All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Jeff Whittle:
Hi Jeff, yes that error message is a nuisance, the site owner has been having problems with it since a software upgrade, just ignore it and wait several minutes before checking your post has appeared.
Thanks for the extra detail. A few thoughts here.
All muxes from Darvel are horizontally polarised. The Local mux although using lower power has good coverage because of the transmission mode it uses, but this results in less capacity, hence only a small number of channels.
You are predicted to get very good reception of all muxes from Darvel.
Generally, if there is low quality, it suggests interference, which if strong enough will result in the signal going to zero as the set just sees it as noise. There is/was a small amount of predicted tropospheric ducting weather conditions recently (resulting in signals from other transmitters on the same channels being received causing interference) but whether it's affected you is difficult to say as the predicted areas were a bit further south from you. It may well have cleared now in any event but the effects could be compounded by whatever transmitter work was being done if there was reduced signal.
But, the other case can be with too much signal and you are saying you have 100% for some of the muxes. Now that the trees have been cut down this could be what's making the difference. Additionally, another possibility is the installer will have originally positioned the aerial direction for best signal and now the trees have been cut down that may have changed slightly (but that doesn't really tally with 100% signal!). Never the less, it's worth check your aerial is pointing correctly which for you would be a compass bearing of ~52 degrees (7 degrees E of NE) but the beamwidth of the aerial should allow a small margin of error.
Back to specifics of too much signal. Do you per chance have a distribution amp/splitter?
Whether you do or not, a large aerial of course can still provide too much signal. Now the Black Hill transmitter is pretty well NE from you (well within the beamwidth of the aerial) and you are predicted to get good signals from it for all but COMs5&6. You could try a manual tune on C46 - the BBCA/PSB1 mux (which is C22 at Darvel) and if you get that with 100% Quality and less than 100% signal this could confirm the too much signal from Darvel theory. If you get nothing at all try C40 which is the BBCB mux.
If you have a distribution amp/splitter and it has a variable gain control, try turning the gain down and see if your Darvel muxes improve. Under normal circumstances you should be getting 100% Quality on all muxes. It doesn't matter too much what the signal level goes down to (even 50% on the LG should be good, but you can tweak it up until you see a drop in quality and then just drop it a touch.).
If you have no amp or no gain control, if it's easy to move, you could try just turning the aerial off beam a bit (maybe northwards but whatever your loft might allow) and see what the effect is. If you an achieve satisfactory stable reception of all muxes like that, then no more to do. If you can get some muxes and not others then using an attenuator would be the next option - a variable one would be best. If you need one, I'll try and give you a link to what you need, but post back how you get on experimenting a bit, first.
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Paul Lacy:
The Rowridge transmitter is listed for Planned Engineering with Possible effect on TV reception "Screen may go black on all or certain channels".
This is likely what you experienced and presumably your signals returned later.
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Rex Watson:
The Sudbury transmitter transmits all 6 main multiplexes, so if your receive them all, you should get 122 channels BUT that includes 33 radio channels, and 6 HD channels (a TV/box with an HD/T2 tuner being required for them) and one IP delivered channel (the "Accessible" TV guide for which a smart TV with HbbTV connected to the internet is needed, the latter also needed to fully display LCN100 rather than plain text).
A reminder of what they are -
The 6 main multiplexes are on UHF channels C44, C41, C47, C29, C31, C37 that's in multiplex order -
PSBs1/BBCA, PSB2/D3&4, PSB3/BBCB HD, COM4/SDN, COM5/ArqA, COM6/ArqB
A "K" Groups aerial (T or wideband should do) would best to receive them all. If your aerial has not been changed since the analogue days it may be Group B and you might struggle with C29 & C31.
What you can receive will depend upon location, you may not be able to get all 6 multiplexes dependent on terrain, a full postcode would be needed to confirm you predicted reception.
The Sudbury transmitter has been listed for Planned Engineering for a few weeks now, so you may have experienced a loss of reception at various times and IF you tried retuning during those times or if you had badly pixellated pictures, it may have just cleared your correct tuning.
It is never advised to retune when you have no signal or badly pixellated pictures.
IF you did so and have lost channels you need to repeat a retune until you get the channels back. Arqiva have not advised if the engineering work has been completed.
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William Price:
I doubt that it's necessarily anything to do with your Humax box.
Both those channels are carried on the Local L-BRM multiplex, so you should also be missing the Local station on LCN7, and also 61 & 207.
The Local mux at Sutton Coldfield is unusually broadcast directionally on two separate UHF channels being C36 & C48 depending on whether you are to the N (Lichfield and surrounding districts) 1kW, or SW (towards Birmingham) 10kW.
Which UHF channel are you getting the Local mux on and what's the Strength and Quality figures?.
Is the fact that you are using an amplifier because you don't get a very string signal generally or is it an amp/splitter to serve more than one set/box?
The positioning of aerials can be quite critical in some areas, we'd need a full post code to look at the predicted reception in your general area. Position on the house, type of aerial, differences in height etc can make a difference, so getting a signal on two aerials but not a 3rd isn't overly surprising. If you provide that full postcode, we might be able to offer some more detailed suggestions.
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Philip A Hadler:
For Bluebell Hill the full list of UHF channels are C32, C34, C45, C40, C43, C46, C55, C21 for the multiplexes in the order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6, COM7 & the Local multiplex.
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplexes.
Don't forget COM7 closes at the end of June 2022 under the current licence. No announcements have been made about what will happen to channels on COM7.
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tony:
I don't know which Platform you believe you are referring to there. Whilst there are many things on this site that are out of date as the site owner has not had time to keep up with all the changes - primarily the Freeview 700MHz Clearance - (as has been said many time on various pages around these boards) - the listing at the top of this page is currently correct.
The only platform that has never been listed here is Virgin Media and 5Select is on 152 there at time of posting.
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Garry Stephen:
The Peterhead transmitter is unlikely to ever be "upgraded" as it only serves a very small population and the commercial operators do not consider it cost effective to provide the extra transmitter equipment required (assuming there were spare frequencies available in any case).
The Durris transmitter currently has no reported faults and you should be able to receive all the multiplexes subject to location and a suitable aerial.
(We need a full postcode to look at you predicted reception).
The Durris transmitter was on Planned Engineering a couple of weeks ago, if you happened to retune when there was badly pixellated pictures or no signal. it will likely have just cleared the correct tuning and you'll need to retune to get back any missing channels.
The 6 main multiplexes are on UHF channels C28, C25, C22, C23, C26, C30 that's in multiplex order -
PSBs1/BBCA, PSB2/D3&4, PSB3/BBCB HD, COM4/SDN, COM5/ArqA, COM6/ArqB
A Group "A" or "K" aerial would best to receive all those (a Group T or wideband might do)
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplex.
You may well be best doing a manual tune of the UHF channel for any missing multiplex.
(I've not included COM7 C55 in the list above, as this temporary multiplex is due to close at the end of June 2022, no announcements have been made about what will happen to the channels on the mux, most people expect they will just close).
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David Harrison:
It depends on exactly where in Bradford-on-Avon you are as to which transmitters you get coverage from due to the terrain, and even where in your property.
The Westwood transmitter does not carry the main BBC National DAB multiplex, but it does have a Local Commercial multiplex which carries BBC Radio Wiltshire.
You may get signals from Naish Hill to your NE, Bath to your NW, or Crockerton which is slightly E of due S. This also applies to the National Commercial multiplexes.
Some parts of Bradford-on-Avon may struggle with signals for the SDL National multiplex (eg. Boom, Jazz FM, Planet Rock, Scala, Talk Radio, Times Radio .... to name some).
Try and ensure your radio (or its aerial) has no thick walls or large metal objects such as Fridges, Freezers etc between it and the transmitter direction. Window sills in the appropriate direction can be a good choice. Even repositioning the radio or aerial by a few inches can sometimes make a difference!
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jack:
Sutton Coldfield is currently listed for Planned Engineering. It's likely that this may have something to do with what you've experienced. Not seen reports of problems elsewhere.
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Wednesday 4 May 2022 3:11PM
Jeff Whittle:
Hi. Whilst you've given us a house number (not absolutely required) we do need the full postcode to look at the predicted reception.
The Darvel transmitter was on Planned Engineering last week (not listed this week - but sometimes the work isn't completed and the list isn't 100% accurate) however to receive the Local mux and not the main muxes seems odd, are you getting it on UHF C31 just to confirm it's Darvel?
Please give a full postcode so we can look at predicted reception in more detail.