All posts by Mike Dimmick
Below are all of Mike Dimmick's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
pridgeon: Yes, this is because switchover is completing tonight at the Belmont transmitter and its relays. Retune your box after 6am.
If you're using East Midlands services, Waltham is also off-air at the moment as this is its first stage of switchover. Again, retune after 6am.
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timonthenet: In this particular case, BBC A has been allocated ITV1 analogue's old frequency. It was felt that removing the one of the most-watched channels was too much of a shock, so instead, BBC Two closes and ITV1 moves to BBC Two's location for the period between stage one and stage two of switchover.
BBC Two's old frequency couldn't be used because it's being released for 4G phones in the initial batch of frequencies. BBC A will now have to move from C61, as this is being released too, but this was decided too late to get the necessary international co-ordination for high-power transmitters, so it's starting up on a doomed frequency for now. There will be another retune later to sort this out, but we don't yet know when.
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johnny: Switchover is in two stages. This first stage only puts the standard-definition BBC channels in their final configuration. All the other changes happen in two weeks - including the addition of the HD channels.
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Judith: See Digital Region Overlap for ideas on this.
If you have a booster, try removing it.
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phillip wigley: Check that your box is not on the lists of equipment known to have problems at switchover - http://www.digitaluk.co.u…ment and http://www.digitaluk.co.u…tnit . If it's of 2002/3/4 vintage or older, check the manual to ensure that it supports 8K mode as well as 2K. Some older equipment struggles with a mix of 8K and 2K modes as you now have at Waltham - this will remain a problem until the mode change in October.
Another possibility is that the box is detecting enough signal from Belmont to store the channels, but not enough to actually work reliably. See Digital Region Overlap for thoughts on this.
Finally, you may now have too much signal. This causes the signals to be distorted by any amplification, including the automatic gain control built into the TV or box. If you have an amplifier or booster, disconnect it or turn it down. If you don't, or if that doesn't help, you may need to add an attenuator. Both of these will help reduce the level from Belmont as well, making it less likely to be picked up.
The signal level shown on the box's strength meter may still be well under 100% and yet still have too much signal. This can happen for two reasons: either it is just poorly calibrated (many are) or it doesn't properly report the level if it can't decode the signal.
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Roland Johnson: If you're talking about Freeview channels, this transmitter is a 'Freeview Light' transmitter. The commercial multiplex operators, which carry the rest of the channels, refused the option to broadcast from more transmitters after switchover, saying it was too expensive/not cost-effective.
There are ever rumours that they will add some additional transmitters to the 81 sites used before switchover, but it's likely to be high-power sites that can reach many more people. Oakley Mynd is low power and covers only 1,500 homes - and I believe that is the maximum number who could use it, not the number who have to.
Digital UK's predictor unfortunately shows no chance of reliable reception of the other multiplexes from any other transmitter.
To the best of my knowledge, Sky on-demand has never transmitted from any Freeview transmitter. If you're using satellite, you should get the dish alignment checked and ensure that any splitters are passing the control signals from the box up to the dish correctly. Which channels are you missing?
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Paul Mapp: See Digital Region Overlap for thoughts on how to fix this.
The most likely explanation is that the box simply stores the first version of the channels that it finds. It could also be that the new BBC digital signal from Waltham is too loud and therefore gets distorted, making it impossible to decode. If you have a booster, you could try removing or turning it down.
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Mrs Mary Thomson: Yes, that's expected.
BBC Two analogue is now off, permanently.
The high-power BBC digital service has started up, but it was allocated ITV1's analogue frequency, so ITV1 had to move to BBC Two's old location.
Therefore you will find ITV1 analogue on button 2 for the next two weeks.
On the 31st, the remaining analogue channels will be shut down, permanently. The high-power digital multiplexes will replace some of them - all services will move to a different frequency except for SDN, which moved in advance of switchover to get out of the way of transmissions from another site.
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Roy Mitchell: Adding to what jb38 has said about Oxford, the reason that Arqiva A and B are shown as poor is that they use the same channels as transmissions from the Luton transmitter.
It's not totally clear why SDN is also shown with no prediction from mid-2012. It's possible that the predictor includes a hidden retune to C50 - C62 is now to be released for 4G mobiles, but this change happened too late to integrate into the main switchover programme for the main transmitters at this stage. If so, this channel will also clash with Luton.
The predictor's antenna model has quite a wide acceptance angle and not a lot of front-back or cross-polar rejection. You may well find that a real aerial is better and doesn't pick up enough signal from Luton for it to be a problem. Still, it's rather like trying to listen to someone across a crowded room with someone else shouting in your ear.
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Wednesday 17 August 2011 1:21AM
ALIB: Yes, you can. You would need to point your aerial to Tacolneston then retune your box. If it's a roof aerial, getting a professional to move it is recommended.
You may find that reception of multiplex 2, which carries ITV1, is unreliable until switchover in November.
For now, retune your box after 6am, as Belmont completes switchover tonight.
You might also find that once the Kings Lynn transmitter switches over in November, you can tune into that without moving the aerial. However, Tacolneston is expected to be more reliable in the long run.