All posts by Mike Dimmick
Below are all of Mike Dimmick's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Pat: The recommended retune procedure for this box can be found at TV Re-tune productmanuals . The direct link to the instructions is http://www.digitaluk.co.u….pdf .
Looking at the confirmation screen in step 7 I would assume that you can press the left or right arrow keys on the remote to change the choice from NO to YES and vice-versa.
| link to this comment |
carl: That postcode looks like it might be a block of apartments, and therefore you might be using a communal aerial system. If so, check with your landlord or management agent about ensuring that the signal levels to your apartment/flat are correct. See PARAS - Professional Aerial Riggers Against The Sharks for some other thoughts on who to talk to.
| link to this comment |
David George: The simple answer is money. The commercial multiplex operators don't want to pay the extra money to install and run equipment at all the relay sites. The PSBs are paying more than double the amount the COMs are paying, to reach only about 8.5% more of the population.
The relay sites may be using one fewer channel than before, but the main sites are using two more than before (at full or near-full power). In addition, the government have taken away one-third of the available spectrum in order to reuse it for other services (e.g. mobile phones, wireless broadband). Previously channels 21-68 [48 channels] were used for TV, channels 31-38 are the 'lower released spectrum' or 600 MHz band [8 channels] and channels 61-68 the 'upper released spectrum' or 800 MHz band [8 channels]. That's 16 out of 48 channels no longer used for TV.
The commercial operators were asked at the outset of switchover planning whether they wanted to transmit from any more sites, and they said no. Therefore the frequency plans do not allow space for the COMs to be added later.
C47 (formerly Saltdean C4) has gone to Heathfield, which loses two of its analogue channels in the upper released spectrum. C51 (formerly Saltdean BBC One) has gone to Whitehawk Hill, which lost one analogue channel. C66 is released.
The other issue is feeding the signals to the transmitter. Relay transmitters rebroadcast the signal they receive over-the-air from their parent. It's easiest to do this if they rebroadcast on a different frequency. There are only a very few Active Deflectors, where the same channels are used. The main transmitters are 'line fed' - the data to broadcast arrives via fibre-optic cable. Renting sufficient fibre-optic capacity is very expensive so only done where off-air relay is impossible.
Digital TV does support 'single frequency networks', where multiple transmitters use the same frequency. They have to be very closely synchronized and emit exactly the same signal. Off-air relays *can* be used but again they're very expensive, and they add a processing delay. The window for transmissions arriving from different transmitters is pretty short already.
Even if the COMs decided to add more sites, Saltdean would be way down the list as it is only predicted to serve 1,500 households. That's 1,500 households who are predicted not to be able to get at least one of the PSBs reliably enough from a transmitter that does provide the COMs. Digital UK's prediction is that you are one of these households (the PSBs are shown as meeting the standard from Saltdean, but not from Heathfield, your best source for the COMs).
| link to this comment |
Dave Lindsay: Aldeburgh is one of the most powerful BUT it is not one of the most populous. It's about 54th on the list of sites not served by the COMs, when ordered by population served by the PSBs.
The list of sites and the predicted served population can be found at http://consumers.ofcom.or….pdf . Nitro Pro trial edition converted this to Excel format quite nicely.
The site with the highest number of viewers (excluding Caldbeck Scotland which is really just apportioning Caldbeck's coverage, and Storeton Wales which is a fill-in to give Welsh services to viewers getting a full service from Winter Hill) is Rouncefall - 51,000 predicted households, 4 kW output. It's also SFN with Sudbury for the PSBs already and line-fed, and the frequency use was cleared internationally, so adding the COMs there should not have been too much trouble. However, it would cause problems for D3&4 at Chatham Town and BBC A at Otford, if you believe Brian's coverage map for Rouncefall, and probably more sites in North Kent and east London, given that the interfering area is greater than the area of usable coverage.
| link to this comment |
Linda: I'd check for a broken, loose or disconnected cable, or a dislodged or misaligned aerial. If you're using a communal aerial system provided by the landlord, the power supply to the distribution amplifier may have failed - check with your neighbours.
Right now the BBC channels are broadcasting at 10x the power of the rest. It's quite possible that at only 14km away, the signal strength is high enough for the BBC channels to still be received even without a proper connection to the aerial. It does appear that you still have Mux D though (which carries logical channel numbers 11, 19, 20, 24, 29, 32).
What does the analogue picture look like for the remaining analogues (BBC One, ITV1 [on BBC Two's old channel], C4, C5)? If it's snowy, this points to an aerial problem.
On 18 April, all the other services will increase up to the same power level as the BBC services, but of course it won't then be possible to check against analogue.
Logical channel number 8 is reserved (unused) in England. In Wales it's used for Channel 4 (because S4C replaces C4 at 4) and in Scotland for BBC ALBA.
| link to this comment |
peter T: If you still get BBC Two analogue, you're not getting it from Crystal Palace, or any of the London transmitters. It was switched off last Wednesday. Perhaps you're using Bluebell Hill?
We can't provide any better advice without a full postcode.
| link to this comment |
peter T: Also check that your box is not one that is known to have a problem with the larger Network Information Table used from 2009 - http://www.digitaluk.co.u…tnit .
| link to this comment |
David Kanareck: It may be a shortage of channel memory, where the left-over information from before switchover is not being cleared out, so the new information is only stored in temporary memory rather than permanent.
Others have reported success (on other equipment) by doing a full first-time installation with the aerial unplugged, to clear everything out, then plugging the aerial back in and scanning again. Or, retune with the aerial unplugged, then plug in and manually scan the most important multiplexes first (though a simple lowest-to-highest scan would find the ITV/C4/C5 multiplex first, then the BBC channels). If the TV allows you to delete channels, alternatively try scanning the multiplexes with the most channels first, and deleting the channels you don't want (e.g. start with Mux D on C29 and delete all the shopping and adult channels).
Guides specific to your equipment may be available at TV Re-tune productmanuals .
19PFL isn't specific enough to identify your TV. 19 is simply the screen size (19") and PFL indicates it's a Philips TV. The important numbers and letters are *after* the PFL.
If you're unlucky, you may find it's not compatible with 8K mode, or has a problem with some channels being in 8K mode and some in 2K mode. I even heard of some equipment that had different memory for the two modes and it wouldn't always clear both of them on a normal rescan!
| link to this comment |
michael: According to Silvercrest SL35T - No teletext - Freeview - Digital Spy Forums that box doesn't support MHEG-5, so no interactive content at all.
| link to this comment |
Monday 9 April 2012 2:34PM
A: On any Yagi-type aerial, the dipole is immediately in front of the reflector. On this one it must be contained within the plastic box. The cable always connects to the dipole (perhaps via some other electronics first).
There is a rod on the other side of the boom from that plastic box, but I assume that's an oddly-positioned director - a plain dipole is always split in half, electrically.