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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.


Martin Wells:

Whilst what MikeP says is a possibility, I think it unlikely even though you are indeed only about 12km from the Oxford transmitter with clear line-of-sight and had perfect reception for the last 18 months. There have been no recent changes at the transmitter, the power hasn't suddenly increased and I can find no trace of any reported faults or Planned Engineering.

Do you have more than one set? Do you have the same problem with all, if more than one?
I suggest you check all you coax plugs, connections, flyleads etc, unplug connectors check for corrosion or other problems and reconnect them. See what signal strengths and quality you are getting for all the multiplexes shown in your TV's tuning section, this might indicate whether there's a problem with your aerial or downlead. Also check that your downlead looks undamaged as best you can, and that your aerial seems intact and pointing in the correct direction (almost due S).

Problematic connections, water ingress etc. can seem to affect reception of just an individual, several or all multiplexes.

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Alan Gardiner:

That sounds like an unfortunate glitch as I can find no reported faults or Planned Engineering at the Bristol_Montpelier transmitter. If you have a similar event again, I'd suggest you unplug your aerial, do an automatic retune which will clear the set of any existing tuning, plug the aerial back in and repeat the automatic tune which should restore all your channels. Hopefully that will clear any glitches that might have been down to your set.

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Patricia Wilson:

No-one on this site is responsible for the transmitters, it's an independent help site. Without a full postcode we can't offer any real advice other than basic checks and with recent changes to DigitalUK & Freeview sites that task looks as though it will be more difficult.

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ANON:

You could try looking at a number of individual posts on the various transmitter pages on this site. There are a number of regular contributors and you can see their posts and the information displayed.

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Dag Smith:

I'm not sure that you've clearly understood the replies to your previous posts - for a start, they are not automated!
Secondly, this site and it's regular contributors are NOT responsible for the transmitters, broadcasters or any changes. It's an independent help site.
To answer your query, you need to refer to the official Freeview site page Planned engineering works | Freeview where you will find there is no Planned Engineering work at the Malvern Transmitter.
For specific queries about BBC services, see Advice about receiving TV and radio | RTIS or Welcome to BBC Reception Advice | Help receiving TV and radio

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Dag Smith:

Having now been able to do some further checks for your postcode, you may not be getting your signals from Malvern but from Sutton Coldfield, and if so, there is Planned Engineering there (see https://www.freeview.co.u…rks) with "Possible service interruptions".
If your aerial is pointing slightly West of South (197degrees) with the rods vertical - that's Malvern, OR is it pointing slightly North of NW (35deg.) with the rods horizontal - that's Sutton Coldfield.
In any event your best transmitter is predicted to be Sutton Coldfield.

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Steven Woolley:

Channel 4+1 is on the COM7HD multiplex which although broadcast from Sutton Coldfield, may not be receivable at your location. Go to Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free scroll down the page to the box "Check Freeview at my home" and enter your postcode and house number/name. Scroll down the following page where available channels are shown in "tiles". Below the initial block there is a "down arrow" if not all are displayed. But if you are only interested in the HD channels click on that button on the RHS of the top row (PS. if it says 13, you can get them all). If you scroll down just after half way down the page, there is a button "Detailed view". If you click on that it will show the predicted reception of transmitters and multiplexes that may be receivable at your location.

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Brian Goody:

Back in the summer, Sony moved a number of their channels on to Local Multiplexes and this was one of them. For a full list of channels and which multiplexes they are on see Channel listings | Freeview

That list will probably update on Nov.5th & 14th because according to Freeview
"As of 5 November 2019 there are changes being made to the way Film4+1 and More4+1 are being broadcast. In order to keep receiving these channels you will need to retune your TV."
"As of 14 November there are changes being made to the way E4+1 is being broadcast. In order to keep receiving this channel you will need to retune your TV."

Both of the above are highly informative NOT! I shall endeavour to get more precise information!
Sudbury does not transmit any Local Multiplexes or the COMs 7&8 HD multiplexes and AFAIK there are no plans to do so at this time.

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Now Thats What I Call Music
Saturday 2 November 2019 3:43PM

Barry:

The answer to that is most likely yes, but not necessarily because of water ingress etc. which I assume you have thoroughly checked out and the other cables, flyleads etc.

Did you ever check your predicted reception. As you didn't provide a full postcode I can't check that for you, but if reception of COM8 at your location is "marginal" then rain may reduce the signal sufficiently that the losses in the circuit to the lounge may be sufficient to drop the signal below the "cliff edge" and so you can't get the channels.

Now since I last posted details, DigitalUK/Freeview have been "messing" with their websites (and IMHO have done a damned awful job) so to check your reception either provide a full postcode or you now need to proceed as follows -
Go to Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free scroll down the page to the box "Check Freeview at my home" and enter your postcode and house number/name. Scroll down the following page where available channels are shown in "tiles". Below the initial block there is a "down arrow" if not all are displayed. But if you are only interested in the one group, click on that button in the top row (PS. if it says 13 for the HD channels, you should get them all & that includes COM8). If you scroll down just after half way down the page, there is a button "Detailed view". If you click on that it will show the predicted reception of transmitters and multiplexes that may be receivable at your location.

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Iain:

First, you are unlikely to have any issues from any 5G, there are so few of them about yet and their frequencies are much higher than the PSB3 multiplex from Crystal Palace.

You are indeed getting the signal from Crystal Place. The listing here is out of date, unfortunately the site owner has not kept all the listings of 1100+ transmitters up-to-date with all the 700MHz changes across the country. The channels used by Crystal Palace are 23, 26, 30, 25, 22. 28, 55, 56 in the order PSBs1-3, COMs 4-8

Unfortunately as a result of changes to the DigitalUK and Freeview sites last week, I cannot give you a direct link to the predicted reception at your location but I have found a round-about way of doing it. The following link will take you to a London region page
Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker | Freeview

If you want predicted reception, scroll down the page slightly and click on "Summary view". Scroll just over halfway down the new page and click on "Detailed view". It will now display all the transmitters and multiplexes that are predicted to give some reception at your location. You'll note the following -
For Crystal Palace the aerial should have the rods horizontal, pointing 138degrees (~SE).
For Hemel Hemstead the aerial should have the rods vertical, pointing 58 degrees (~slightly S of NE).
Also note there are no COMs 7&8 at Hemel Hemstead.

As I can't find any report of Predicted Engineering at Crystal Palace during the last week (there were some issues about 3 or 4 weeks ago), In view of your current problems I would check all you coax plugs, connections, flyleads etc, unplug connectors check for corrosion or other problems and reconnect them. See what signal strengths and quality you are getting for the multiplexes shown in your TV's tuning section, this might indicate whether you have any aerial or downlead problems. Also check that your downlead looks undamaged and that your aerial seems intact and pointing in the correct direction.
Problematic connections, water ingress etc. can seem to affect reception of just an individual or several multiplexes.


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