All posts by Mike Dimmick
Below are all of Mike Dimmick's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Richard George: See the middle line at the top of the page. BBC One, Two and Three are on Multiplex 1, on C25, 505 833 kHz - you can probably enter 506 000 kHz/506 MHz as the box should automatically detect the -167 kHz offset.
| link to this comment |
Warren Taylor: All digital TV signals will be greatly increased after switchover. That's the point of doing it. They will also mostly be on clearer channels, fewer clashes with other transmitters.
| link to this comment |
Martin: There are betweeen six and twelve channels per multiplex depending on the mode, compression and time-sharing. The BBC SD channels are now all on the new multiplex on C53. The channels you mention are still in their previous location, Multiplex 2 on C68.
Some equipment has trouble with a mix of 2K and 8K modes. Other equipment cannot handle the larger Network Information Table - this problem usually isn't revealed until you rescan for channels. Still other equipment has trouble with very different signal levels across the multiplexes.
| link to this comment |
J RUTTER: From Welsh transmitters, you get S4C Clirlun rather than 4hd. You need to be able to get an aerial pointed at Mendip.
Ironically an indoor aerial probably will work better than a roof aerial aimed at a different transmitter, because it's usually wideband and has poor rejection of off-beam signals.
Try doing a manual scan on C58, but as I say the problem is likely to be that the aerial is rejecting this transmission.
| link to this comment |
Tigminor: If you're getting ITV1 West, your box is one of the stupid designs that stores the first version of the channels that it finds, rather than best quality and/or asking you which region to store. You probably haven't retuned fully since Mendip switched over. Mendip D3&4 is on a lower frequency than Oxford Mux 2.
See Digital Region Overlap for ideas. Oxford D3&4 after switchover will still be a higher frequency than Mendip, and you may also have other multiplexes from Mendip both now and after switchover completes.
Alternatively it could be the 'Ridge Hill West' service - this is a lower frequency still (C29) and its coverage will increase with a power-up on the 28th of September.
| link to this comment |
Cain: Aerials are designed to pick up what's in front of them and not what's to the side or behind. They are also polarized - the radio waves either bounce side-to-side or up-and-down, and the aerial has to go the right way. Finally, aerials perform better if designed for a limited range of frequencies, so it should be the correct group for the transmitter.
Exeter St Thomas is south-west while Stockland Hill is north-east. Exeter St Thomas uses vertical polarization - elements going up-and-down - while Stockland Hill is horizontal. Exeter St Thomas used group B frequencies before and after switchover, while Stockland Hill uses Group A. So there are probably three reasons why your aerial isn't picking up anything useful from Stockland Hill!
See Loft and indoor aerial installations for TV, FM and DAB and http://wrightsaerials.tv/….pdf for information about siting loft aerials.
| link to this comment |
John Jordan: Allegedly it was because the non-overlap area of Emley Moor for UHF - that is, the area not served by other transmitters - was too small to sustain Yorkshire Television, so either Bilsdale or Belmont would have to be added. Assigning Bilsdale to Yorkshire would have in turn made Tyne Tees too small. So north Yorkshire ends up in Tyne Tees and half of Lincolnshire in 'Yorkshire'.
Part of the problem is that Yorkshire planning was clearly done by the IBA, selecting two of their sites, while Tyne Tees was done by the BBC, selecting their main site at Pontop Pike. As far as I can see, Bilsdale was a new site for UHF and so really, a bit more thought should have been put into siting it! Belmont itself is probably a bit too far north.
BBC regional broadcasting didn't really get going until the early 70s, by which time the UHF network planning had already been done, the new transmitters erected, and the services started up. Before this, the BBC only had 'North'.
| link to this comment |
John: The BBC didn't force you to do anything. The government and its European partners decided on a shut-down of analogue. Freeview is still terrestrial.
It is also the government's fault - either the politicians or Ofcom, the regulator - that there are sites with fewer multiplexes. They should have required that the services were extended at switchover.
The BBC doesn't want to take BBC Four away; this government chose to freeze the licence fee, effectively decreasing it in real terms, and make the BBC responsible for funding some things from the licence fee that had traditionally been funded by general taxation: BBC Monitoring, which is basically a signals monitoring intelligence operation for the government, and BBC World Service, which is British propoganda overseas. They have also made the BBC responsible for the S4C service in Wales, licence fee funds will be needed to supplement its advertising income.
The BBC obviously has a choice over which programmes and services to be cut back on. We still don't know what has been decided, we just keep getting leaks of purported suggestions. The BBC Trust, which regulates the Executive, has said that no services will be closed.
| link to this comment |
jamjam: Your TV should follow the wide screen setting sent by the Freeview box, which should be following the information sent by the broadcasters. Old content is still transmitted in the format it was made, although sometimes movies are transmitted in 4:3 even if they were widescreen in the cinema, because the broadcasters haven't rescanned the original print (or obtained a new file from the copyright owner).
If the box is sending widescreen but the TV isn't following, people's heads will look narrow. In this case, check that the SCART cable is pushed fully home at both ends. If that doesn't help, try just disconnecting it and reconnecting. Often, the pins in the plug can get pushed into the body of the plug rather than making contact. If this has happened, replace the SCART cable. If that doesn't help, try a different SCART input on the TV or output on the Freeview box, a contact may have broken.
If you really want the screen filled despite it causing 'fat head' problems when watching a 4:3 broadcast, check whether the TV has an option to force the mode.
If the Freeview box is really forgetting the setting after a while, see if there is a First Time Installation or Default Setting option to reset everything back to defaults. If the setting still won't stay set, you probably do need to replace the box.
I can't find much information on the LCD26TV006HD, but it appears that the digital input is DVI rather than HDMI. If you want HD pictures from a Freeview HD box, you will need some kind of HDMI-to-DVI adapter cable to connect it up.
| link to this comment |
Wednesday 14 September 2011 1:46PM
Terry: Some equipment does have trouble with multiplexes with very different power levels, so it could simply be that, and it will resolve itself when everything else powers up next week.
It could also be a case of too much signal, with the high-power BBC A bleeding into the adjacent channel (Mux 2). If you have a booster, remove it or turn it down. If not, try adding an attenuator.
Alan: Too much signal is the most likely explanation.