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All posts by Chris.SE

Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.


TONY FLETCHER:

Good news. Well done, thanks for feedback.

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David Klaus:

Thanks for that. Unfortunately the site owner hasn't had time to do all the updates resulting from the 700MHz Clearance program.

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Ken Newman:

BBC website still not showing a report of current or recent faults! Freeview not reporting any current faults either.
If you still have problems, report it to the BBC on 03700-100-123

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Robin Briere-Edney:

The predicted transmitter for your postcode is the Tunbridge Wells transmitter which you should have no problems receiving (the strength of the transmitter isn't directly relevant, as predicted reception is excellent) There is a lot of Planned Engineering in the Meridian region this week, but Tunbridge Wells is not listed as one that's included, however .......
I'd try another retune later in the day, a manual one may be best, UHF C41 for the main BBCA multiplex and C47 for the BBCB HD multiplex.
If you still have problems report it to the BBC on 03700-100-123.

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C
Findon (West Sussex, England) DAB transmitter
Wednesday 11 March 2020 12:22AM

Hi again John,

All those stations are on the Brighton Trial Multiplex, block 9A, 202.928 MHz, currently licenced until March 2020. I assume you've got similar problems with other stations on the mux, eg. Radio Caroline, Classical 1, etc.
The Mast is located at Sussex Heights, so it should give reasonable coverage, if you aren't too far from it you shouldn't have a problem, but I'd say it's probably only receivable towards the eastern end of the BN11 postcodes. As with all commercial DAB transmitters I can't seem to locate anywhere that lists current or recent faults!

As for the licence situation, all I can find at this time from Ofcom is "we will shortly begin licensing new local digital radio stations that will use cutting-edge small-scale DAB' technology, pioneered by an Ofcom engineer. We expect to invite applications in 2020."
There's nothing I can find about any invitation as of yet!

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C
Notts TV
Wednesday 11 March 2020 3:42PM

steve skinner:

According to the 700MHz clearance document covering Waltham Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free sites/default/files/2019-11/2020_Central_Date_Release.pdf,">https://www.freeview.co.u…pdf, the Local multiplex moved UHF channel from C26 to C41, you could try a manual retune on C41 but do check that the programmes haven't been pushed into the 800s LCNs in your EPG - if so you'll need to delete them - easiest way is usually to unplug the aerial, carry out a full retune which should clear all previous tuning as no channels found, plug the aerial back in and repeat the full retune.

However, the power was also reduced to 2kW from 5kW, now it might be assumed that this would be because there'd be less co-channel interference on the new channel, BUT no so in many districts around Grantham (not the central area) Emley Moor can be received which also uses C41 (IMHO moving the local mux to C41 was a stupid idea, there must have been a clearer channel?). Because of this, even with your close proximity to Waltham (about 8km away) you may be unlucky, it's going to depend on your precise location and aerial alignment and polar response could be critical.

Have a look in your TV's tuning section for details of the signal strength and quality on C41. If you have lots of signal (maybe even 100%) but low or 0% quality, there's just too much interference.
You could put your details into the Freeview coverage checker Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free scroll down and select Detailed view and see what's predicted for your location.
If in fact you are getting too much interference, you could try complaining to Freeview on 0808-100-0288 try option 3. You'll no doubt get a "bad luck" type response but try persisting and state you want the matter escalated as to why C41 used by Emley Moor was picked and not another clearer channel. Good luck.
Post back with an update, we'd be interested to hear.

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C
Findon (West Sussex, England) DAB transmitter
Wednesday 11 March 2020 11:57PM
Worthing

I'd guess the only sensible place to complain might be Ofcom as there appears to be no or little information on who else to complain to in such circumstances other than maybe the individual broadcasters concerned who should know who to contact to get any transmitter fault fixed!

The fact that you've seen an increase in signal maybe down to Ofcom allowing some power increases in some cases, I remember seeing something mentioning that sort of thing on the Ofcom site, but TBH I have not searched their site for much DAB info, most of the time I find the site difficult to search for the current & right information. There may well be say a big spread sheet listing all DAB transmitters sub-divided by region as there is for DTV but even if there is I'd not be too sure it's fully up-to-date as I know the DTV one does not contain some of the last minute changes added to the 700MHz clearance in recent times.

AFAIK incorporating the DAB data onto this site is a manual task, as is the 700MHz clearance channel listings. A task I would not relish and I'm not surprised the site owner hasn't had time to make all the changes!

There's only one site that I know of that contains a lot of comprehensive information and it's perhaps suited to those with a bit of tech understanding, have a look at DAB Ensembles Worldwide | Latest News & Updates

One place to see the location of transmitters for BBC stations is the BBC's Advice about receiving TV and radio | RTIS
Select DAB and put in some suitable postcodes and housename/numbers, but it only includes the muxes with BBC stations.

There are two other sites of some use, https://getdigitalradio.com/ & ukdigitalradio: Home
You need to put in a postcode. Eg. using BN11 2BQ (one of the more easterly ones) you get a list of stations with good reception which are the main BBC and Commercial ones, after which there's a list with "fair" reception which in this case is those broadcast from Sussex Heights.
The latter site allows you to select "Current transmitters" and then a region, you get a map, but it is only the National commercial stations.
IMHO I think both those latter sites are bad for anyone with visual impairments, they are difficult to read when you had good eyesight!

See how you get on with that lot!.


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M Neale :

For details of the changes at Waltham see Waltham (Leicestershire, England) Full Freeview transmitter | free and easy

I'm surprised that if your are having trouble with the ITV channels etc on the D3&4 multiplex on UHF C34, that you aren't having similar problems with the BBC channels on C32.

In any event, all the main multiplexes (excl. COMs 7&8) have moved from aerial Group C/D to Aerial Group K, although you need a Group T/Wideband to include COMs 7&8.

So if you have an old Group C/D aerial you are likely to have trouble with these lower UHF channels. There is free help available, ring Freeview on 0808-100-0288. If you don't have Cable or Satellite (& are not renting from a landlord), they can arrange for a free replacement aerial.

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All:

Bilsdale retune 12th March.
This was only added to the changes last month. It's only a simple change where the PSB1/BBCA & PSB3/BBCB HD multiplexes are swapping UHF channel.
PSB1 moves from C21 to C27, and PSB3 moves from C27 to C21.
As it's a simple change I would imagine that the transmitter will not be off-air for very long, just after midnight.

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C
Notts TV
Thursday 12 March 2020 5:00PM

steve skinner:

Thanks for the update, I'm surprised you have no signal at all on C41. I would have expected some, but with 0% quality. At least you can get it on Freesat then, that's something (until it snows of course!).

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