All posts by Mike Dimmick
Below are all of Mike Dimmick's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.Ian, Herts: There is some problem between the TVs upstairs and the distribution amplifier. You are using a distribution amplifier, not just joining the cables together? All TVs in the house connected to the same aerial should normally have approximately the same results.
If you do want to split cables and feed multiple rooms, you should put the splitter as close to the aerial as possible and feed each room from there, rather than splitting at the back of the main set.
However, if you're trying to distribute the output of the Sky box (e.g. 'Magic Eyes'), you will obviously have to split after the Sky box.
If you're using wall plates you should ensure they're a properly screened design - the back of the socket should be surrounded by a metal can, rather than a visible circuit board. See How To Attach / Wire Up Plugs, Wall Plates & Aerials .
If you are using multiple individual aerials to feed each TV, consider replacing them with one aerial and splitting the signal. Aerials work best with a lot of free space around them. A pole with a lot of aerials presents a large surface area to the wind, and they can easily be blown out of position, bend the pole, or even damage the brickwork that the pole bolts into. (RG47SH)
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Pieh0: This thread has some information of how some problems with MythTV were handled at Mendip:
MtrhTv: Uk Mendip Transmitter issues | MythTV | Users
I *think* it's saying that the Programme Map Table (PMT) being broadcast doesn't match what it's got stored. Basically you need to delete all existing channels and completely retune from scratch.
(RG47SH)
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2011 switch-overs start today at Sandy Heath, Nottingham | SwiWednesday 30 March 2011 6:27PM
Reading
lee: Coverage in Nottingham itself is split between the Nottingham transmitter, which has quite low power levels, and the main transmitters at Sutton Coldfield and Waltham.
At your postcode, you're expected to get best results from Sutton Coldfield. If you want to get BBC and ITV East Midlands news, you should use Waltham.
Waltham switches over in August and Sutton Coldfield in September. In all cases the HD services start on the second switchover day.
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Nit: "C38 is now used for PMSE, with C38 and C39 being for the reallocation of C61 and C62 in the upper band" -> "with C39 and C40 being..."
I suspect a lot of people who bought wideband aerials are going to have problems picking up 4G mobile phone signals, which in addition to the TV signals (wanted and unwanted) could overload amps and receivers. Some people already have trouble with 900MHz phones, and others with TETRA at 400MHz. The upper frequency cut-off is relatively sharp on narrow-band Group A and B aerials but widebands often peak around C60 and have better gain up to C68 than on C49 and C50. Group C/D and Group E aerials could also pick up enough mobile phone signal to cause overloading problems.
Channel 5 were made to add filters where they couldn't retune VCRs - I suggest that the 4G operators are made to do the same thing!
As I said on the Interleaved Spectrum page, it's highly unlikely that mobile phone/broadband equipment will be built to operate in the lower cleared band, simply because no-one else is clearing this band. Channel 36 used to be reserved for radar, though I don't know if this is still the case.
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Lee: check for an indication of the radio channel or frequency that is being used. It should be C27, 522 MHz for the BBC channels.
If it isn't, your box has stored a signal from somewhere else. Try another retune. If that doesn't help, check whether the box is on the list of 2k-only equipment at http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/2kequipment . If it is, it is not compatible with the 8K mode being used after switchover and I'm afraid you'll need to replace it.
The same screen might also show the other parameters. They should be: 64QAM modulation, 2/3 Forward Error Correction (FEC), and 8K carriers or 8K mode.
Otherwise, can you let us know the frequencies used by this multiplex, and the other multiplexes, so we can figure out where your aerial might be pointing. (RG47SH)
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2011 switch-overs start today at Sandy Heath, Nottingham | SwiThursday 31 March 2011 1:15PM
Reading
Tracey Notts: Same advice as for Lee.
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2011 switch-overs start today at Sandy Heath, Nottingham | SwiThursday 31 March 2011 1:19PM
Reading
SteveM: If you're using the Sandy Heath transmitter, BBC Two analogue was switched off.
However, you could be using the Waltham transmitter, which does not complete switchover until August - all analogue channels continue to work until then. Yesterday's retune was simply to move Multiplex A to a different channel, so that you don't have problems after The Wrekin begins switchover next week. You will need to retune again in two weeks so that Multiplex 2 can get out of the way of The Wrekin (again).
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2011 switch-overs start today at Sandy Heath, Nottingham | SwiThursday 31 March 2011 1:25PM
Reading
jodie: Can you provide a full postcode please? Were these channels normally reliable before you retuned, or did you occasional picture break-up? If there was a reception problem at the time you retuned, you can lose channels - try retuning again.
I'm not aware of Multiplex 2 moving channels at any transmitter yesterday.
If signal strength on the BBC channels is shown as very high - over 80% - the new signal levels may be too strong. If you have an amplifier, try removing it and see if you get better results.
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Wednesday 30 March 2011 4:02PM
Reading
blackfish: For analogue it's a relay of Waltham, at least for three channels for another two weeks, but the low power digital signals wouldn't reach, so it was fed independently via satellite. I believe all pre-switchover digital transmitters were.
Nottingham is its own transmitter group (a group of one) for switchover.