments before, but by putting them together, you actually undermined one of them totally.
Steven is right - a TV licence is no different to your car tax - how far you drive and where you go is up to you, but you do have to tax your car. So you can chose not to watch or listen to any BBC programmes at all, but since about 93% do in any one week, its likely that you are getting something anyway.
As for those lite transmitters, its because, to be brutally honest, commercial broadcasters cannot be bothered to provide a service to you - your just not worth it. However, the BBC does do its best to provide you with as full range of its services as possible, and the government makes ITV, C4 and C5 provide some of their services as well.
You want choice via subscription? Fine, but if the BBC had to go subscription, it would certainly do its best to get out of providing an relatively expensive per viewer service, and so would probably withdraw services from those transmitters. And all other broadcasters would likely follow suite. And you'd get nothing, or very little.
Virgin is unlikely, since cable doesn't really do rural, and it would be interesting to see if all rural areas have the sort of broadband speed you'd need to stream sports etc on those exciting subscription services you can have the choice of.
Of course, you could still get Sky...which you have to pay for. And a lot more than a TV licence.
Or, you could just get Freesat, and enjoy pretty much all the the channels on Freeview, with no hassle and no subscription, just the cost of a TV licence. Which would work better?
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Tuesday 31 January 2017 6:08PM
Stephen Hopkins: Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you