All posts by KEVIN GARDINER
Below are all of KEVIN GARDINER's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Jonanthan, looks like a classic case of signal overload here. your location is 5 miles from the Oxford ( Beckley ) transmitter. The signal strength at your location (without an aerial with no gain ),after DSO is 78db on the 100kw multiplexes and 75db on the lower 50kw multiplexes. To obtain a stable signal at the tv set, the BBC recommend a signal strength of 65db. However, most Free view set top boxes and integrated tv's have a signal strength tolerance of approx 80 db. If your signal is above this figure, you will experience signal overload, which consists of Pixelation, stuttering and freezing of the tv picture and break up of the sound, 0r no channels at all, and low signal level indication on the set top box and tv signal strength meters.
Jonathan, your aerial set-up is making the signal overload problem worse. you have a wideband aerial with an amplifier attached to it outside on a pole.This set-up was fine pre-switch-over, as the signals were all on low power.
To help resolve your problem, you need to switch off the amplifier and try re-connected the aerial to the television. Do a re-tune and see what happens. If you still have a few multiplexes missing from the channel line-up after a re-tune, then i would have a new aerial installed outdoors.The correct aerial group for Oxford is a group c/d aerial, as it resinates best on the frequencies the Oxford transmitter is using. I.E. frequency channels 53.55.57.59.60.62. To get the proper alignment to the Oxford transmitter,it is situated 28 degrees from your location. Hope that this all helps.
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Spartan, no i'm not saying that a 20db plus or minus atteunator is not enough to solve Jonathans problem with his free-view reception.After his recent attempts to find the root of his problem, he stated that moving the co-axial cable to the television had more effect than his attuenator. Due to too much, or lack of signal , the co-axial cable will act like part of the aerial itself. you can get this effect if you have a low signal using a indoor type aerial.If you move the cable around, you can get a picture on the tv. Jonathan has too much signal and using a 20db variable attuenator is more than enough to turn the incoming signal down.
The signal strength from the Beckley transmitter is 75db on the 100kw muxes, and 78db on the 50kw muxes. He needs to put up a log periodic aerial on the roof at minimum height of 10 metres.The periodic aerial has no signal gain to the television, meaning the aerial will not amplify the signal.Jonathan he is only 5 miles from the Beckley transmitter, and within the strong signal area. The periodic aerial is the best aerial to install in the strongest signal areas. And it's the aerial that the BBC recommend in all cases, if the signal strength in your area is 65db or above.Amplifiers should only be used as a last resort to ensure reception, such as a place where your on the fringe reception area, or obstacles such as buildings or hills are obstructing the signal etc.
Amplifiers not only amplify the incoming signal, but they also amplify un-wanted atmospheric noise, which demonstrates itself as snow on the television picture, plus during high pressure periods, your television reception will be prone to interference from adjacent transmitters . (52.4471,-2.1045)
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chris. se,
Re- Keith Radcliffe. He is situated 13 miles from Sutton Coldfield and the signal strength at his location at 10 metres outdoors is 65DB. This signal strength should not overload his tuner, as 65 - 70db is the recommended signal strength preferred by the BBC to obtain a stable signal at the tv. I believe that digital tuners should have a signal strength tolerance maximum latitude of 80db before signal overload would then effect the reception.
keith does'nt specify his set up at home. Does he have an amplifier, splitters etc.I think it's more likely to be his equipment that he needs to attend to to resolve his problem. (52.4471,-2.1045)
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W Huggard: I've read the Ofcom papers regards to the selling off of the UHF frequency spectrum channels 62 - 68. 4G or forth generation as it's called with operate mobile broadband services on these frequency channels nationwide. However, i'm not sure whether they are going to be allowed to have their antennas on the tv transmission masts, or on the same site, or adjacent to the tv transmitters.whatever is eventually decided upon, the risk of interference must be an issue here. Ofcom think that interference is most likely if 4G are allowed to place their antennas on the tv masts themselves, or off site in line with the direction of a multiplexed beam. The inteference is most likey in areas where the local mast uses frequency channels 59 or 60, closest to the 4G frequencies.
The solution, will be either situating the 4G masts out line of site of the mux beams, or will be the using of some sort of on site filteration at the transmission site, plus a filter for the population effected. Ofcom have stated that 4G must pay for the filters themselves, and viewers who experience interference can have a filter free of charge to install in line with the co-axial lead into the tv. However, they don't state where viewers can get these filters from etc. It's all abit unresolved issues at the moment. I'm sure an update on this issue will be published soon.
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Briantist: i re-tuned my freeview set-top box today amid reports that channel 5 will be broadcasting across all platforms in early December. After doing a re-tune, i have noticed that their is going to be a new channel broadcast on channel 42 Freeview, on multiplex ARQB COM 6. The new channel will be called " THE ZONE". It's a shopping and play channel.
The ARQB Multiplex has recently had it's peramitters altered recently giving the mutliplex an extra 3MB of extra capacity, enough to broadcast another SD channel. It seems too me that channel 5 + 1 will be sharing the new capacity with the " THE ZONE " channel, so from this, we can assume that CH 5 + 1 will not be broadcasting 24/7.
Kevin Gardiner. (52.4471,-2.1045)
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I have too say that bringing out an advert to promote freeview in the run up to christmas is abit odd. Every household has to have digital tv in some form too be able to watch television.Maybe, they are hoping that people thinking of switching or buying into a contract with sky etc, will perhaps, think twice and go for freeview instead.
It is the intention of the digital consortium to switch off standard freeview sometime between 2015 and 2017, or sooner, depending on the take up of HD set-top boxes or HD intergrated tv's. And after 2017 or sooner, freeview HD 720p will be the uk television standard. with freeview Hd, they intend too launch many interactive features depending on the technology available. However, let's hope that the switchover to HD will be smoother than the switchover from Analogue to digital.It should be, if they transmit the HD channels on the same frequency channels as standard freeview.
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Thanks for the information Briantist. Am i right in thinking that sport feature programmes are broadcast in 720p? I currently have standard freeview and find the blurring whenever the camera pans or an object or person walks past in the foreground frustrating to watch on a large screen tv . Is there any intention to correct this on SD, or is it going to stay much as it is now?
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Briantist: I've done one of my regular set top box re-scans, and today the Channel 5 + 1 logo has appeared on the freeview channel line-up, on channel 10. It will be broadcasting on the SDN multiplex, along with it's sister channels 5* and 5USA. For channel 5 + 1 to be able to be broadcast would mean that a channel already on the multiplex will have to go to make room for it surely?
A few weeks back, Arqiva changed the parameters of the com6 Arqiva multiplex to enable it to gain an extra 3mb of capacity to broadcast an extra tv channel, thus taking the maximum channels broadcast on a multiplex at one given time to 9. Brain, do you know whether it's the intention of Arqiva to change the parameters of all the commercial multiplexes to 27.1 MBS? it so, that would mean 36 SD channels up from the current 32. Making 44 SD channels in all counting the BBC ones.
Along with channel 5+1, i've noticed that they've also added Top up Anytime 5 on channel 44 and 6 on channel 311 to the same multiplex.
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K
Are you really watching free TV in high definition? | High defiWednesday 20 June 2012 9:21PM
Stourbridge
Briantist,
I'm a keen HD freeview watcher these days after upgrading to Hd in January this year.I receive perfect reception from the Sutton cold field transmitter on both standard and HD. Over the months, i've noticed that the HD programmes were being broadcast in 1440 X 1080p/i for 99% of programme ouput, but occasionally a programme would be broadcast in the full HD standard of 1920 x 1080p/i, then the following episode being transmitted in the lower standard.this has been going on for quite a while. I can only think it was due to quality checking etc.
However, since midnight on 1St June 2012, all the multiplexes are now transmitting all HD programmes in the higher resolution 1920 X 1080p/i.
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Monday 26 September 2011 5:40AM
Peter: your location is a mere 4 miles from Sutton Coldfield and your signal strength at 10 metres, or chimney pot installation is roughly 88db. This means that after digital switch over on wed 21St September, you are now experiencing signal overload. please refer to Briantist advice. Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .