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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.


Brian Richardson:

Hmm. I would imagine that just unplugging the aerial for a few seconds and reinserting it, is simply causing the set AGC to change and taking several minutes to settle down again.
Try tweaking the booster/splitter gain down a fraction and see what it does to ALL the figures.

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Brian Richardson:

My interpretation of the tropo predictions at the time was that there might have been a slight cessation early afternoon maybe late morning) but returning during the evening. This does look as though this could be what you've seen BUT also those major improvements in the COM signal strengths suggest the Planned Engineering had something to do with it, and it's probably stopped for the weekend. Unfortunately it looks as though there'll be more next week, but that TBC.

Those latest figures are very good news, lets hope it's not a fluke of the weather.
Now, the other interesting thing is that it may indeed by a wideband aerial with those figures.
However, a significant observation is that the two muxes with the high errors are those with signal 96. So tweaking the gain down a touch may well improve things. It could be a bit of a trader-off between getting the errors down to something acceptable without losing too much signal elsewhere resulting in errors there.

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Details of BBC_Radio_Derby DAB radio station
Sunday 23 January 2022 12:45AM

A Bridges:

Well this is quite odd, Cromford locks like it's in a bit of a pocket of no reception from 3 of the 4 transmitters carrying the Local multiplex that has BBC Radio Derby, but the 4th is very close at Bolehill fractionally E of due S of Cromford about 1 1/2 miles away. The mux is on Block 10B: 211.648 MHz.
Make sure you don't have any thick walls, large metal objects like fridges, freezers etc on the line-of-sight to the transmitter which also has the BBC National mux on Block 12B. Try a south facing window sill. But as StevensOnln1 has said, a full postcode would be needed to check the predicted reception.

BBC Radio Leicestershire is on a Local mux on Block 11B: 218.640 MHz and as StevensOnln1 has implied there are no transmitters with it nearby. Do you get stable constant reception of it, or has it just been there on and off in recent days? If the latter this is likely to be due to current weather conditions creating "Temperature Inversion" where signals from distant transmitters are carried further than normal, due to the particular layers of the atmosphere.

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BBC Three
Sunday 23 January 2022 12:52AM

Mark A:

See also BBC Three launches | Freeview
Because of the LCN the SD version will be placed at in the EPG - LCN23 - the other channels in the range 25-82 have to shift up one. Davejavu moves from 23 to 25.
BBC3 HD will be at LCN109.
A retune will most likely be needed.

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Gill Perry:

This is likely to be due to current weather conditions creating "Temperature Inversion/Tropospheric Ducting" where signals from distant transmitters are carried further than normal, due to the particular layers of the atmosphere. It causes interference to your wanted signals. The problems can last for seconds, minutes ,hours, sometimes even longer. Do NOT retune, you are likely to just lose your correct tuning.
There are currently no reported transmitter faults.
Despite the incorrect spelling, this link does work - it's a very simplistic technical explanation of the sort of thing that goes on.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/rec….jpg

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Bryan Mitchell:

It's simply because LCN51 GREAT! movies classic is carried on Local Multiplexes.

See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplex.

Local multiplexes are only transmitted from a limited number of main transmitters and in most cases the signals are beamed towards the large urban conurbations that they were set up to serve. There is no Local multiplex at Rosemarkie or any other transmitter in the region that you might be able to get some signals from.
Nevertheless Rosemarkie will give you very good reception and is the best one for you.

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https://ukfree.tv/radio/prediction/
Tuesday 25 January 2022 2:59AM

Gary Burns:

Decent commercial DAB coverage in your area is non-existent!
Infuriatingly where I would look at a official map of commercial transmitter locations has disappeared since last week, it's been merged with a dumbed down site where you stick in your postcode to see what you can get.

Really great - NOT - you already know you can only get the main BBC National multiplex on Block 12B: 225.648 MHz - the nearest transmitter being Dumfries South.

As far as I can make out, the nearest transmitter with any commercial stations is at Caldbeck to your SE which has the D1 (Digital One) multiplex on Block 11D: 222.064MHz and also has the North Cumbria Local Commercial mux on Block 11B: 218.640 MHz and signals may get into parts of Dumfries. (The Penrith transmitter further away carries the same).

There's a transmitter at Workington, almost due S of you, and that has the D1 multiplex on Block 11D but I don't think the signals will get to you, but as most of the path is over water, you may be lucky.
There's another one slightly further south at Whitehaven which also has the Local commercial mux on Block 11B
There's no transmitters near that have the SDL (Sound Digital) mux.

Try a South or SouthEast facing Window sill and try manually tuning those blocks if automatic tuning doesn't find them.

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David Strachan:

The BBC have reported a fault the other day - From 9:58:30pm to 10:12:30pm on 22nd Jan 2022 BBC Radio Cymru Off the air due to a fault.
Now whether that's required some subsequent work to finally resolve any problem is not known as the BBC haven't given any more recent information affecting the transmitter and the other stations. BBC Engineering are normally very good with their information.

You should be able to get some good reception of BBC Radio Cymru on 104.3MHz from the Llangollen transmitter to the north of you.

Current weather conditions may also be disrupting reception from time to time.

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Terry Mason:

Without a bit more information such as your full postcode (or one of a very nearby pub or shop) it's difficult to know how much of an obstruction to the signal from Dallington Park this tower block is. Some parts of your area will get a good signal but it's only a 50W transmitter, so an indoor aerial may not do.

If your aerial is pointing at Sutton Coldfield, you may only be getting variable reception from there for some/all multiplexes whereas your area generally will get good signals from Sandy which you could be getting ofF the back of your aerial. You might get Dallington park off a side lobe or even possibly within the beamwidth of your aerial (less likely) as Sutton Coldfield is compass bearing 300 degrees, Sandy Heath bearing 106 degrees, Dallington Park 235 degrees.

I'd guess it's Sandy, because both Sutton & Sandy are horizontally polarised, whereas Dallington Park is vertical, but when you are that close anything is possible! The best way is if you check which UHF channels those Anglia and Look East multiplexes are on. I'll list each transmitter for you, Dallington Park only has PSBs mind.

In the multiplex order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6, COM7
The UHF channels are -
Sutton Coldfield C43, C46, C40, C42, C45, C39, C55
Sandy Heath C27, C24, C21, C33, C36, C48, C55
Dallington Park C23, C26, C30

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Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter
Wednesday 26 January 2022 12:46AM

Pauline McCusker:

That all sounds very confusing! As you suggest there are no current transmitter faults, but current weather conditions can interrupt reception for some depending on location BUT that doesn't sound like the problem because it wouldn't affect your internet.

Can you get normal Freeview reception with the aerial plugged directly into the TV?

If you have no internet is that just the box, or other devices like computers, smart phones on WiFi etc?
If it's only the box and not other devices, it suggests the box is faulty, but those error codes mean nothing except to TalTalk engineers.

If it's all devices on WiFi, do you have eg. a PC connected to the router by Ethernet? If that works OK it's a problem with the WiFi connection. The Router may be faulty.
If there's no internet on anything, the Router could be faulty or your internet connection is faulty. Does your landline work? If the line is crackly or no dial tone, it's the line.

Whatever the fault it sounds like it's still all TalkTalk's problem to resolve.

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