All posts by Mike Dimmick
Below are all of Mike Dimmick's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
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Ross on Wye (County of Herefordshire, England) Freeview Light tTuesday 5 April 2011 12:00PM
Reading
Late-breaking channel change: BBC A may be starting on C50, or may start on C62 and move to C50 at DSO 2.
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Andoversford (Gloucestershire, England) Freeview Light transmitTuesday 5 April 2011 12:01PM
Reading
Late-breaking channel change: BBC A will start on C62 at DSO 1 (6 April) and move to C50 at DSO 2 (20 April).
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Pedro dd: It may not radiate to the west at present, but it will after switchover. Digital transmissions move to the main aerial at the top of the mast, and should have substantially the same coverage area as analogue signals do now - perhaps a bit wider.
Unfortunately the transmitter company keeps the radiation patterns of the main transmitters a closely-guarded secret. Brian submitted a Freedom of Information request to the BBC in mid-2009 and did get some information back on the relays and smaller sites, but the details for the main sites were redacted.
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Oh, and you can't pick up Heathfield now because there are hills blocking line-of-sight, it's low power, and it's 60km away. Your best option after switchover is the Guildford transmitter if you want London services, or Hannington if you want BBC South/ITV1 Meridian.
Hannington currently doesn't transmit to the east, to avoid clashing with Guildford analogue services. Your best bet right now is Midhurst for southern region or Crystal Palace, and these should be acceptable after switchover, though the others I mentioned earlier are expected to be better for the commercial multiplexes.
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Are there to be any more Freeview channels? | Help! Freeview anTuesday 5 April 2011 12:55PM
Reading
jo: Film4 runs on Multiplex D/ArqB, channel 15 in the EPG. It is only available if you're using a main site - 'Freeview Lite' transmitters don't carry this multiplex.
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Phil: It's likely that the problem is either the Bacup transmitter's reception of signals from Winter Hill - but there were no reported problems there - or the power supply arrangements.
Write a complaint to the BBC by going to BBC - Reception problems and following the wizard through. Do it every time the service fails, I'm not certain they have any remote monitoring of the site.
You are very close to the transmitter and it transmits at full power in your direction. There is a chance that you could have too much signal and this causes picture break-up when there is no problem at the transmitter. It's hard to give anything to look for because there is no consistency among different Freeview boxes as to how they show the signal level, and how it's calibrated.
If you had a problem and this page, and the BBC page, don't show a problem at that time, try adding an attenuator to reduce the signal levels. (RG47SH)
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Nedbod: Nothing. However, people with problems tend to ask their questions wherever they first find a comment box, and the only way to reply to them with assistance is to use the page they asked the question on.
Brian tends to answer questions on the page they landed on rather than moving them to the correct page. It's often hard to figure out where the comment should go until you've asked a few questions about the problem or looked at the predictions.
Even when the question is posted on a transmitter page it's often the wrong transmitter - sometimes it's entirely the wrong region, not just one of several local possibilities.
I've sometimes posted the 'please re-post your comment on the correct page' response, but you tend to lose people - they don't repost. Unless Brian provides a facility to move a question to the correct page, perhaps allowing people with a lot of posts to move it too, we're stuck.
The site is used far more by people who just want answers, now, and once they get them they will never come back. People who actually want to have a conversation about a topic are far fewer.
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Tuesday 5 April 2011 11:58AM
There are also late-breaking channel changes at some relays - just like Dallington Park and Kimpton, BBC A will start on a channel that is due to be released (C61 or C62), and will then move to a different channel at DSO 2. At some relays it will move from a lower channel number (49 or 50) to accommodate another move.
Andoversford BBC A starts on C62, moves to C50 at DSO 2 (20 April).
Knucklas BBC A starts on C49, moves to C39 at DSO 2.
Ross on Wye BBC A has been allocated C50, but it's not clear whether this is from DSO 1 or DSO 2. (Note 4 is missing.)
There are also some discrepancies between this Table of Stations and the earlier DSO Details which aren't called out in specific notes:
Hazler Hill BBC B is shown at C39, not C49
Ludlow BBC B is at C39, not C49
St Briavels BBC B is at C40, not C50
(Presteigne and Upper Soudley stay on C49 and C50 respectively.)
Clun BBC B is at C50, not C62-
(Bucknell BBC B will stay on C49)
There should also be changes for Mux 2/D3&4 but they're not in the stations table. Eardiston and Halesowen were previously allocated C61.
The table is at http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/tv/sup_dso/version2.pdf , and it forms part of the multiplex licences. In theory it should be more accurate than the DSO Details documents. The notes are frequently cut off on the right-hand end - I requested a copy in Excel format that I've forwarded to Brian already. (RG47SH)