All posts by Mike Dimmick
Below are all of Mike Dimmick's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Mark: If you mean the building contains 8 other such flats, and you share the aerial, the communal aerial system may need adjusting. See PARAS - Professional Aerial Riggers Against The Sharks for thoughts on who to contact.
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alec arblaster: Emley Moor's post-switchover, full-power HD service starts up on C41 on Wednesday 21st September, replacing (directly) Channel 4 analogue and (effectively) the low-power HD service currently on C39.
Sheffield's ArqB then moves from C63 to C39 on Tuesday 27 September, 6 days later.
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jen: Multiplex C and D - after switchover we usually call them ArqA and ArqB - are still on relatively low power from Belmont. If you didn't have digital before switchover you might still have a Group A aerial, and these multiplexes are on much higher frequencies that the aerial doesn't pick up. You really need a wideband for all services.
I'm surprised anything is missing from Multiplex A/SDN, usually you get all of a multiplex or none of it. Do the channels appear anywhere else in the list, maybe around 800? If so, your box might have trouble with the size of the Network Information Table. A list of some boxes known to have trouble is at http://www.digitaluk.co.u…tnit .
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Mark: If you had reliable digital TV before switchover, try adding an attenuator. However, it could be that the signals reaching whatever amplifiers are between the aerial and your TV are too high for those amplifiers to handle without adding significant distortion.
Feedback into the system from other boxes is very unlikely to affect the system that much. It used to be a bigger problem in the early days of TV, but I don't think there is one now.
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Briantist: "ArqB subject to reactive power reduction of 87kW IF REQUIRED" is the wording in the Table of Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting Stations for Multiplex Licences (quoting version 4, my emphasis). There's no mention of it in Digital UK's Almanac nor any post-switchover events, so I'm assuming it isn't required.
There's a possible interaction with Pontop Pike Mux 1. Over Norton BBC Two will have shut down by then. Hemel Hempstead Mux 1 moves from C48 to C56 on the 14th to allow Sandy Heath ArqB to take C48 (in turn allowing Sandy ArqA to park on ArqB's current channel to clear C40 for Sutton Coldfield BBC B - phew!)
Oxford Mux C is currently on C48 but will move to Mux 1's current channel, C34, at DSO 1 on the 14th, which removes another potential interaction - though it's more likely that this is for Sandy Heath than for Emley Moor!
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Geoff Hawkins: For the two weeks between DSO stage 1 and 2, the BBC radio stations - and also BBC Four, CBeebies, and BBC Parliament - are broadcast on both their new home on BBC A (C43) and on their old location on Mux B (C51).
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Mendip and some of its relays have a retune on 28 September as well.
Note that Mendip ArqA will now move to C67, not its final channel, and that final channel is now 'TBC'. Source: http://www.digitaluk.co.u….pdf
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Monika Ina: you'd really have to check with the system installer. I would expect that they've used wall-plates intended to pass through signals from one box to another, but have actually *installed* two independent connections on the one wall-plate. Satellite recorders require two independent connections to the distribution equipment.
To avoid damage to anything you *must* switch off the boxes at the wall when you reconnect. The box has to send some power back up the cable to power a normal dish, and to tell the dish which receiving element to select, and whether to select low or high frequencies. (For communal equipment, the dish sends all four possibilities to the master switch, which interprets the signals from the box.) The sparking is probably the power your box is sending.
The hum is likely due to the SCART connection from the box to the TV. SCARTs can easily get slightly disconnected - make sure it is fully pushed home at both sides of the plug. If it persists, try a different SCART cable. It's possible that it's a ground loop - try plugging the TV and box into the same extension lead.
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L Bennett: See Will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .
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Sunday 11 September 2011 12:07PM
KMJ,Derby: The Digital UK Almanac is showing a change that is not yet in the postcode checker. ArqA will now be moving to C67 (taking over from ArqB) on 28 September. The final channel adopted on 28 March 2012 is now shown as 'TBC'.
http://www.digitaluk.co.u….pdf
This document was republished only a day after its initial release, which did show the same information as the postcode checker.
I assume this is to do with the 800MHz clearance, making space for BBC A to move to a different channel.