All posts by Mike Dimmick
Below are all of Mike Dimmick's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
linleyw: As long as you have independent cabling running all the way from separate outputs on the LNB to each Freesat box, then yes, you can select any channel you like on any box.
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C. Welch: It's most likely that you're using the Brierley Hill relay, where there is engineering work today. Wait until 6pm and see if comes back.
If you are using the relay, the aerial's rods will be going up-and-down rather than side-to-side. Brierley Hill is south-west of you, while Sutton Coldfield is to the north-east.
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C. Welch: and if you are using Brierley Hill, you will probably need to retune again after 6pm, because your TV will now have forgotten where all the channels are.
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Rodlv: If you split a satellite dish cable you can get strange results when both boxes are on, or if one is recording (if a Sky+ or Freesat+ box). It usually means a limited range of channels on one or other box, or both. This is because the box signals the mode it needs for the selected channel back to the dish. (In a communal system, back to the multiswitch.) Those mode signals can clash either causing the wrong mode to be selected, or one box to override the other.
You only need to connect two feeds to one satellite box if you plan to record programmes, either recording two programmes at once, or recording one programme and watching another live programme. If you don't want to do that, you could connect one of the two feeds to the box in the bedroom. (Some boxes may be able to record two programmes at once, or watch one channel and record another, from a single feed, as long as the channels use compatible modes.)
Some satellite receivers also have an 'LNB 1 OUT' socket for connecting another receiver. When the first receiver is in standby, it passes the mode selection signals from the second receiver back to the dish. When it's on (and possibly when recording), the second receiver's mode-select signals are filtered out and you can only watch channels using the same mode as the first receiver.
You can feed as many Freeview boxes as you like from one aerial point, as there is no mode-selection signal fed back from the box to the aerial. You may have to add a small amount of amplification to offset the loss through the splitter.
The line-up on Freeview and Freesat, and on Sky's free service, is a bit different. See All free-to-watch channels | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice for a comparison of what's where.
You can keep your existing Sky boxes and go onto their free service, which has more channels than Freesat. You might need to ask Sky for a viewing card for the multi-room box (costs £25). The recording and time-shift features of the Sky+ box will be disabled, including playback of existing recorded content.
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Lance: I keep telling Brian to remove those until something actually launches. It just confuses people.
They are the interleaved frequencies that could potentially be used for new services - probably Local TV services. There is no planned launch date, there isn't even a date for the auctions yet.
The rules used to consider probable frequencies were chosen to ensure that an aerial of the correct group would probably be able to receive them. I wouldn't use them as a guide as to what aerial to use, even at sites where it mattered. Sandy Heath requires a wideband aerial anyway, so it doesn't matter.
Also, the main frequency plans weren't finalized when the interleaved spectrum consultation happened, so the interleaved frequency assignments may have to change, especially where a transmitter uses one of the frequencies due to be cleared for 4G phone services (C61 and C62), or one of the frequencies that cleared services will go to (C49 or C50).
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steve, Chris Wilson: This site considers any terrain obstruction as completely opaque, preventing any signal getting through, which isn't the case. Wolfbane's calculations are way off, far too low, suggesting that most people can't get the signals they actually do get.
The Digital UK predictor shows The Wrekin as possible at that postcode, although - today - variable on BBC A, poor on Mux B, and no prediction for the other four. Next week it changes to variable for D3&4 and good for HD, non-existent for commercial muxes.
Chris should be able to get reasonable results from Sutton Coldfield now, and good results after switchover. His best option is Winter Hill, which switched at the end of 2009, although ArqB is still on low power until SC switches over in September (same channel as Sutton Coldfield Mux D).
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Sue: You're probably using the Brierley Hill transmitter. This was off-air during the day yesterday and today for some engineering works. It should now be back on - work was due to finish at 6pm.
You will probably need to retune again as the box has most likely forgotten where all the channels live, when you retuned it earlier.
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Alastair: Can you provide a full postcode? It's possible you're using the Waltham transmitter - Multiplex 2 has moved to a different frequency. You will need to do a first-time installation, which some boxes call a factory reset or a default setting, because many boxes don't cope with finding services that they already think they know where to find.
On a communal system, it's possible that the frequencies are filtered and amplified separately, a 'channelized' system. In this case, the building manager will need to get the system retuned for the new channel. They will need to do this again in August when Waltham completes.
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Wednesday 13 April 2011 4:14PM
alan: There is engineering work again today. Try again at 6pm - if you have tried retuning you will have to retune again.
Digital UK's idea of notice is to post a notice about a day before they actually do it - in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'. Well, actually at http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/how_do_i_switch/your_aerial/engineering_works
This website has an automatic process that scrapes that page and posts a message from 'Transmitter Engineering'. It also checks the BBC's Reception page at Radio & Television Investigation Service - Diagnostic form
Digital UK's predictor reckons you should get a much better service from Sutton Coldfield, both now and after switchover.