All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Andrew McKernan:
For mux channel allocation etc. as the site owner here has not had time to update all the transmitter pages you are best referring to the official Digital UK site Digital UK - Coverage checker and put your postcode into the box.
For coverage maps, you may get what you want by going to the map at the top of a transmitter page here and selecting "Enable Pro Mode" just below the map. You can then select the Multiplex of interest from the list on the top LHS of the map.
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Steve:
You should be getting very good reception from all muxes at Sudbury according to Coverage Checker - Detailed View
I'd try that Reset and Retune with the aerial unplugged again and perhaps at the end when it says no channels found, power it off, wait a minute, power on and check there are still no channels found, plug the aerial back in and do a new Tune for the channels.
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Geoff:
Some parts of Nailsworth could find reception difficult. Put your postcode details in Digital UK - Coverage checker to give predicted coverage for your location.
As I posted recently current high pressure weather has affected reception periodically.
The very large high pressure weather system is set to continue for a few more days yet and so may well cause reception difficulties at various times.
It would be advised to check all your coax connections (remove and re-insert the internal ones), if you've moved anything about in recent times, flyleads can sometimes become faulty. If your aerial installation is a few years old, water may have got into the aerial connector or the aerial may have moved a bit in the high winds in recent times or your downlead may have become damaged or degraded. Visual inspection is a good idea.
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Chris:
You make a good point about the Planned Engineering listing, DigitalUK are the ones to ask about how accurate those listings are (tel:03456 505050). I only look myself if I become aware of a possible issue! Virtually every (main and some relay) transmtters have some supposed work at present ! I must admit I find that a bit difficult to believe although there are further clearance changes to come over the next 2 years but not at Bluebell Hill AFAIK. If anything is going on there it may be "tweaking" or some other difficulty that doesn't have a quick fix (eg. faulty antenna). As MikeP has suggested Arqiva would be the people to ask (try 01962 823434) if DigitalUK don't know (or give you BS).
If you have a wideband or group T aerial then reception shouldn't be an issue but it's worth checking the system out, your downlead may have degraded etc and the frequency changes could have caused any issues to come to light. It is perfectly possible for individual UHF frequencies to be affected by damaged cable rather than all frequencies. If your issue is mainly with the higher UHF channels then damp in the cable might be a cause, but again any frequency could be affected more than another.
Also remember the current high pressure weather is causing periodic reception problems (continental interference, but also possibly some uk transmitters that are now sharing more frequencies).
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Chris:
Forgot to say, you mentioned HD channels, if you are specifically referring to those on COMs 7 & 8, they are on the SFN channels 55 & 56, I'd want to be sure the downlead was in good order.
Also it would be worth considering whether you have too much signal as you are so close to the transmitter. If the front ends of receivers are overloaded beyond a certain point (this can vary from brand/set to brand/set) they can indicate a "lower" signal strength than you actually have and quality will be degraded. That could be what you have as your results may fit this.
Your overall antenna and coax response may give more signal since the frequency changes which might just tip things over the edge. (Antenna gain is not flat over the full frequency range).
If you don't have access to an attenuator to try, one trick that may help is try partially removing the aerial plug so that only the centre pin is making connection. If things improve, too much signal is the most likely cause and you'll need to try an attenuator.
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C
Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) Full Freeview transSunday 24 February 2019 1:44AM
Daventry
Earl Thomson:
It looks as though you are in a borderline reception area. DigitalUK doesn't have any predicted Freeview reception for your postcode. This site seems to think your transmitter should be Oxford which is stupid because a terrain plot clearly shows two hills in the line of sight, the first being about 1-2km away, the other around 7km IIRC. I can't easily get a terrain plot for Sandy Heath but looking at the coverage map and street view I'd guess it has a better chance, so a good aerial installation would be a must.
BUT as it's going to be borderline reception it's going to be very vulnerable to interference from long distance DX interference when weather conditions (usually large high pressure systems) allow as we have at the moment.
If you find your Freeview reception is too unreliable then I'd resort to Satellite. I don't know what sort of LNB you have on your Sky dish, but if there's a spare output you ought to be able to get Freesat with a Freesat box, or your TV may even have an in-built Satellite receiver.
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A reminder -
Clacton is no longer a "Light" transmitter as of 1st August, it now broadcasts the 6 main muxes.
PSB1(BBCA) - UHF32; PSB2(D3&4) - UHF34; PSB3(BBCB HD) - UHF45; SDN - UHF40; ARQA - UHF43; ARQB - UHF46. 400W for each Mux. Aerial group K, Horizontal.
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MikeP:
With All due respect, in case you'd forgotten I am a regular contributor on these boards!. I do NOT need telling about all the work going on for the 700Mhz clearance for 5G! In case you missed the point that I was mentioning I said that "virtually EVERY (main and some relay) transmitters have some supposed work at present !" There are not enough engineering teams to be working on every transmitter at the same time which is why I went on to say "I must admit I find that a bit difficult to believe although there are further clearance changes to come over the next 2 years but not at Bluebell Hill AFAIK. "
It should also be noted that 85% is not an absolute limit, it is a guide, it will vary from set/brand to set/brand.
Ken Collyer:
MikeP points out that the HD muxes COMs 7&8 are often transmitted at lower power than the other main muxes. At Bluebell Hill those two muxes are transmitted with 5.012 kiloWatts compared to the main muxes at 20 kiloWatts.
You mentioned your location in a previous post, you also mentioned your aerial is old, I'm sure you don't need telling that any degradation of connections and coax could affect different frequencies across the band slightly differently, so if you are still having problems with "weak signal" that may be the reason. However I also pointed out that it would be worth considering whether you have too much signal if you are close to the transmitter.
If the front ends of receivers are overloaded beyond a certain point (this can vary from brand/set to brand/set) they can indicate a "lower" signal strength than you actually have and quality may be degraded. So it's always worth giving your system a check-out.
I also agree with the points that MikeB makes about HD. As a Which? subscriber myself I have to say that some of the comments on more detailed technical aspects can be a bit ill-informed. Of course you really need a Full HD screen (not HD ready) to fully notice the differences.
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Terry Tibbs:
It is possible that your "previous" reception difficulties may have been as a result of "interference" from other transmitters (including continental) due to the high pressure weather system(s) that we've had of late, but that should have cleared up by now. If you are still having problems you should do as suggested by StevensOnln1.
If that doesn't resolve the problem you may need to check your aerial and downlead, including making sure the aerial has not moved in the high winds.
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Wednesday 20 February 2019 4:16PM
Dr C A Fox: & Roger Fentiman: & Peter Reynolds:
There is Planned Engineering work at Sandy Heath at present with "Possible Weak Signal" so this is the most likely cause of the intermittent/temporary loss of reception. With the current weather High Pressure system this won't help matters either.