All posts by Mike Dimmick
Below are all of Mike Dimmick's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
pmullans: Yes, TV aerials just don't come that short. See ATV`s Choice Of Aerials for digital TV for some example dimensions. That site doesn't list 'contract'-type aerials, which might be short enough, but might not give good enough performance - it depends where you are.
I do find that aerial installers tend to overdo it, fitting aerials that are way too big. Their tendency to use wideband aerials where they are not necessary causes size inflation too, because you can use a much smaller grouped aerial for the same amount of gain, particularly in the lower frequency groups.
A grid or billboard aerial is a possibility, particularly if your region has already switched over.
You could also try splitting the output of the aerial on the main house - to which I presume there are no objections! - and distributing that to the other location. You might need a small amplifier to offset the loss through the splitter and in the additional cable. If your region has not yet switched over, I would recommend using a separate amplifier and splitter, rather than a powered splitter, so that you can remove the amplifier after switchover if it is no longer necessary.
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Mark A.: While Sudbury does transmit Channel 5 analogue, it is at one-fifth the power of the other analogue channels and from aerial panels mounted half-way down one side of the mast. It's not a good indicator of whether you're using Sudbury itself, or another transmitter.
Kim Lay: Looking at your previous posts, in June 2007, you said that your aerial pointed to the 'Kent' transmitter. I assume you meant Dover. If that's still the case, yesterday's changes shouldn't have had much effect on your reception - although some boxes might store off-beam reception from Sudbury rather than the direct beam from Dover. That might cause unexpected picture break-ups on BBC channels now, and ITV1/C4/C5 if you retune in two weeks. See Digital Region Overlap for some ideas on selecting the versions you want.
You're ultimately expected to have the best chance of reliable reception from Sudbury, and once the other PSB multiplexes power up in two weeks, it will be your best option for those channels. However, the commercial multiplexes C and D are expected to be better from Dover until November. After that, Tacolneston's switchover will cause more interference to the Dover signals and it's a toss-up between Sudbury and Dover for these services.
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Bill: Check the manual for your box to see how to access the Other Channels feature. You can find a list of free-to-air channels, and the required settings to tune them in, at Eurobird 1 & Astra 2A/2B/2D at 28.2°E - LyngSat or Astra 2A / Astra 2B / Astra 2D / Eurobird 1 (28.2°E) - All transmissions - frequencies - KingOfSat .
These are only the free-to-air channels from the satellites in the cluster at 28.2-28.5°E. There are other satellite clusters viewable from the UK, but you would need a different dish, or a dish constructed to carry more than one LNB, or a motorized dish, to watch channels from those clusters. Some freesat boxes can control switches to select a different dish or LNB, and some can control a motorized dish. Look for mentions of 'DiSEqC' in the box's manual.
"Free-to-view" has a specific meaning if you're talking about 5* and 5 USA. It means that the channel is encrypted, and requires (for UK free-to-view channels) a Sky box and viewing card to watch it. However, the box and viewing card are a one-off purchase, you don't have to keep paying a subscription to watch the channels.
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Steve Wilson: Unfortunately none the pictures of the masts I've found actually indicate which way is north! C56 is reportedly omni-directional, but low power, while C68 is reportedly restricted to the east of the transmitter.
Digital UK currently predicts no coverage from either frequency at your location. This will change in two weeks at the second stage of switch-over.
It also predicts that you should have a much better chance of reliable reception on all six multiplexes if you use Tacolneston, rather than Sudbury.
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daniel, abby gillespie: Sorry, my error, the 9150T is indeed a dual tuner. I was assuming that it was a follow-on to the PVR-8000T which my parents have, which is indeed a single tuner, and that it was inferior to my 9200T.
(The 9200T has a USB download port, separate video/audio jacks and a S/PDIF digital audio output, which the 9150T doesn't. The 9300T drops the USB port but gains an HDMI port.)
abby: In that case my advice changes, you don't need the Bush box at all, unless you want to watch something else when *two* other programmes are being recorded, and what you want to watch isn't on the same multiplex as either of the recorded programmes.
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poeter: For the next two weeks, BBC One, ITV1, C4 and C5 are still available on analogue. *So far* only the BBC channels have gone to high-power digital, the other digital channels are still on low power. The other public-service channels will go to high-power on the 20th of July.
There will be some subsequent changes on 16 November, when Multiplex D changes channel so that Tacolneston can start using it the following week, and on 27 June 2012, when the final channels for Multiplex A, C and D are available - they will reach full power on this date.
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i king, Andrew: Your aerial is directional. It is designed to amplify the signals coming from directly in front of it, and reduce pick-up of transmissions coming from the side. The width of the area it picks up from - called the acceptance angle - depends on the design of the aerial, but generally larger aerials with more elements have a narrower acceptance angle.
If you want to use the Burnham-on-Crouch transmitter, you will usually get better results by pointing the aerial directly to it.
i king: it depends on the box. Some just store the first version found, some the strongest or best quality. Newer boxes will ask which region you want to store, if signals from more than one region are detected. Digital UK predict that you should get better results from Sudbury (plus the contribution from Rouncefall on the same channels) than from Bluebell Hill, so an aerial move might be worthwhile, but you might not get all multiplexes until next June when Bluebell Hill switches over. Still, they predict that you can't get all multiplexes now.
Andrew: Your box may be one that just tunes in the first version it finds. Dover Mux 1 is on a lower frequency (C45) than Sudbury Mux 1 was until yesterday (C49, now C44). Burnham-on-Crouch has started up at 100W and will eventually go up to 500W next June - you would also need to retune as it's currently using temporary channels.
Digital does not carry 'teletext' as such. The teletext button on your TV remote won't do anything. Press the red button on the set-top box remote to access BBC digital text, or the dedicated subtitles button to get subtitles.
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sue: You should do a full reset (also called default setting, first-time installation, 'virgin mode', full retune) on switchover days. This ensures it doesn't know about any channels before you start.
If you have ITV1 at both number 3 and in the 800s, you're probably getting signals from more than one transmitter. There are a few transmitter sites that carry the ITV/C4 multiplex on more than one frequency. If possible, find out which transmitter you're using and other nearby transmitters, and compare the UHF channel numbers carrying each version, to make sure that the box has tuned in the best quality version at 3. Some boxes just store the first version found, the one on the lowest UHF channel number/frequency, rather than the best quality. If this is the case you will have to either use the channel edit feature to move the one you want to position 3, or manually tune in. See Digital Region Overlap for more ideas.
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M Rose, M Adania: If you're using digital already, then you aren't using the High Wycombe transmitter. At present, this only transmits analogue signals: BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1 and Channel 4.
There has been engineering work for digital switchover this week, which I would expect to affect all channels, not just BBC One and Two. 'Transmitter Engineering' is just an automated piece of software that scrapes the Digital UK engineering page and the BBC problem reports page. The BBC only publish the status of their channels, not ITV1 and C4.
If you're using the High Wycombe transmitter, and BBC channels are back on but ITV1 is not, try the contact details at Broadcaster complaints details | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .
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Wednesday 6 July 2011 2:14PM
jack: If you have suddenly lost all channels, it's most likely that a cable has become disconnected, or that the aerial has been dislodged. Check for any loose or broken cables.
If this has happened, I would expect that analogue channels have also become very snowy or unwatchable.