All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Steve Donaldson:
Well that's a very interesting analysis, well done.
A couple of minor points, I found Harper Walk on a google map without a problem, it's just to the SW of Harper Place.
This should show it Google Maps
A better grid reference would seem to be 290677 not that it seems to make any real difference to the LOS (not) path. (Despite the postcode that it turns up, clicking on Streetview goes to Harper Walk!).
When I looked quickly at another terrain plot it suggested there was clear LoS to the Craigkelly transmitter with aerial height of 10m. Ho hum!
But note, the predictions for Angus give a poor signal.
That all said, as I said previously, see how the neighbours are fairing as you have also mentioned. There is nothing like being there "on the ground" in the precise location with a proper professional signal strength meter. Often difficult to predict what sort of disruption a hill on the LoS at that distance would make in practice.
Frankly, I wouldn't bother with Angus, with the sort of disruptive weather conditions we get more frequently these days, I'd guess Angus would be too unreliable.
FreeSat would be the sensible option and if the TV already has a satellite tuner all that's needed would the Dish and LNB.
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Steve Donaldson:
Ha, didn't see your updated post before I posted mine, too busy doing the analysis :)
I see we agree on the better NGR.
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Peter Cannon:
Ah, I don't know if StevensOnln1 can help? But if that's a standard Sky Q LNB on that dish, AIUI, it will have only two outputs and will only work connected to a SkyQ box, so you will have to change the LNB.
I assume that if you no longer subscribe to Sky, you had to return the Sky Q box.
There are some "hybrid" LNB's around that have about 8 outputs 2 of which are Sky Q, 2 Sky HD and 4 standard. I don't know anything about them, but I'd guess Sky would not have fitted them and in any event appear to need a Sky Q box to power them.
Maybe someone more knowledgeable on this (StevensOnln1?) may be able to help on that point.
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Chris B:
Also worth noting that Windermere is a relay of Caldbeck which is listed for Planned Engineering! I don't know how the signals to Windermere are fed, but it's possible that work at Caldbeck might affect them, so Windermere should also be listed, but we know that the lists are not always 100% accurate.
As Steve Donaldson has said a manual tune of UHF C41 is the sensible option.
Automated tuning if signals are missing or badly pixelated often just clear the correct tuning, if you were correctly tuned before, it's never advised to retune when you have badly pixellated signals or no signal.
Recent weather conditions caused interference to some signals in some areas and if you were affected and you retuned during that, as already mentioned, it's probably cleared your tuning.
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Steve Donaldson:
Thanks for the correction, I shall in future cross-check more than one document for information such as that. At least OFCOM's 700MHz Clearance spreadsheet (which has other errors!) and DUK/Arqiva's clearance pdfs have that correct as well.
That doesn't throw the theory out of the window totally, Kendal was listed for Planned Engineering in the last week of May and first week of June, again I don't know how Windermere is fed from Kendal.
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Steve Donaldson:
Just to add, it's great to have your obvious knowledge and experience around here. It's been a bit thin on the ground in recent times with just 2 or 3 of us most of the time trying to answer queries.
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Raymond McGill :
As per the post before yours, the transmitter is listed for Planned Engineering, that is the most likely reason and signals should return later in the day. Do NOT retune whilst you have no signal as this often clears correct tuning and then you may have to repeatedly retune until you find signals are normal.
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J G Lobb:
Now that is a tricky one!
I trust you haven't retuned whilst you had no signal, if so, this may have cleared your correct tuning, so try a MANUAL tune of Torosay's UHF channels as listed at the very top of this page.
Other than that, it's possible there is unlisted Engineering, but feel free to proceed with any checks you want.
Firstly check the aerial is intact and still pointing correctly but do a visual check of the cable en route to see if there is any obvious damage. Check the aerial and other connections whilst you are there for corrosion etc.
Do you have a (digital ideally) voltmeter so that you can check that 12v supply.
First unplug the feed to the masthead and check that 12v is present on the output of the distribution amp. If it's not, there's the problem.
Even if it's there, the distribution part of the amp may have failed but checking that will either be by taking it somewhere where there is a signal (a friend's) and connecting it to their aerial output and see if the outputs provide signal to their TV. Alternatively by substitution, but that means buying or borrowing another so probably best left as a last resort, or of course getting it professionally checked! Probably best to check the rest of the system first.
If 12v is ok, then check if it is arriving at the masthead amp,
If it's arriving at the masthead, and all other checks are ok, the masthead itself may have failed.
In your situation I cannot think of anything other than get it professionally checked, but read on first.
If it's not arriving at the masthead, there could be a break in the coax cable somewhere. Finding that may be difficult. You'll probably need someone to help and an ohm-meter or continuity tester.
Disconnect the cable at both ends and then short together one end and put the ohm-meter or continuity tester on the other, then work your way along the cable flexing it slightly to see if you can find a break where your friend sees a reading which wasn't there to start.
If everything else checked out ok, then if you still have no signal you ideally need a signal strength meter you can connect direct to the aerial so see what you are receiving. There are currently no reported faults that I can find, and as previously mentioned the transmitter is not currently listed for Planned Engineering but there could still be work in progress in which case i would expect signals to retune later in the day.
I don't know if anyone else has any bright ideas about checks that I may not have thought of.
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Sunday 2 July 2023 3:11PM
Peter Cannon:
Just a further thought, having eventually managed to look at some other factors from an adjacent postcode (trouble with newish builds all postcode data isn't always available).
You should use a Group A aerial NOT any Wideband/Group T and preferably not a Group K which goes upto C48
Group A covers UHF channels 21-37. (No UK TV transmitter now uses any channels above C48). Craigkelly's highest channel is C37.
There are several Mobile phone transmitters roughly on the line-of-sight around just over 1km away. If any of these are now using the 700MHz band, they could give interference to your TV signals if your aerial can pick up the 700MHz band (ie. above C48).
A Group A aerial will significantly reduce such signals but if they happened to be still strong enough to give a problem you can get a Free filter from https://restoretv.uk to add to your system.