All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Timothy: I'm sure one of the tech gurus on here might answer your question, because I know I cant!
Can I ask one question - why does it cost so much to be hooked up to the buildings dish? Becuase that would at least give you a choice.
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Colin: I'm in PE1, and having a look down my street, there is a fair mix - many are Sandy Heath, fewer are Waltham (like mine), and a fair number have aerials pointing towards both.
Belmont is always a pain - its on a vaguely similar bearing to Waltham, and is on Ch22, so pops up first when using an auto scan from my basic freeview box. The really strange thing is that my Sony picks up all three transmitters - see what your signal strength is like - it might be topping out like my PVR does, and just killing a little of the signal strength might mean it misses Belmont completely.
You could try the David Lindsay method - remove the aerial for the first third of the scan, so Waltham never gets picked up, or try a manual tune.
As for moving the aerial - depends on how much of a faff it is - but your right - Sandy Heath is pretty much by itself, so is less hassle.
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john layton: I had to guess the rest of the postcode, but the area is generally a bit of a pain. My parents in law are in the same area, and they actually use Belmont (from where they get a signal which is slightly too strong).
If your getting pixelation, check signal strength - if you are high just buy a attenuator - a variable one is about a fiver or less on the net, or even just buy a really rubbish aerial lead from a poundshop - it might be enough to bring it down a tad. If everything is working fine other than that, why spend more time and money.
I'm sure that David and others can offer better advice, but start with the simple stuff first.
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Yvonne: Check your signal level - your not a huge distance from Crystal Palace/Midhurst, and even with a loft aerial, your signal might be fine without the booster. If you can, bypass the booster, and see what your signal strength is.
See here: Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | Digital switchover | ukfree.tv - 11 years of independent, free digital TV advice
A full postcode would be helpful, and the transmitter your using.
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Penny Walters: This is the Redruth TV page : Redruth (Cornwall, England) Full Freeview transmitter | ukfree.tv - 11 years of independent, free digital TV advice
There are no reported problems with the transmitter - so I suggest you both check your wiring, etc.
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Jeff Boyle: Looking at the various posts to your reception problem, something stands out - the main reason for concentrating on 4G interference is because that is what you strongly suggested it might be.
However, without that suggestion, the symptons of the problem would point to other factors.
Looking at the basics of the problem, you have recently lost all mux's, apart from the BBC PSB1. You have a loft aerial, with a powered splitter.
Unfortunately, you've given no postcode, so there is no way to check which transmitter, signal path, etc, but its unlikely that any change to a transmitter would result in less signal strength over the long-term. If anything, its the reverse.
If you had lost all muxs, or nearly all, it might be that this was becuase you had possibly retuned to another (more distant) transmitter, the signal of which was just enought to get you PSB1, but no more. However, its unlikely that this would happen on more than one TV (although its always worth checking).
I would suggest you look at your own system. If youe losing signal strength suddenly, its likely to be within the home system. Although you state that nothing has changed at your end, there could well have be a frayed coax, some moisture, a loose connection, etc which has degraded the signal to such an extent that you've lost all but the strongest signal.
Since you have a booster amp, check that the amp is actually working properly, there are no loose connections, and that the power supply is working properly.
PaulN on the Divis thread annouced 5 days ago that his loft amp's power supply had gone, and thus killing his signal . As he wrote 'Back in business with repaired loft amp. It must have been slowly dying for a while' - so it could be that part of the system slowly degrades, rather than stops working altogether suddenly.
If you give a postcode, we can see if there are any 4G stations near you, etc. However, if you look at the number of people who blame 4G, there are actually relatively few who seem to have a problem which is cured by a filter, which suggests that 4G was not a factor in the first place. The fact that yours was not would point to that conclusion.
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Dand: Michael is right - you could get a freesat reciever for £49, or just used the old Sky box. The Goodmans boxes are not all that great, so I'd take it back if poss (I've got one, so I'm familiar with the limitations).
If you do get a decent aerial, you should get a ok signal from Hannington.
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A Barnes: Check your signal level - could be too low, but also too high!
Retuning isn't the answer, and might mean that you end up with the wrong transmitter.
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Kath: If you have the model number of the TV, and your recorder, that would be very helpful. However, the first thing to do is to check if the DVD Player/Recorder has a freeview box built into it. It will generally say it on the front - either 'digital' or 'Freeview', etc. Check the manual as well.
If it does have one, you dont need any extra boxes - you simply connect the recorder to the TV with an hdmi lead (or scart if it does not have one), and connect up the aerial lead to go from the wall socket to the recorder, and then another aerial lead to the tv. This should be in the manual. Basically, your TV and recorder both have a freview box, and can both watch digital programmes.
If the box does not have freeview installed, you will need an extra box. This will generally mean its a relatively old machine, and since its a bit of a faff, you might want to look at whether its worth doing so. Most people have upgraded to a hard drive recorder (such as a Humax), since it allows a lot more to be recorded, you can do two channels at once, and you'll probably get one with HD. The new Humax 2000 is about to come out, and will be about £180.
Ok - you want to use the existing recorder with a cheap/old digibox. You connect up the box in the normal way, but if you look at the manual, you can connect the recording box to the digibox via scart (in effect, the recorder has its own set-top box, which gets the digital signals, before making them analogue for the old recorder). Then connect the recorder in the way you normally would to the TV.
The problem with doing this is of course that you have to have correct channel on the digibox at the right time, etc - which is why so many people have just got another recorder...
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Thursday 7 November 2013 9:32AM
john layton: Postcode would be very helpful.