All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Ruby ford:
It'll simply be a matter of economics. The Kendal "Light" transmitter serves around 15,000 households.
Such transmitters often only serve these smaller communities and the commercial operators don't consider it cost effective to pay for the extra transmission equipment to provide the 3 COM multiplexes, even if there were spare frequencies available.
Relay "Light" transmitters which only have the 3 main PSB multiplexes, are often provided for areas where signals can't be reliably received from a main transmitter due to the terrain in the location eg. in a valley. Depending on location some may be able to receive a main transmitter.
If you provide a full postcode we may be able to advise if there's any possibility of getting signals from a main transmitter, however this would most likely be Granada region rather than Border.
The other option would be to consider Freesat.
Some fairly recent TVs have built-in satellite tuners. Apart from looking at the TV Tuning section which can show a satellite tuner if present, the other clue is the presence of an F-connector on the back of the set, as well as the usual "belling type" coax socket for aerials. If the TV has a satellite tuner you'd only need a Dish and LNB.
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Brian Butterworth:
Thanks Brian. I'm not sure if/when the update will work its way through, but PSB3/BBCB HD still showing at C48 instead of C30 (both main and over time list).
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Kara:
This channel is carried on Local multiplexes.
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are on which multiplex.
Not everyone can receive a Local mutliplex, they are limited to a small number of main transmitters and transmission is usually beamed towards the urban centres of population they serve.
If you do not get a Local News station on LCN7 or 8 in your EPG and are missing other channels as per the list, then you aren't receiving a Local multiplex.
If you provide a full postcode, as well as know which transmitter you currently receive, we should be able to advise whether you should get a Local multiplex or whether you might be able to from another transmitter.
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Brian Butterworth:
Hi Brian, looking much better. The "over time" table needs a few additions/changes for when COMs 7&8 came along and moved.
AFAIK this is accurate Freeview Detailed Coverage Checker | Freeview
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Dorothy Skinner:
Without a full postcode, it's not possible to be certain which transmitters you may get your signals from.
If you are in Dumfries itself, there are no reported problems by the BBC with their DAB transmissions from the Dumfries and Galloway transmitter.
Exactly which DAB stations are you having a problem with? Is this a portable receiver or one using an external or loft aerial?
With regard to FM, you may get your signals from the Sandale transmitter SW of Carlisle and this transmitter is on reduced power due to essential engineering.
We cannot "sort it" as this is a free independent technical help-site. We can advise of any known issues given the right information and who to contact should your problem persist outside of transmitter maintenance.
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Nick Osborne:
There was some minor changes on the SDN multiplex (nationwide) on the 21st September.
Children's channels - Ketchup moved from 211 to 209, Yaaas! from 212 to 211. Ketchup Too was added at 210.
Two other streamed channels were added - Rok at 276, UK Radio Portal at 277.
You could retune the SDN multiplex UHF C42 if you wish.
Earlier in September (8th), if you receive the Local multiplex on C32, Great! Movies Classic LCN52 and its +1 LCN63 renamed to their Xmas versions.
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Anthony Kightley:
Well 12 years ago we would have still been talking about analogue days and high aerials in your locale were probably needed to reduce ghosting problems. Multipath doesn't generally affect digital signals in the same way. As far a relay transmitters go, the general issue is available freqencies and more so on the south coast where the issue of interference to and from transmissions in the north of France can be a problem. In these digiatl days, this is one of the reasons that Rowridge uses vertical polarisation as well as horizontal where vertical is less likely to suffer problems in many locations.
I see you asked a similar question in 2020 about "Yesterday" which is carried on COM6.
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplex.
You were given a fairly detailed technical explanation and that situation has not changed for the main PSB, COM4-6 and Local multiplexes. The temporary muxes COMs 7&8 are now closed.
As far as local interference issues are concerned, quality double screened coax such as CT100 will reduce the chances of that being a problem. You haven't mentioned how old the aerial installation is, whether the rods (or squashed Xs) are horizontal or vertical. Is it a group A aerial or is it a wideband, group T or K?
If you don't get or want the Local multiplex (Southampton area news on LCN7) or the other 5 channels on the mux, then your reception is predicted to be much better with vertical polarisation.
Interference with the "wrong" weather conditions is likely to be reduced.
It is not simply "high pressure" that gives the problems as some reports would suggest. It's Tropospheric Ducting/Temperature Inversion which can often accompany high pressure but the conditions can be very variable, you can't correlate this with what you "see" of the weather or simple barometric pressure. Such conditions have been present over several recent weeks affecting different parts of the country at different times and they don't usually affect several multiplexes at once (it depends where the interference is coming from). There is some present now which could be affecting parts of the south.
Rowridge again had Planned Engineering over the latter part of August which may have continued in the first week of September, but none is currently reported.
In your previous post you mentioned signal strength but it's not just strength that is important. Signal quality (or Bit Error rate - BER) is more important. You also mentioned amplifiers.
If you have any multiplexes (PSBs especially) with very high strength and not 100% quality (or a high BER) then you may have too much gain, wind your amp down a bit. 100% quality or low BER is paramount. Many sets quite happily function with strengths that are quite low as long as the quality is 100%. Of course, if the signal is weak in the first place then you may not get 100% quality, as long as it's high and stable, that should be satisfactory for most of the time.
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William Rose:
Retuning when you have no signal is the last thing you should do. It usually just clears any correct tuning you had.
There are no reported Faults or Planned Engineering at Hagg Wood at this time.
See also my previous reply to your previous post just before this one.
Without the information, especially the full postcode, there is limited constructive advise that can be offered. Have you checked all the connections behind your TV? Also make sure you don't have any HDMI leads running close to your aerial or flyleads as HDMI can sometimes generate interference.
There could be temporary interference to signals due to current weather conditions. It's Tropospheric Ducting/Temperature Inversion which can often accompany high pressure but the conditions can be very variable, you can't correlate this with what you "see" of the weather or simple barometric pressure. Such conditions have been present over several recent weeks affecting different parts of the country at different times but they don't usually affect several multiplexes at once (it depends where the interference is coming from). There is some present now which could be affecting you.
As mentioned, retuning in these conditions/no signal can just clear the correct tuning and you the have to repeat tuning when signals are normal, as you don't know when that will be you may have to try several times. Also you may have got incorrectly tuned to another transmitters whose signals will disappear as conditions change.
Check in your TV Tuning section that you are correctly tuned to Hagg Wood's UHF channels which are C39, C42 & C45, manual tune to those channels if need be.
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Richard Mudge:
Hi Richard. We need a full postcode to check your predicted reception and aerial direction.
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Sunday 25 September 2022 8:39AM
Carl Draper:
There has been some essential engineering carried out at Belmont and this may have caused a brief interruption to some services and if they are operating at lower power then you may get no signal if you are not in a strong signal area - we'd need a full postcode to check that. Do NOT retune if you have no signal.
Drama is carried on the SDN multiplex UHF C30 at Belmont and both Film4+1 and Sky Arts are carried on the ArqA multiplex on UHF C23.
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplex.
If you are not in a strong signal area the current weather conditions may also have caused brief disruption to reception, but that should now have cleared. Again don't retune if you have no signal.