All posts by Mike Dimmick
Below are all of Mike Dimmick's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
simon: It looks like you should have a practical certainty of reliable reception. The Keighley transmitter should be your best bet.
The Sharp is a very new box and should conform to D-Book 6, tuning the best quality signal. Still, it may be worth checking to see if there is an option to automatically retune, and turn that option off - it's possible the box is trying to switch to the weaker off-beam signal from Oxenhope.
You could confirm this by checking that the UHF channel is still shown as C61 after the picture is lost.
You're so close to Keighley that you could have too much signal. If you have a booster, try removing it. You might even need an attenuator.
Otherwise, try contacting Sharp support at Sharp United Kingdom - Sharp
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russ: So far only the multiplex containing the BBC SD channels is on its final channel and power level. The other multiplexes will change to their final channels, modes and power levels on 21 September.
The post-switchover power levels are 20x pre-switchover levels, but more to the point are calculated to give equivalent, or slightly better, coverage compared to analogue. (Exception: SDN is 10x Mux A's pre-switchover power - it used to carry a PSB channel, Channel 5, but this moved to Mux 2/D3&4 a couple of years ago.).
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jean: HD services from the Fenton transmitter start on 21 September.
The Sutton Coldfield coverage area already has a 'temporary' HD service but this is on low power and restricted coverage (and is actually from Lichfield). The high-power, permanent, service also starts on 21 September, this time from Sutton Coldfield.
The Freeview HD predictor shows a start date at your postcode of 2 November 2009 because the Digital UK predictor reckons you are covered by the Winter Hill transmitter, which switched over on that date. You might also get a reliable service from The Wrekin.
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debs: If using a set-top aerial worked when the roof-top aerial didn't, you have too much signal. Remove any boosters that you might have, and possibly add an attenuator. You *will* get best results from a roof-top aerial as long as the levels aren't overloading any equipment!
All transmissions from Emley Moor have always been within the original analogue aerial group, except for Mux D, although many Group B aerials will still work reasonably well up at C55, and you're close enough for it not to matter. A wideband isn't necessary after switchover completes on the 21st, as everything then will be within Group B.
Some older boxes did store the channel line-up in volatile memory - which requires power to maintain the contents - but most store it in Flash memory, which doesn't require any power. It's possible some might have used battery-backed memory and the battery is no longer any good. Without a full model number it's impossible to know. It may be easiest to just replace the box.
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D.Daly: This appears to be an Argos own-brand TV. Argos don't seem to offer any post-sales support. Check the manual, and look for a 'Full Retune', 'Full Reset', 'Default Setting' or 'First-Time Installation' option.
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JH: Do check that your box is actually tuning in Sutton Coldfield and not something else. Signals from The Wrekin/Bromsgrove/Lark Stoke might be strong enough to be stored - they are on lower frequencies and many boxes, particularly older models, just store the first version they find. You might find a working version somewhere else in the channel list - perhaps around 800.
There's a possibility that the box might even try to store Kinver BBC A, though that is on C48, so it's less likely. The aerial is actually pointing north-east to Sutton Coldfield, and with the elements going side-to-side?
Also check whether your box is known to have a problem with a larger Network Information Table: http://www.digitaluk.co.u…tnit
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John J: Looking back across your old posts I think you may have gone overboard on the aerial, and something's overloading. If you have a booster, take it out. Try adding an attenuator.
If this *is* your problem it's about to get a whole lot worse, starting with Wednesday's power-up of the BBC multiplex.
Do also check that your box hasn't selected Sandy Heath on C31 rather than Oxford C51. Some boxes have an automatic overnight retune feature that happily overwrites a careful manual tuning of the correct channels!
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Briantist: Monday morning press release from Digital UK, Tyne Tees will switch over on 12 and 26 September 2012 - all three transmitters, Bilsdale, Chatton and Pontop Pike, on the same dates.
http://www.digitaluk.co.u….pdf
Digital UK - Tyne Tees TV region
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Richard Baguley: The power level is the same as before the 17th of August, but it is on a higher frequency than before. Signals do propogate less well at higher frequencies; though aerials generally have higher gain at the top end than at the bottom, the peak for a Group C/D or wideband is usually around C64-66, with C68 being a bit lower. Losses in cable are greater at higher frequencies than lower ones.
A number of Tacolneston viewers have found that some other equipment - such as a Sky box - had an RF output tuned to C66, C67 or C68, which interferes with the new location for Mux B or C.
As Brian says, this is likely to be resolved at the second stage of switchover. Note that you may need a wideband aerial to continue receiving all the commercial multiplexes from Tacolneston - the opposite problem, they will then be on much *lower* frequencies, which a Group C/D aerial isn't designed to pick up.
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Sunday 11 September 2011 10:37PM
Will: At Sandy Heath, ArqB's final channel allocation is C48 - sorry if that wasn't clear. ArqA's final allocation is C52, which can't be used until after Tacolneston Channel 5 shuts down on 23 November. C40 was the pre-switchover channel for Mux C, which could continue to be used until Sutton Coldfield DSO. The issue isn't really that Sandy Heath would interfere too much with Sutton Coldfield, but that SC would interfere with Sandy Heath.
Sandy Heath has been a nightmare, there will be a total of six retunes - the two DSO stages and four post-DSO retunes. It's an issue of geography and of coverage overlaps.
Sources of channel information: Television Transmitter Frequencies for analogue and low-power DTT, Ofcom | Digital Switchover Transmitter Details for final DSO channels, Ofcom | Supplementary licence documents in relation to DSO for interim updates from Ofcom. However, Ofcom seem to be following what the broadcasters decide (particularly Arqiva) rather than leading, and more up-to-date information is often available in Digital UK's Almanac
Transmitter Network - Digital UK Almanac and postcode checker Postcode Checker - Trade View . All these sources have inaccuracies and you have to use a bit of common sense to figure out what the true picture really is.