All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
louis feather:
There's no indication at present as to what the cause of loss of signal was, there's no currently reported faults by the BBC for the Idle transmitter, but if BBC channels weren't affect (ie. only commercial channels) the chances of seeing any fault report are tiny.
With regard to the Humax problem, is it connected direct to the TV via an HDMI lead or is there an HDMI hub as well? Does your Humax have the latest firmware? Does it have a "power saving in standby" setting? If so, try setting that to OFF.
| link to this comment |
David Belmar:
Did you mean frequency? or Channel LCN in the EPG? All LCNs in the range 25-82 are moving down one, so they'll be 26-83. Davejavu moves from 23 to 25. BBC3 SD will be on 23 and HD will be on 109.
So Food Network will move from 42 to 43.
See BBC Three launches | Freeview for the official detail.
Food network is carried on the ArqA/COM5 multiplex on UHF C22 that's 482MHz at Crystal Palace.
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplex.
| link to this comment |
Edward Slater:
Thanks for the detail of the setup.
As I said, it would be unusual for the tropo to affect several channels in this way - ie. I don't think your issue is the tropo. The only reason for mentioning it was in case you saw some variation around the last few days that then recovered.
Quote > What are your thoughts on adding extra gain in the system?
>> Certainly NOT at this point without knowing what is going on.
Quote > we need the gain from the amp, so measurements without it are next to meaningless but follow the general pattern as above, albeit at a lower level.
>> That's precisely what we need to see, I'm afraid it's not meaningless and it's the precise pattern of quality and strength figures that's important, not a general pattern -
without ANY intervening equipment, to eliminate any oddities, faults, spurious signals or even too much signal. All the intervening equipment should ideally be powered off as well to be certain.
Just a thought, I don't suppose their in anything new on the line of sight of the aerial in the near proximity?
Any scaffolding on an adjacent building, any trees grown taller, any metal flues appeared, water tanks - nothing changed in your loft?
| link to this comment |
Derek Fyfield:
Did you do a simple thing like looking up at your aerial first to see if it was still there pointing in the correct direction or fallen down or pointing at a satellite as it was so old it got damaged in the wind?
Mazbar: Was that you by any chance?
Oh, in response to your previous post, I'd never have guessed (having installed a few aerials in my time) that you'd need all that stock and tools and insurance etc. etc. pretty similar to any self employed electrcian, builder etc.
The remark was slightly tongue in cheek, but some installers charge a "standard price" for "bog standard" installs, so if they are using a lower cost aerial, they make a couple of extra quid.
| link to this comment |
Brian Richardson:
Thanks for those figures. Your predicted reception shows PSB3 as being the best which appears as though it's showing in those figures but the fact that it's showing as the same strength at minimum gain and maximum gain suggests that the set won't show a higher figure. Can't draw any conclusions as to whether it's too much signal at this point, or whether the strength is being affected by any tropo and with Planned Engineering going on, how that may be affecting the other figures, especially the COMs is impossible to say. When that engineering is complete we'll have a better idea. I'm still suspicious about the possibility of it being a Group C/D aerial.
Keep a note of any figures if there's any significant differences.
I don't suppose that there's any large trees (or other large buildings etc.) very close by on the aerial line of sight to the transmitter?
One other point, an apology as I said that COMs4-6 were half the transmitted power of the PSBs - that was according to figures here, whereas DUK/Freeview figures show them as the same power, not that I would expect that to make any significant difference as you are not that far from the transmitter.
| link to this comment |
Edward Slater:
> DC loop resistance of the coax run is 12ohms.
Crikey, something is not right there. That's about the resistance of the end to end of a centre-core on a full 100m drum of cable, the sheath end to end would be about half that, so total loop around 18ohms for 100m!
Apart from checking from the filter location to the aerial and distribution amp to TV outlet, check for corrosion at the wall-plate and the aerial connections itself.
Other than that, does the cable run anywhere not seen but where vermin may have had a go at it and chewed it badly?
| link to this comment |
James Howe:
It seems StevensOnln1 and I were writing replies at the same time.
This is an independent help-site. The transmitter engineering reports are those generated by BBC Engineering (there has been a problem with those appearing here on the relevant transmitter pages recently).
I'm afraid it really has been weather conditions again. There has been some sustained conditions recently which did clear for a while mid-week but have returned again and are currently affecting parts of Scotland, some areas and channels quite severely.
The BBC have reported the recent problems for the last few days (see below for the last 5 days).
The following were the effects on the BBCA/PSB1 multiplex (groups of channels) which carries the BBC SD and Radio channels -
From 4:12:41pm to 5:48:12pm on 21st Jan 2022
From 3:06:29pm on 17th Jan 2022 to 4:10:07am on 18th Jan 2022
From 10:15:57am to 10:52:46am on 17th Jan 2022
These are those which affected the BBCB HD/PSB3 multiplex which carries the HD channels BBC1, BBC2, ITV/STV1, Ch4 and Ch5.
From 9:42:21pm on 21st Jan 2022 This seems to be still ongoing at the time of my checks
From 12:39:43pm to 7:29:58pm on 21st Jan 2022
From 7:07:05am to 7:11:55am on 21st Jan 2022
From 7:03:57am to 8:52:21am on 19th Jan 2022
From 8:50:47am on 17th Jan 2022 to 4:16:59am on 18th Jan 2022
ITV/STV channels may be similarly affected but detailed reports for commercial channels don't seem to appear in the public domain. Both Freeview and the BBC have had general warnings on their relevant pages when tis sort of thing occurs. It's not the BBC's fault. Climate change has a bearing on this happening more frequently. I did give you a link to a simplistic pictorial representation of what happens with "Temperature Inversion/Tropospheric Ducting which seems to accompany High Pressure weather systems more often these days!
It's not just you that has these problems, lots of people in various parts of the UK have had similar problems off and on recently. We had it in December and again just over a week ago. Current conditions may clear a bit Saturday afternoon/early evening but could then return again later and be off and on for maybe a few more days.
If you really have been losing signal every day for a continuous period of several months, then maybe there's some additional problem.
If you provide us with a full postcode, we can look at predicted reception in your locale and may be able to offer further advice to improve things.
You should be able to receive more than 10 channels - 6 BBC TV including the Red Button, and 14 commercial (STV/Ch4/Ch5) including some +1s, and 5 HD channels if your set has an HD tuner.
Tell us which channels you do get.
| link to this comment |
Steve peacock :
In Italy, the BBC world Service is indeed transmitted using DAB+ on the EuroDAB Italia mux. In fact from what I've been able to check, all stations seem to be using DAB+, so I'd guess StevensOnln1 is correct and that your Pure DAB set doesn't support DAB+. Do you get any Italian stations on it at all?
If you do get DAB+ on your Pure set, then it may depend on where you are, it might need a manual tune. If you say where you are, then we can see which Block is used. They seem to use different Blocks in a couple of areas.
| link to this comment |
Aerilman:
It certainly seemed to upto 1968 as I can see that in the little potted history further up the page, just before the transmitter radiation pattern, but that says Yorkshire Television was from July 1968. I'm not familiar enough with the history to be able to check the detail.
| link to this comment |
Wednesday 19 January 2022 11:14PM
Kim Rahbek:
As mentioned in my previous reply to you, weather conditions (the Temperature Inversion/Tropospheric Ducting) will have been having an impact. It can cause channels to come and go due to the interference from the distant transmitters. Did you read those previous posts I mentioned? There were sustained conditions like that in December as well as recently.
Those conditions have currently cleared (though some predictions suggest they may return on Friday!) so you reception should be stable right now. The transmitter work which could affect you might cause you to have reduced reception for a period whilst work takes place, but it should not be a case of "coming and going".
There may be work on different days of the week that affects reception, it may only happen on one day.
Arqiva who do the transmitter engineering never say what work is being done or how long it will take, some of which can be weather dependent - especially if engineers have to climb masts!
If the transmitter is not listed next week, then we'll assume the current work has been completed.
If you continue to have problems, then post back with details of precisely which channels you have problems with and also with a full postcode so we can check your predicted reception