All posts by Mike Dimmick
Below are all of Mike Dimmick's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Mike: Talk to your building manager or agent. It's possible that your building has a channelised system, where each desired frequency is separately filtered out and amplified to bring everything up to the same level. These systems need to be retuned whenever there is a change in the frequency or power level of the transmissions.
I would have expected you to also have trouble with SDN, which also moved.
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john: Usually this indicates too much signal. Is the non-working set closer to the aerial?
It's also possible that the non-working set has decided to tune into fringe reception of The Wrekin/Bromsgrove/Lark Stoke, which use lower frequencies for the BBC and D3&4 multiplexes than Ridge Hill does. Check that it's using C28 and C25 rather than C26 and C23. If not, delete the incorrect channels and manually tune in the correct ones. See also Digital Region Overlap for more information.
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Steve Turnbull: I believe second units in an official multi-room installation have a special 'multiroom' card, that stops working if you cancel the multiroom subscription. Try swapping the viewing card out of the old box that works.
It might even spring to life if you just remove the viewing card, but some channels (e.g. 5*, 5 USA) won't work as they are broadcast encrypted, and need the card to decrypt them.
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Dave Burns: If you have also lost analogue reception, there are two possibilities:
1. Your aerial was actually pointing at Sandy Heath, which has switched over. If you lost BBC Two analogue on 30 March and the others on 13 April, this is the most likely explanation.
2. Something in between the aerial and your TV has become disconnected. Or, the aerial is no longer pointing in the right direction or been damaged.
Check the direction of the aerial. If it's pointing roughly north, that's Sandy Heath. Crystal Palace is to the south. Hemel Hempstead, another possibility, is to the west - this requires the aerial elements to run up-and-down rather than side-to-side.
Break-up can be caused by too much as well as too little signal. If you have an amplifier, try removing it or turning it down: although you're not really close enough for that to be the issue, a very large amount of amplification or aerial gain can still cause problems.
The amount of interference on any given channel is changing all the time as different transmitters switch over, both here and overseas. While signals don't travel that far during the day in normal weather, they travel further at night and in high-pressure conditions, which we have had.
It's possible that if the aerial is pointing to Sandy Heath, that the TV has still tuned in services from Crystal Palace. If it didn't do this before, the most likely reason is that your TV doesn't support the 8K mode which is used after switchover. Check the list at http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/2kequipment , though this is only a list of some equipment that is known not to work and there may be others. If this is the case, or if the TVs are from before about 2005, check with the manufacturer, or check that the manual lists 8K mode in the specifications.
The other reason for the wrong signals being tuned in is that a lot of equipment stores the first version that it finds, i.e. the versions on the lowest frequencies. The frequencies are lower at CP than at Sandy Heath, but they always have been, which is why I think it's unlikely that this is the cause.
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Mark A: There is more than one Brian on this website. I was responding to Brian who posted on the 8th of May from Sleaford, Lincolnshire, not Briantist.
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Terry: Only if the TV is a Freesat TV. They do exist, but they're not common. Otherwise you need a Freesat or Sky box to decode the signals.
Also check that the dish was used for Freesat or Sky within the last ten years. If not, it could be pointing to the wrong satellite cluster - analogue satellite used a cluster at 19.2°E, and that cluster is still used for foreign-language services, while UK digital services moved to a new cluster at 28.2°E.
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Malcolm: With a Freesat box you can only watch unencrypted free-to-air channels. You can find a list at All free-to-watch channels | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .
If the channel is listed under 'Freesat from Sky' but not 'Freesat', and it doesn't have a * against it (indicating it's encrypted), it should be watchable on a Freesat box but you'll have to use the 'Add Channels' or 'Non-Freesat Channels' feature to watch it. Use Eurobird 1 & Astra 2A/2B/2D at 28.2°E - LyngSat to find the frequency, polarization, baud rate/symbol rate and FEC settings.
Freesat would like as many channels as possible in their programme guide, but the broadcaster does need to ask for a channel number in the guide. Once they have, Sky are taking a long time to co-ordinate the transmission of both sets of EPG data, so the channel works in both guides.
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Mick: The HD channels are being transmitted. Most likely you have an 'HD Ready' rather than a 'Freeview HD' TV. Please see What does "Full HD Ready" actually mean? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice for more information.
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Josh: No, it won't be any easier, as the new aerial panels on the Dover mast are only fitted on the three faces that point inland. This is already preventing people in France from receiving analogue signals.
Ex-pats in France shouldn't have any trouble receiving satellite transmissions from Astra 2D, but terrestrial is now unlikely to work.
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Monday 9 May 2011 2:35PM
Ian Rangeley, Steve: I don't think there's anything legal about it, they just consider recording an extra service to pay for and their boxes won't record, or let you play back recorded programmes, if you don't have an active subscription.
It's reportedly possible to get them to just activate recording, but they want £10 per month.
You can migrate to Freesat at any point - it's already up and running, you don't have to wait for your region to switch over. Switchover only affects TV through an aerial - satellite TV switched over to digital 10 years ago.