All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
K.M.Riley: You havn't included a postcode, but I'd guess that if you have a roof top aerial, then last nights storm might well have loosened or broken the cable from the aerial. Try following the connection back from the Humax through to the aerial. If its on the roof, you might well need a professional, who might be pretty busy for the next week!
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Gareth Rhys: Your postcode is a bit difficult to pin down for a terrain plot, but a generic one does bring up a decent signal on the tradeview (even though Mendip is 64km away), which is supported by the fact that your on a hill, and that your signal was improved by the removal of your booster.
4G is unlikely, since you have no booster (ok - the aerial does boost, but still...), and you seem to get a pretty good signal. Personally, I suspect that most '4G' problems are actually something else anyway.
You've good good cabling, good connectors, etc, and Panasonic/Sony have good sensitive tuners. Its true that three TV's might lead to a drop in signal strength to each one, but I suspect the problem is more than that.
However, there is one thing that immediately stands out - ' The signal strength is middle and drops occasionally, with a concurrent drop in quality. It is poorer still with windy/wet weather.'
'Poorer still with windy/wet weather' - it sounds like you have a problem with the connection between the aerial and the tv, and its very possible that its the result of a loose connection, corroded or waterlogged coax, etc.Since its all three TV's, its above the splitter.
You might need a pro to examine the parts on the roof, but at least study the cabling you can see.
Let us know what happens, and if you can put you full postcode on any future comment, we can see the exact terrain plot.
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James Town: I suspect that your kitchen TV is tuned to a 'light' transmitter (Burnham or Rouncefall?), hence the fewer channels.
The Humax is more likely to be tuned into Sudbury, which has a good signal path, and is only 22km away - so check the signal strength - Humax have sensitive tuners and it might be you have too much signal - 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
Of course it might be that you tuned into another transmitter, which might result in a very poor signal.so check whick transmitter it is and also which way your aerial is pointing.
If all 4 tv's are coming off the same aerial, then perhaps a powered splitter might be useful, but at least check signal strength first - you might not need it. If they are seperate, then that makes no difference whatsoever.
The surround sound system is also completely seperate from any reception problems, although ideally it should come out of the TV's digital optical rather than the Humax, but in practice it makes little difference.
Try checking signal levels, quality and which transmitter, and see how it matches up with the tradeview link next to your question, and tell us what it is, hopefully someone here might have an answer.
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Anna: You probably have the curse of the rubbish freeview box (I know, the Goodmans box I have is exactly the same as the Bush..).
By rights, your signal from Winter Hill should be cracking - if anything too good - your only 6.7km away, with a clear signal path. However, that transmitter is on channel 50. The 'light' transmitter' (ladder Hill) is much further away, but its on channel 26, and other two transmitters you could in theory pick up (but not very well) are on 26 & 45.
The Bush box can pick pick up the strongest signal, but usualy starts at the lowest number, which is 26...
A better (more expensive) box or TV can manually tune in to the higher channel, but ours cannot. Dave Lindsays suggests you take out the aerial lead for the first 30% of the scan, and then put it in, and hopefully it should pick up the right transmitter. It took me ten attempts not so long ago to get mine to pick up Waltham rather than Belmont, so good luck.
If your going to get a decent recorder, like a Humax or Panasonic, you wont get this problem (manual tuning), but something like Bush or Goodmans, you will.
Once you've got it tuned, dont retune unless you absolutely have to - it will often update itself anyway, and its a PITA to do it again.
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Anna: If you follow Dave Lindsay's excellant advice, hopefully everything should work.
If its still isn't happening, my personal advice would be to kill two birds with one stone, and buy a Humax PVR instead. Yes, it will cost you more money, but you'll be better off in the long term. Humax t2 PVR's Manager's specials - HUMAX UK Direct Sales Website have a scart on the back, so they are fine for your current TV, yet are also fine with any new TV, since the are HD. They are also much better at picking up the best transmitter, and because they have twin tuners, you can use them as both a digibox for your TV and as a recorder.
The T2/1000 model is about to be replaced by a new model, the 2000 BU0042 HDR-2000T/500 with WLAN Dongle - HUMAX UK Direct Sales Website - which will be about £180 on the high street, but you can still buy the older model from Humax, for less than £150. Yes, its a lot more up front, but your getting a better deal.
Let us know how your getting on.
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Lorna: Yes, Sandy heath is having engineering work, but you should still have a reasonable signal from where you are.
Check the aerial again - its likely to be a loose, frayed or corroded cable or connection.
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Paul B: It sounds like you might have more than one problem, but they might be getting tangled up in each other, so the best thing to do is break everything down first.
Stockhill looks fine for you in both terrain and distance, and seems to be working fine. The Pennsylvania relay is really close, and not hugely off Stockhill's bearing, but you should be fine for the main transmitter (and if your getting more than just the basic channels, your not tuned into the relay).
Your signal strength/quality is all over the place, and although too much signal seems to be my default dignosis to everything, the numbers you've posted dont make much sense from that point of view.
You've got an aerial on the chimney, which then comes down to a 4 way booster in the loft, which then splits the signal off to various rooms. I'd start with the feed from the aerial, above the splitter. If you have a portable TV, then plug it in there, and see what the signal is like - if its 90-100% quality and strength is about 80%, then you know thats fine. If its jumping all over the place, and the signal strength is 100%, then you know its a bit too powerful. If its rubbish, then you know something is up with the aerial or its connection. If you cant do that, then next step is:
Ok, assuming the aerial is OK (or you cannot do a test), test the splitter, by testing each output via a portable, or just take the splitter out of the circuit - connect the aerial to each split cable in turn, getting someone to note down the strength/quality, etc on each TV, box. This way you can see if the splitter is causing a problem, and isolate any problems with cabling.
Your TV's might have different tuners, and react in different ways (make sure they are all on the same transmitter), but if you break it donw to each component, and test each bit at a time, then hopefully you'll find out what it is.
BTW - if its is 4G, then the filter should be as close as possible to the aerial, so put it between the aerial and any splitter. The likelihood is that 4G has nothing to do with the problems you've got at all.
Let us know what happens.
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Saturday 26 October 2013 11:22PM
Dave E: DAB is a cost, like any other, so perhaps some of the more basic models have them as an 'extra'.