All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
David Mansell:
As has been mentioned many times around the ukfreetv site, the site owner has not been able to keep up with all the changes resulting from the 700MHz clearance. Regular posters generally refer people to Freeview | All your favourite TV shows, all in one place and all for free as the best place to get information. Post here if you have a technical query/problem which we might be able to help with.
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ANNE ROUTLEDGE:
At this time neither Freeview nor the BBC are reporting any issues with the ROMALDKIRK transmitter, and there aren't others posting on that transmitter page with problems. As you will not doubt be aware there is some severe weather at present. Are there any power outages in your area?
Other than that, check all you coax plugs, connections, flyleads etc, unplug connectors check for corrosion or other problems and reconnect them. Flyleads can be a common proble, try swapping them. See what signal strengths (if any) and quality you are getting for the multiplexes shown in your TV's tuning section, this might indicate potential issues with your aerial or downlead. 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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Mike Husband:
There have been no changes to the transmitted power of any multiplexes at Midhurst, PSB3/BBCB HD is transmitted at the same power as PSBs 1&2 - 20kW. The COM multiplexes (4-6) are transmitted at less power - 10kW. Are you having any problems receiving these?
For a list of which channels are on which multiplexes see Channel listings | Freeview
Neither Freeview nor the BBC are reporting any transmitters issues and there is no Planned Engineering listed.
Have your problems been since the Retune event on the 16th October? This is when the remaining multiplexes moved from Aerial Group C/D to Group K, so if you have an old aerial you may have difficulty getting some multiplexes. If you already have a wideband aerial, there shouldn't be a problem.
Otherwise, check all you coax plugs, connections, flyleads etc, unplug connectors check for corrosion or other problems and reconnect them. Flyleads can be a common problem, try swapping them. See what signal strengths (if any) and quality you are getting for the multiplexes shown in your TV's tuning section, this might indicate potential issues with your aerial or downlead. 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.
If you have an old aerial, providing you don't have Satellite or Cable TV you can get free help by contacting the Freeview Advice line on 0808-100-0288 where they should be offering to send an engineer to replace your aerial with a Group T / Wideband or Group K which is what you'll need to have satisfactory reception of all multiplexes.
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David Mansell:
I don't think I suggested that you did or should, I was giving you information and where to get what should be more accurate information. If you don't want to make use of it, that's your choice.
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Kif:
I wasn't suggesting that you attempted to mislead, merely what you had written about the channels on C40 had moved to C39 would be taken that there had been a change at Bluebell Hill which there hasn't.
I can categorically state that the SDN multiplex you are receiving on C39 is NOT London, Crystal Palace, nor any other transmitters that you might receive as none use C39 except Dover which is also the only one using it for SDN and the reason I couldn't be 100% is that without your postcode, there was a possibility you might have been receiving another transmitter with SDN on C39, and although the reception conditions using the Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker do not work on partial postcodes, I can categorically say that for ME10 postcodes it will not be any other transmitter except Dover.
And for the same reasons I cannot say if your predicted reception for C43 may be variable without a full postcode.
Bert's postcode is also an ME10 and for his location the SDN multiplex is the only one that is predicted to be good, the others being variable, yet for another ME10 postcode all multiplexes are predicted to be good except the BBCB HD multiplex which is variable. Having said all that, precise predictions are not always free of errors and can in some cases be affected by the aerial that you have, where it's located and how well it's aligned.
When you are in an area/location that can receive signals from more than one transmitter, TV postcode tuning may not give you the desired transmitter and it may not be the correct region where you may receive overlapping regions if your set doesn't ask you to specify the region. Where you receive two of the same multiplex on different UHF channels, often one set will be put in the 800 LCNs in your set's listing.
In such cases you often have to resort to manual tuning to get the one you want in the correct LCNs.
Check if your neighbours are having the same problem, and if so when you contact Freeview Advice, I suggest you make it clear that you are aware of other ME10 postcodes that have the same problem and get your neighbours to contact Freeview Advice as well.
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Mike Husband:
I'm not sure you've fully understood many of the points that I've made. and so rather than just repeat what I said, I'll ask some questions and you can answer in the context of what I said previously, but first I'll add that as you haven't supplied a full postcode, we can't look at the predicted reception at you location which for a variety of reasons COULD be marginal/variable for some multiplexes. Many locations in Horsham do not get good reception from Midhurst- but if you want the Meridian region, it's often the only potentially viable option.
1) Do you have a wideband aerial?
2) Have you checked all coax plugs. flyleads etc.? Problematic connections, water ingress etc. can seem to affect reception of just an individual or several multiplexes.
3) What are the signal strengths (if any) and quality you are getting for the multiplexes shown in your TV's tuning section?
Digital signals do not work like analogue. It's no good saying that other channels are working. Digital signals can be quite weak and the channels are working, but then if they get slightly weaker (or suffer interference) they go over a "cliff-edge" as it's been called, and break up and/or stop. If you carry out a retune when the signals are too weak (or missing) you lose the correctly tuned channels, when if you hadn't retuned then you may have kept them.
In fact that principal is used sometimes when a set's memory is fragmented for want of a better way of describing it, you unplug the aerial, retune and that clears memory as no channels are found. A retune with the aerial reconnected should then restore all received channels to their correct LCNs.
I mentioned interference in passing, so I'll add one thing that I omitted from my previous post -
Do you have any Sky boxes (or other set-top boxes), Games boxes or other devices that have an RF output which may be set to C36 or even C31, C27 or any frequency very very close to them?
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Bert:
Yes it can be annoying that the predictor sometimes gives a different transmitter, it may be biased towards the predicted reception of PSBs 1&2, but at least it usually shows predicted reception from potentially available transmitters. Thanks for those updates, and well done for those checks.
Now, interesting question, has your C40 returned and is everything stable? You may have noticed Kif's has returned.
This could mean that if yours has returned , it could have been a transmitter issue or of course coincidence.
If yours hasn't returned, taking account of your suspicion of a fault between aerial and amp, that may mean Kif's fault could be an intermittent one which happens to have righted itself for the time being.
Kif:
If your neighbours haven't got a similar problem it could be an individual fault which has righted itself for the time being. Keep us updated, it can be useful if you need further help.
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David Landers:
Oh dear, you are undoubtedly lucky that you get any Freeview reception and that Freeview sent out some engineers as neither they nor the BBC predict that your location is within any normal coverage. I had to resort to Terrain mapping to see you are in an area with very variable terrain and have a large hill between you and the transmitter.
I would have to draw the same conclusion that it was likely to have been something at the transmitter, because unless faults are persistent (and/or affecting BBC channels) finding any reports from Freeview/Arqiva on transmitter problems is something I've not found to be reliable!
At least you have your reception back, and Humax boxes do have a good reputation in general for sensitivity. If in the future you find things being more unreliable, possibly in the main due to weather conditions in the summer, then it looks as though the only alternative option might be to consider Freesat. A lot of modern TVs have in-built satellite tuners so only need the addition of a dish and LNB. I suppose that there could be a possibility that if there are enough of you in the area with similar problems, you could all consider the possibility of having a "self-help" relay, but then you have to find a location where you could get reliable reception and permission to install such a relay.
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Bert:
Thanks for that update Bert. I wouldn't worry about those aerial bods coming and everything "seeming" ok. I would play it along the lines of "things seem to have been intermittent" and you are concerned that there's some sort of intermittent fault. Just let them/make sure they give you installation a thorough check out as they will be paid by Freeview in any event!
It's important that your installation is as good as it can be receiving the current multiplexes on their allocated UHF channels as no further changes in UHF channels is planned in the foreseeable future. The final change at Bluebell Hill resulting from 700MHz clearance was in July 2018.
The only changes that are likely to occur in the shorter term are where broadcasters move their programmes/channels around to a different multiplex, or some may close and new ones come along. In a lot of cases this might mean a "retune" but a lot of modern sets do this sort of update automatically.
And of course at some future date COMs 7&8 will close and we expect to see one or more of the other current SD multiplexes convert to T2 (HD) transmissions which will then make room for some of the channels currently on COMs 7&8.
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Thursday 12 December 2019 7:43PM
Kif:
Actually Kif, some of your post is I'm afraid misleading. Bert has spoken to Freeview Advice and if there had actually been some unpublished change of multiplex UHF channels they would have said so. Further more if it had moved without publication, there would be miriads of people complaining about not getting the SDN multiplex.
The SDN Multiplex at Bluebell Hill is still on UHF channel 40.
The change to which you referred was simply some broadcasters moving their programmes to a different multiplex (which on a lot of sets requires a retune). If you want what is normally an up-to-date list of which channels are on which multiplex see Channel listings | Freeview however Freeview can sometimes be a bit tardy in updating it with changes!
The announcement about the change was made at https://www.freeview.co.u…-80s however just saying that "PBS America has changed how it is broadcast" is not very informative about the fact it is a change of multiplex. Freeview made a similar announcement back in November 5 Nov 2019 - Changes to Film4+1 and More4+1 | Freeview for which they have been criticised, but that (so far) doesn't seem to have changed the way they give (NOT) such information !
You have said you are getting a weak SDN signal on UHF C39, but this is NOT coming from Bluebell Hill. My suspicion is that your are getting it from another transmitters - probably Dover where SDN is on C39, but without your full postcode I can't be 100%.
If you are not getting SDN on C40 from Bluebell Hill this to me suggests there is indeed a transmitter issue of which I was already suspicious.
Bert:
Thanks for that update but you haven't confirmed whether your neighbours are having the same problem, which would be extremely helpful to know, and if so if they have also phoned Freeview Advice.
This will not be the first time that I've encountered a slightly obscure transmitter problem that Arqiva/DigitalUK/Freeview have not been aware of until a number of people phone to complain. My suspicion is that it is only affecting viewers in a particular direction from the transmitter. You are quite right Bert, nothing changed in mid-October at Bluebell Hill. There were other changes in the Meridian broadcast area mid-October - Dover main station and some relays only, Midhurst main station and some relays only, Rowridge Ventnor relay only, Whitehawk Hill main station and some relays only.
Kif: If you are still not getting SDN on C40 you need to phone Freeview Advice and complain to them about it.
Bert is getting an engineer visit, that at least should provoke some further investigation if nothing before that does!