menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Archive (2002-)

 

 

Click to see updates

All posts by Chris.SE

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


Stephen Hopps:

This could be very much a case of suck it and see. A conversation with a local aerial contractor who knows your location well might be a good idea. The height of your aerial may also be critical. Depending on your local geography a shift along a road of a few 10's of metres can also make a difference!
You are supposedly easily within the coverage area for Sandy Heath and have line-of-sight to the transmitter, as indeed you do to the other transmitters EXCEPT Tacolneston despite the predicted coverage. There is a small hill in the sight path about 17km away.

It may depend on how much you use COMs 7&8, how unreliable the signal may be and which local news you want. Bear in mind that (at present) COMs 7&8 are due to close down at some point by 2022 by which time we are all expecting some of the other existing muxes will change to HD and so what is carried on them may well change as well.

One point that isn't clear is when you actually lost reception of COMs 7&8. If it's only recently, it may have been down to the recent high pressure weather system causing interference from other transmitters and at the end of the day if reception of them isn't too unreliable then it might be better to stick with what you have as you need to consider reliability of reception of the other muxes. Whilst predicted reception is a good guide it is not always absolute! Let us know how you get on.

link to this comment

GeordieLad:

Maybe you aren't quite long enough in the tooth :) In my post immediately prior to your last, I gave you the link where you can get the information about Sandy Heath (& other transmitters that give some "maybe receivable" signal in your location!) Exploring that "official site" will give a wealth of other information.
StevensOnln1 has now provided the general link as well as the listing page.
It is still worth checking connections by removing aerial plugs from sockets etc and plugging them in again. A slight bit of oxidation on a connection can sometimes cause issues and sometimes only affect some frequencies.
Posting on the Sandy Heath page on this site Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) Full Freeview transmitter | free and easy in future may also give you some information that "might" be useful but some of the page information is not up to date. The DigitalUK site is the definitive source.

Considering some of the issues you've mentioned in previous posts I suggest you do a complete retune as follows - remove the aerial plug from the TV (or box to retune) and do a full automatic retune which should clear the memory of any existing information/data. Reconnect the aerial (& remember to ensure any series boxes with RF pass-through are turned on) then do a manual tune of each of the UHF channels listed for Sandy Heath.

HTH.

link to this comment
GB flag
C
Full technical details of Freeview
Wednesday 22 May 2019 6:41AM

D. A. Brown:

I know this reply is somewhat "late" but might still be useful.
Did you mean lose COMs 7&8 from the Humax PVR or from a TV set it's plugged into?

If the latter then maybe it's because the PVR has an RF pass-through that powers down in standby and because those COMs maybe transmitted at lower power than the others, there's not quite enough breakthrough of their signal whereas the others are strong enough for your set still to function OK.

If it's the PVR itself then maybe a full retune may help, first retune automatically with the aerial unplugged to clear all existing stored data, then do a manual tune for each UHF channel used by your transmitter.

link to this comment
GB flag

StevensOnln1:

Typo there ;) The retune dates are 5th June & 19th June.

link to this comment
GB flag

Barry Hardwick:

As MikeP says check/refit all your connections - a bit of oxidation on them can affect performance. After, if all your signal levels on each mux is what you normally get, I wouldn't worry too much unless it's happening on a regular basis and there is a clear pattern to when it's occurring.

Sometimes there are brief unexpected interruptions to signals which could be down to something local rather than at the transmitter, also important to distinguish between loss of the transmitted signal (no carrier) and just loss of the data feed to the multiplexes. With the former your set will normally tell you there is no signal.

link to this comment
GB flag

ALL:

Please read various previous posts from p186 onwards from myself, MikeP, StevensOnln1 and some others which explain about the retune events, some of the bugs/errors on this site and give links to DigitalUK and Freeview pages where you can get the correct up-to-date & forthcoming change information. There's also explanation on how to do a reset/retune (as there is elsewhere on this site) to ensure your system(s) is cleared of any out of date tuning information which can "confuse" some equipment and get the correct multiplexes from Mendip.

Some of you MAY require a new T-band/Wideband aerial where your old aerial doesn't provide an adequate signal for some of the new UHF channel allocations for the multiplexes. Links to the Freeview site give pages where you can get help and may qualify for a free aerial upgrade if you don't have cable and/or satellite.

For anyone on a communal aerial where others are having an identical problem not receiving some multiplexes, as already mentioned you will need to contact the manager of your complex for the distribution system and/or aerial to be checked/upgraded.

For anyone still having problems after following the previous links and advice, please post details of your problem and state which steps/advice you have already followed from previous posts and what happened.

link to this comment
GB flag

Phil:

If you are receiving PSB1 on UHF32 then you aren't receiving the Hutton Relay as it doesn't/& won't be using UHF32. You must be picking up a weak signal from Mendip. I'd suggest you do a Reset & then a manual tune for the Hutton UHF channels (59,50,55) and as already pointed out noting that they change on the 19th to 21,24 & 27.

link to this comment
GB flag

js:

You've never commented on whether you had any success contacting Arqiva directly as I suggested about this issue.

link to this comment
GB flag

Terry Wootten:

You should be getting perfect reception from Sudbury at your location. I'd advise first check all your aerial/cable connections - unplug coax plugs/sockets, check and reconnect. Make sure that the aerial doesn't appear to have moved in any recent wind. Then do a Reset/retune with the aerial unplugged to clear all existing tuning and then reconnect the aerial and retune again.

link to this comment
GB flag

Tracy:

I think MikeP may have got a little mixed up with his reception from Sandy Heath vs Sudbury. Predicted coverage from the other possible transmitter (Sandy Heath) is marginal for all muxes except COMs 7&8 for which there is no predicted coverage. COMs 7&8 are not transmitted from Sudbury though.

The predicted coverage of the 6 main muxes from Sudbury is Good, but SDN/Com4 & ArqA/COM5 the two muxes carrying the channels you mention are not as good as the others.
I would check all your coax connections again and that the aerial hasn't moved then reset/retune in the manner as mentioned in my reply to Terry Wootten immediately before your post but check you are tuned to the correct UHF channels for the Sudbury muxes ie. - 44, 41, 47, 29, 31, 37. If your reception difficulties have been since the last retune event, then it's possible you may not have an adequate/correct aerial for which help may be available as mentioned by MikeP.

link to this comment
GB flag