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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.

C
Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
Thursday 16 July 2020 2:47PM

Peter Wickes:

An update on your problem - the BBC have this posted on their website Problems with Freeview reception? | Help receiving TV and radio

"Latest Freeview works and warnings
Television problems at the Winter Hill transmitter in the North West - 15th July

There was planned engineering work overnight to power test antennas at Winter Hill. Unfortunately this overran, resulting in reception issues to some BBC services.

Work will continue throughout the day to restore services as quickly as possible. You do not need to take any action or retune."


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The Whitehawk Hill transmitter was down because it was listed for Planned Engineering with "Possible service interruptions". Some people really need to check their facts before publishing misleading garbage.

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Shauna smyth:

You can't delete your post I'm afraid, and there's not a lot of point anyway, this is a free technical help site not a forum. Whilst you could contact broadcasters or Freeview themselves, you are unlikely to get any different advise except to contact a local dealer or aerial installer.
If your signals haven't returned and you've made the checks I suggested, check with a near neighbour to see if they have a problem. If not, it's an issue with your installation or set. There are no transmitter problems that've been reported by the BBC or Freeview that I can find having checked again.

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C
Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
Saturday 18 July 2020 1:33PM

Further to my post on Thursday, 16 July 2020, a corrected Clearance document for the Granada region has been issued on the 16th July (the previous was the 15th July) https://www.freeview.co.u….pdf
Ladder Hill has been added to the Granada relays which we spotted missing here back on Sunday, 12 January 2020 (p189)

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As mentioned in my post on Sunday, 12 January 2020, Ladder Hill was missing from Clearance documents. A corrected document has at last been issued https://www.freeview.co.u….pdf

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C
Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
Saturday 18 July 2020 3:24PM

Dave Mann:

One possibility was that the Winter Hill transmitter has been undergoing Planned Engineering off and on for several weeks so there's the possibility you may have retuned when the COM6 multiplex on C37 was on reduced power, but as you've tried a retune since that's least likely.
You've mentioned that your aerial is "pre-digital" - not that the aerial receives digital signals any differently from the old analogue ones, they are all RF (Radio Frequency). The difference is possibly that older aerial may be "Grouped". Winter Hill originally was Group C/D where all the channels are at the top of the UHF band. Changes as part of the 700MHz clearance programme mean they are being moved to lower UHF channels. (Most will be in Group A - more on this in a moment).

COM6 moved to C37 in March 2018 at the same time COM8 (now closed) had moved from C37 to C31, and COM7 moved from C31 to C55. I wonder did you ever get COMs 7 or 8 when they were on C31 and C37?
(COMs 7&8 are temporary HD multiplexes for which you need a set with an HD/T2 tuner).

In Oct.2019 the local multiplexes move dfrom C56, the Manchester one to C24, did you previously get it, and do you get it now?
For which channels are on which multiplexes see https://www.freeview.co.u…ngs.

Now in Feb.2020 COM8 moved to C56 so you should have been able to get them both on C55 & C56. But COM8 closed in June for commercial reasons. You shouldn't have any problems getting any of the multiplexes at your location according to the Freeview detailed Coverage Checker. But also in February the main BBC multiplex moved to C32, the TV programmes remaining in the LCNs 1,2, etc in the EPG, but the multiplex continued a simulcast on its previous C50 but with the TV programmes in LCNs 751 et seq.
Now, are you getting the BBC channels BBC1, BBC2 etc on LCN's 1,2, etc.? (and the old multiplex at LCN751 et seq.)?

Older Group C/D aerials will still pick up some signals on "out of band/group" channels lower down in the UHF band (but not often the other way about) but they may be too weak for a given TV receiver to decode.
Even if you are getting the BBC channels on C32 they may not be as reliable as they should be depending on your aerial, and reception of the lower channels will be very variable so C37 may be less reliably received if it's a C/D group aerial. If you can see the ends of the aerial (maybe use binoculars or a telescope) if it has a Green plastic plug in the ends then it's a C/D group. If you happen to know that it's a Wideband aerial (which receives all Groups) the this isn't the issue and we need to look for other reasons, but we can probably check more if the right information is in your TV's tuning sections.

In your TVs tuning sections, there should be an indication of signal strength and signal quality for each multiplex on its respective UHF channel.
One each set, first have a look at C32 for the PSB1/BBCA multiplex and note down the figures. Then look at PSB2/D3&4 at C59 and note the figures. Then have a look at COM5/ArqA on C49 and note the figures.

If you can post those figures and the answers to the questions about previous reception and the aerial, then we should know what is going on and what to do next. If it ends up that you have an old C/D aerial, free help is available.

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Rab:

You should now have your FM signals back. The BBC have reported a fault - From 2:17am to 11:29am on 18th Jul 2020 BBC Radio 2 Off the air due to a fault.

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C
DMAX | free and easy
Sunday 19 July 2020 12:01AM

Mb:

DMAX is on the ArqB/COM6 multiplex. I don't remember when there was a Dave+1, but there's not one on Freeview at this time.
For which channels are on which multiplex see Channel listings | Freeview

If you can get and still get the other channels on COM6/ArqB then try a retune as follows - unplug the aerial and carry out an automatic retune which should clear memory of all previous tuning as no channels will be found. Plug the aerial back in and repeat the retune which will hopefully restore all channels.
Otherwise, without a full post code we can't advise what the predicted reception is likely to be at your location.

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C
(45/1426471801)
Sunday 19 July 2020 12:57AM

Stephen Gale:

I'd be surprised if Sandra reads your reply, as her post was over 2 years ago! Unfortunately 95.5 is shared with some other stations, so if you aren't in the "official" service area for BBC Somerset on FM you may get interference.
If you are in range of a DAB transmitter carrying the Somerset mux it's Block 10B: 211.648 MHz.
On Freeview it's LCN722 from Mendip and its relays and other transmitters carrying BBC1 West, also transmitters in Devon & Cornwall.
If you have internet access, yes you can use an internet radio, or no doubt devices like Alexa etc, but you can just listen on-line with a browser at Somerset - Listen Live - BBC Sounds

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C
DMAX | free and easy
Sunday 19 July 2020 4:52PM

StevensOnln1:

Thank you for reminding me, it was starting to get a bit late and a glass of wine too much I guess ;)

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