All posts by Mike Dimmick
Below are all of Mike Dimmick's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Roland Johnson: That all depends on the commercial multiplex operators extending their services to more transmitters. They turned down the option to do so at switchover, saying it would cost too much. These operators are focused on profit rather than public service.
I've heard rumours that they may extend to another 8 or 9 sites, but these are likely to be high-power sites that would add significantly to the overall covered area, particularly if populated with a wealthy demographic.
If you provide a full postcode, we can check the likelihood of getting a reliable service from Ridge Hill, or another main transmitter.
| link to this comment |
Robert Sprigge: It does not appear in Ofcom's Radio Transmitter Tech Parameters document Ofcom | Tech Parameters which was last updated on the 28th of June. It also does not yet appear on the BBC's list at BBC - Help receiving TV and radio - Transmitters which goes up to 5 July.
The BBC's contribution to Ofcom's DAB coverage consultation Ofcom | An approach to DAB coverage planning does show Epping Green as a site expected to launch by the end of 2011, so it won't be long.
| link to this comment |
roy: It's likely that you're using the Balgownie relay transmitter. If so, your aerial's rods will be going up-and-down rather than side-to-side, and pointing somewhere between north and north-east. The Balgownie transmitter is a 'Freeview Lite' transmitter, only providing the three public service multiplexes, shown as PSB1/BBCA, PSB2/D3&4 and PSB3/BBCB above. We do not know if the commercial multiplexes will ever extend their services to more transmitters - they turned down the opportunity at switchover, saying it would be too expensive.
If you have the aerial replaced, you may be able to get a reliable service on at least some of the commercial multiplexes direct from Durris. The chances of reliable reception, with a standard installation, are shown as good for Arqiva B, but variable for SDN and Arqiva A. In this area, the problem is co-channel interference from Knock More, so a more directional aerial is probably helpful.
| link to this comment |
Jerome, jb38: Channel 5 has advertising regions as well. Only Region 2, London, is free-to-air - the other regions are encrypted. Your Sky box will use whatever version corresponds to the postcode that the last-used viewing card was sent to.
Spot Advertising Macro Map | Channel 5 shows the regions, Astra 2A / Astra 2B / Astra 2D / Eurobird 1 (28.2°E) - All transmissions - frequencies - KingOfSat shows the parameters for manually tuning the free-to-air 'region 2' transmission. Currently on 10773 H, SR 22000, FEC 5/6.
| link to this comment |
dan: Because the commercial multiplex operators don't want to spend the money on transmitting from all sites, and they aren't being forced to do so by the regulator.
Digital UK's postcode checker (trade view) shows a pretty high (over 90%) probability of reliable reception from the main transmitter at Caradon Hill. Druid's Hill is in the way of direct line of sight to the transmitter, but there should still be enough signal refracted over the terrain. You would probably need a new aerial to use Caradon Hill.
| link to this comment |
Mary Tudor: There is engineering work today, which means that the transmitter is off-air. There may be other engineering shut-downs during the week.
The Nailsworth transmitter relays the signal from Stroud, which relays the signal from Mendip. Engineering work is also shown at Stroud, which may explain the shut-down at Nailsworth. No work is shown at Mendip.
You can keep track of engineering works by checking
Digital UK - Planned Engineering Works .
| link to this comment |
Peter Gordge: The adult channels share slots with other channels - the adult channels are off-air when the other channels are on-air and vice versa.
You can find a list of the slots for each channel, put together by 'Ray Cathode' at Digital Spy's forums, at http://www.bsa.talktalk.net/dtt/LCN%20&%20Multiplex%20Listings/England/Pre-switchover/England%20pre-switchover%20multiplexes.pdf . The black boxes show the 'slot' shared by each channel.
| link to this comment |
Alan Matthews: Despite the title of this article, switchover is not really complete.
The commercial muxes remain on relatively low power until after Dover's switchover next June. They have all changed to their final mode, which requires more signal-to-noise ratio than the mode they used before today. The transmissions have doubled in power, but the required S/N ratio is slightly more than this, so effectively coverage has been reduced.
The new mode is somewhat more prone to interference as well - which is why the broadcasters stopped using it in 2002.
Digital UK predicts that you won't get a usable signal on Arqiva B (which carries ITV4 and Yesterday) until April next year. It may work once it moves to C63 on 16 November - you will need to retune.
In earlier switchovers, the commercial muxes have remained in their pre-switchover mode if they could not adopt high power or their final channels. However, the increased capacity has already been sold, to BT Vision for Sky Sports 1 and 2, so the mode changes are being done before power increases enough to compensate.
| link to this comment |
MikeH: Have you done a full retune? Use the 'First Time Installation' option in the General menu to do this.
It's possible that the overall signal strength is now too high and overloading some part of your equipment. If you have a booster, try removing it, or turning it down if it's variable. If that doesn't help, try adding an attenuator.
As a relatively new box, the Sharp *should* ask which region you want to store, if it finds more than one, and it should store the best quality signals. However, some boxes do just store the first version found, which may not be the best version. Looking at the manual, I can't see any way to check which UHF channel it's actually tuned to for a particular service. You may need to do a First-Time Installation with the aerial unplugged to reset to a completely blank state, then use the manual tune features to select the versions you actually want.
| link to this comment |
Thursday 14 July 2011 1:34PM
Rich: Welcome to the misery of rebadged equipment bought from an electrical retailer and then re-sold second hand or refurbished. The Bush brand is now owned and operated by Argos, who offer no support. The TU320DTR is a rebadged Vestel T845 - Unofficial Vestel PVR Information (UK) - T845 Top Up TV .
Luckily a reputable brand - Sharp - rebadged the same box as TU-TV322H, and you can find the manual at http://www.sharp.co.uk/cps/rde/xbcr/documents/documents/Marketing/Operational_manuals/pdf_OM-digitaltvreceiver-tutv322h-en.pdf .
Some boxes don't clear the saved channels before doing a scan. I'd first try the Reset procedure on page 33 of that manual, under Scenario 2.
It may be that the box has a problem with the Split NIT - a Network Information Table that is too large to fit into one Transport Stream packet - which started being transmitted from late 2008. Putting the channels in the 800s is a known symptom on some boxes, though I admit I don't see yours or any other T845 on Digital UK's list at http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/splitnit . It's worth checking whether the update listed at Unofficial Vestel PVR Information (UK) - T845 Top Up TV has been applied - if it was ever broadcast for the Bush boxes, it may be a long time before it comes around again. You'd need a classic serial cable and a PC with a classic serial port to perform a manual upgrade.
Honestly, I'd return it and get a Humax PVR-9150T or 9300T, which is a far better box and actually has ongoing support from the manufacturer.