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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.


Anthony Denyer:

It hasn't gone anywhere, it's still transmitting. When did you lose it?
Are you missing any other channels other than those on COM7?
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplex.

If perchance you retuned when the signal was absent or had bad pixelation, then this would likely just clear the correct tuning. This could have happened if there was Planned Engineering or on occasion recently there's been some variable Tropospheric Ducting with the high pressure which would have periodically caused interference from more distant transmitters.

You might also get interference if you have any HDMI cables close to poorly screened aerial cables or flyleads which aren't double screened types. C55 seems to be especially vulnerable in many cases. Make sure such leads are well separated.

Try a manual tune on UHF C55. COM7 reception in your road is predicted to be more reliable in the higher numbers - from Crystal Palace.
Which way is your aerial pointing? Are the rods (or squashed Xs) horizontal? It should be pointing at a bearing of 136 degrees (SSE). Check it's still pointing the correct way and it and the downlead look undamaged.

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Mike:

Which is presumably why that person chose it as part of their GB"Tripe" posting handle :D

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Peter Jackson:

As I'm sure you appreciated reception of COM7 (indeed any multiplex, but especially COM7 and Local ones) is dependant on location. Your general area shouldn't have any real problems with reception from Mendip but you of course also have very strong reception from Wenvoe. Apart from "Tropospheric Ducting" of which there has been some very variable and very strong on odd occasions recently, Planned Engineering can also have an effect.
The next nearest transmitter with COM7 is probably Ridge Hill, and ducting might have some effect on occasion.

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David Warner:

I don't know which list you looked at to give you the impression that LCN77 was on COM7, the Freeview page shows it on the SDN multiplex, the programme (TCC) on that multiplex is on UHF C25 at Crystal Palace (as also listed above).
Like several channels on some of the COM muxes, according to my data source, this one timeshares with LCN80 Blaze+1 at 0200 for an hour (despite what the EPG says!) it's stated on the caption on its page and then with LCN63 Blaze at 0500 through to 0200. Don't ask me why Blaze does it that way, I don't know!

I'm sorry you still have problems with COM7 in the summer due to those trees in your line-of-site.
It's not simply a case of Arqiva investing in a "proper" multiplex, don't forget that we are limited by International and European agreements on the frequencies and power that can be used, but in any event, I'm certain that BBC4 HD, BBC News HD, PBS America & others would not be prepared to pay for another multiplex.
As I'm sure you recall, we had COM8 which closed because it became uneconomic, due to uncertainty in 2020 about advertising revenue for the other channels and the duration of the OFCOM Licence. The licence for the temporary multiplexes COMs 7&8 says they'd close by June 2022 at the latest, or on 3 months notice to use these frequencies for SDL usage by whichever MNO bought the frequencies in the 700MHz auction. As recently announced that's EE, so we await to see how long it will be before they have suitable cell equipment ready to use.

As you may recall from your previous posts, not all data on these web-pages has been updated with the 700MHz Clearance changes, here it's the Local mux which is now on C35 (not 29).

A reminder for all, in the multiplex order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6, COM7, Local multiplex, the UHF channels for Crystal Palace are as follows
C23, C26, C30, C25, C22, C28, C55, C35 (London Local mux).

In case your signals aren't the strongest, it's worth trying a manual tune (if your device allows it) on C55 &/or C35. Autotune sometimes misses weaker signals.

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David C Warner:

If they were to close COM7 now, we'd just lose those channels. IF as speculation thinks, they convert one (at least) of the existing multiplexes to T2, it will take time for that to be done around the country BUT that may not happen, as you know there is a move towards more streaming stuff and suggestions are that we'll be linked to a stream for channels we can't get over air, whether that be due to faults, engineering or whatever, we'll have to wait and see. There have been no announcements either way.

I'm waiting to see what happens on Freeview (if anything) for the extra Red Button channels for Wimbledon that have appeared on Satellite. Rumours were they'd also be added to Freeview but there is no space unless they are just links to streaming (or they reopen COM8 for the duration, ha ha!), whatever no announcements yet, I've also been checking muxes to see if anything appears.

Arqiva are a commercial organisation (like any business) and have to be able to pay staff and the bills etc. so they have to have broadcasters willing to pay for space on the multiplexes, and maybe also will to pay any additional costs (if any) for T2! All channels/broadcasters also have to have a licence from OFCOM and are regulated by them.

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Map of all DAB transmitters
Tuesday 22 June 2021 3:50PM

Harvey MONTE:

There are a number of transmitters that you should be able to receive and you should have good reception of all available multiplexes with a DAB+ radio. If you don't have DAB+, just plain DAB, it will reduce the number of stations you can get but you'll still get all the main BBC stations and a number of commercial ones.

The nearest is at Maitland House South but this is only just one of the Local Commercial multiplexes that carries BBC Essex, Block 12D: 229.072 MHz
Then there are main transmitters at Bluebell Hill with the Local London 2 multiplex Block 12A: 223.936 MHz, the Local Kent multiplex Block 11C: 220.352 MHz (also on the Wrotham main transmitter and the Benfleet Relay), and both main transmitters with the main BBC multiplex Block 12B: 225.648 MHz.

Wrotham also has the commercial multiplexes D1 Block 11D: 222.064MHz, SDL Block 11A: 216.928 MHz, and the 3 London mu;ltiplexes - London 1 Block 12C: 227.360 MHz, London 2 Block 12A: 223.936 MHz, & London 3 Block 11B: 218.640 MHz.

Danbury also has those commercial multiplexes D1 & SDL, and the BBC main multiplex.
There are main transmitters further away such as Alexandra Palace and Crystal Palace which will have those main multiplexes as well as some of the other London multiplexes. HTH.

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Mr MP Lofthouse:

Depending on where you are in Blandford, there are 3 transmitters that you could normally receive and reception will be different from each. If you believe you get your signals from Rowridge, check in your TV Tuning section that you are correctly tuned to the Rowridge UHF channels that I listed in the post just before yours.

Which way is your aerial pointing? Are the Rods (or squashed Xs) horizontal or vertical? It should be pointing somewhere around bearing 110 degrees (~ESE) for Rowridge. Do you get Meridian or West Local news?

A full postcode will enable us to check predicted reception. I can't find any faults listed by the BBC or Freeview for any of the transmitters that you should be normally able to receive, nor are any of them listed for Planned Engineering.

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Detailed comparison Freeview/Sky
Tuesday 22 June 2021 10:18PM

Charles Stuart:

I have sometimes found the information from LG to be inaccurate. Which model LG is it?
I have a 2016 43" UH668V. It has Freeview Play, and Britbox is available from the content store.

It's not LG not supporting Discovery+, the media service doesn't offer a native app for WebOS but see
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If you have a smartphone you shouldn't have to buy anything. I'm going to try it myself in a few minutes (I signed up for an account ages ago but not used it).

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Detailed comparison Freeview/Sky
Wednesday 23 June 2021 3:29AM

Charles Stuart:

Chromecast isn't of course built-in and as with previous tries with my Android phone, getting any casting to work satisfactorily with the TV was very hit and miss. A lot of the casting apps just seem to go round in circles advertising another one, there's a knack to using them, but some don't like the TV or visa versa.
As previously, I had better success using a screen mirroring app.
One of the other reasons I found the screen mirroring app(s) better is the casting apps don't seem to allow rotation of the picture to display in the correct orientation depending on the source.

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Nicholas Anderson:

The woke press are slinging as much mud as they can, when they can, they must be worried :D

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